Table of Contents
Silver fusion. It is a natural process and once you get to know the fundamental principles of the melting points of metal. Commonly used by many jewelers due to its lower melting point, silver is a great place to start when learning to melt metal to make more complex jewelry designs, and graduate to more difficult welding techniques.
The Art Of Melting Silver
It is important that you realize the melting point of silver because before you start working with it, you must use the proper welding equipment for the job. The best place to start is to know the melting point of silver …
What Is The Melting Point Of Silver?
The melting point of silver will depend on the type of silver you are working with. Remember that if you are working with 925 sterling silver, this will have a lower melting point than 999 fine silver, just for its composition.
Use our table below to know the melting points of the most commonly used types of silver:
| Silver type | Melting Point |
| 925 Sterling Silver | 890 ° C |
| Britannia Silver | 940 ° C |
| 999 Fine Silver | 961 ° C |
Different Ways Of Working With Silver
It is worth noting that, for the most part, it will not be completely melting the pieces of a silver foil to create new pieces of jewelry. Instead, you will be welding small pieces of silver together or welding the findings to your metal. That is why it is a good idea to get a clear picture of some of the different technical terms associated with heating metals for welding purposes. This will help you understand what signs you should observe when heating silver with a hand torch. .
These are some of the terms you will soon know throughout your silver heating process:
Annealing
This is when the metal is heated to soften its structure. As you work with silver, the metal particles are compacted, which makes it much less malleable and harder to work. By annealing the silver (by heating it until an opaque cherry red color is seen), you can relax the metal structure to make it easier to work with it specifically.
Fire Stain
The fire stain is the oxidation of the copper content found in sterling silver and occurs when the metal is heated. The spots are usually a faint dark shadow on the surface of the silver, so it can only be removed by repeated polishing. If the fire stain is not removed during polishing, it will appear when you polish your piece.
Quenching
Extinction refers to the process of cooling silver once it has been heated. Once the metal part has been removed from the heat, it can be turned off simply by dropping it in a bowl of water. Extinction usually follows a welding or annealing process.
Welding
Welding is when two pieces of metal are joined using welding, flux and heating the metal with a manual torch. It is essential to use solder because it has a lower melting temperature than the silver you would be working with. In other words, the solder will melt before the silver piece ensures a finding or other part to the existing section without damaging it or causing it to melt along with the solder.
Silver Welding
Silver welding is used to create a union between two pieces or ends of sterling silver. There are four different types of silver solder: hard, medium, comfortable and extra soft. Each type of welding has a different melting temperature. So you can choose the right welding for each stage of the welding process. The idea is that each type of welding is used in sequence with the highest melting temperature used first.