Annealing silver in metal clay oven - any experience?

Hello everybody, I am Tuula and new to this forum. Actually I found it as I was looking for information on the above topic. I have a small metal clay oven that heats nicely up to 600 Celsius (1112 Fahrenheit) so I suppose I can use it for annealing silver wire. Does anybody have experience on it??? If I tie the silver wire into a coil and set it on a ceramic wad blanket to insulate it from the bottom, should this do the trick? All ideas on the topic are appreciated :slight_smile:

There is no need to insulate it from the bottom because the bottom will be heated aswell.

Key is temperature and time aswell.
The only backdraft is that you can’t observe the color of the silver but if your temperature (and time) is set up right, it doesn’t matter.

Why time?
I takes some time for the metal structure to reorientate.
Tomuch time on the otherhand can cause firestain.

Short answer, that kiln will do perfectly.

Thank you so much. I thought insulating is needed in case the metal should run but I suppose 999 or 925 silver won’t run in 600 C even if in thin wire form? How much time would be needed? Luckily I can programme the oven to keep the temperature set. Isn’t it cool that hobbyists can discuss things here across the world (I am in Finland). I really appreciate your answer :slight_smile: Thanks!

You’re welcome.

I’ve been there too, asking myself all kind of questions and learning it the hard way.

It becomes a natural habit, I don’t clock it but go by feeling.
Wire doesn’t need thatmuch time (*/- 20 - 35sec)
It’s relative thin (+/- 1mm) and temperature can penetrate very easely.
Heavier (thicker) objects need longer, therefore, it’s recommended to cover them with a protectiv layer to prefend firescale.
Working with argentium is another case.

Ganoksin is awsome and has always been awsome.
Ganoksin is -to me- a forum WITHOUT boundaries, worldwide and everybody is welcome!

By the way, I’m from Belgium -)

Haa, so there isn’t such a big water between us. I am overprotective with my oven as I don’t want to ruin it, otherwise experimenting is fine. But now I will brace myself.

Jump over next time so we can talk about it.
I’ll serve you with a good glas of wine or a cop of coffee… to warm you up again -)

It’s a good habit to take care about your equipment, keep doing so.

Allway’s welcome

To be sure you are not ruining your sterling by creating deep firescale,
you should coat it with flux then enclose it in stainless steel foil and
crimp the edges together to exclude air flow. It will take a little longer
to reach temperature.

Noël

You can use what metal clay people use for base metals: a pan with activated coconut carbon. Your sterling will take a little longer to reach temp, but no firescale at all because the activated carbon absorbs all the O2 in the chamber.

Don’t know if this is of any use, but Ann Cahoon shows how to use one of those small beehive kilns to anneal a coil of fine silver wire (22 gauge?) in her first chain making video.

(An aside: I love all of the instructional videos of hers that I’ve seen. Clear, precise, and thorough.)

Tricia