Silver for knife components

fast14riot

fast14riot

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Oct 27, 2010
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I was wondering how much diference there is in hardness as working with various silver content metals. I have .999 fine, .925 sterling and 90/10 "coin" silver currently. I am using .999 for the guard on my mini simply because I like the thought of having fine materials on it, but say for a small actual knife is there a reason other than cost I should use one over the others? Is fine silver that much softer then the other two options? I'm thinking for things like maybe an inlaid shield, false bolsters (similar to a ferrule), and various other features like that.


-Xander
 
I only have experience with sterling, but the hardness can be manipulated to a certain extent. It can be work hardened to a fair degree by hammering, and comes in different hardnesses from some suppliers, from annealed to some kind of "spring temper", if I remember correctly. It is a fairly forgiving material to work with and can be annealed and then hammered/drawn/bent/stamped, etc. repeatedly.
 
I have never worked with silver but out of intrest I've read a bit about it.

I can tell you that in the late middle ages English coiners got German experts to come over to help them with there problem of silver coins wearing out to soon.
A theorie is that the term Sterling comes from Easterling (the german)
Because that is what they did; they made the coins out of sterling silver.

For a usable knife I'd go for 925 sterling.
But like I said just book knolledge here.
 
Fine silver won't work well for anything but embellishments on knives.

Sterling makes good fittings and guards. It can be age hardened by holding the piece ( after all work is done and it is polished) in an oven at 535F for one hour and then cooling very slowly ( 25°F /Hr) to room temperature.

Argentum silver - ( sterling with germanium instead of copper) is excellent for fittings, as it is harder to start with, is more tarnish resistant, and age hardens even more. The age hardening of Argentum should be done when the pieces are ready for polish. Heat to 1150F and cool to black, then quench in water. Heat to 580F and hold for 1-2 hours. Quench in water again. This will get a good hardness ( good for silver), and maximum tarnish resistance .

Coin silver - Most coin silver is 800-850 fine (80-85% silver), and makes good fittings.
Newer collectible coins and coin like ingots are often .900, and some are even .999. I find these not all that good for silver work, but good for making lower alloys in casting of fittings.

Nickle silver is not silver at all, but an alloy of copper and nickel. It makes superb fittings, guards, and sheath parts. It has been the standard for a long time. It works similar to sterling, and you can use silver solders to join the parts.

As with all soldering work, clean parts, no oxides, tight fitting joints, proper heat, proper fluxing = good solder joint.
 
Thanx Stacy, I was hoping either you or that goo-ey one would chime in on this, since I know youre a goldsmith. That info helps a bunch!


-Xander
 
One question about the age hardening, when ramping down at 25*/h is there a lower limit when the item can be taken from the oven to cool in still air to room temp, or should the item be cooled 25*/h all the way down to ~100*? I don't think my oven goes below 150* and is probably not very accurate at those temps anyways.


-Xander
 
Down to 150 and off to let cool in the oven will work. I assume your oven isn't cotrolled?
 
Its just my kitchen oven is all I have for stuff like this. I usually put a couple cast iron skillets on the bottom rack to help even out the heat when tempering. I do need to pick up a small toaster oven for shop use though.


-X
 
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