Hi all
A & E have the flying unicorn stamps now. Ordered mine today.
A & E say that many people are now using Argentium and are selling a
lot.
I only have three pieces of sterling left plus some castings I can’t
get in Argentium.
It has been so hard to sell the sterling once people see the colour
of Argentium. And the customers love the low tarnish quality.
Australians are early adopters of technology and looks like we are
taking to Argentium on mass. Now it is available.
We tend to read instructions too so those who read them from Cynthia
Eid and Argentium International have a very shallow learning curve
with Argentium.
With a few weeks practise I now find it easier to work than sterling
and so much faster to fabricate.
I have now 100% success with fusing, needed to use more flux was
all.
So us in OZ need to give a big thank you to Cynthia Eid for getting
A & E to make Argentium.
I will only use sterling for reticulation as Argentium will not get
the extreme texture I like.
But I fuse and reticulate my Argentium lemel. I wanted to take some
photos but sold the pieces within minutes of putting them on display,
so no time for a photo yet.
One thing though use a clean oven to cook Argentium. My wife bought
me a cheap $80 one to cook the Argentium works a treat.
Also A & E will do special orders in Argentium minimum of 50 grams
and a bit more expensive than standard Argentium prices. But well
worth the extra cost as the labour saving is great.
My mobius rings (special order wire) cost about a $1 more than
sterling but fabricate so much faster that the saving on labour cost
makes them cheaper to make. And I sell them for the same price better
metal and better profit. How cool is that?
all the best
Richard
Wow! I am so pleased that AS is taking off in AU! And, I am
delighted to have been able to help people learn how to be
successful working with it! Thank you so much for your enthusiastic
update, and your appreciation of the efforts I have made to write
clear, concise instructions.
Best wishes to you and all the other Aussies,
Cynthia Eid
Hi all
should have mentioned I am using Comweld Silver Brazing flux number
2 for my flux. It is available from most welding suppliers in
Australia.
all the best
Richard
Hi Richard,
what kind of flux is Comweld Silver Brazing flux number 2? is it a
white paste flux? or a yellow liquid? Be careful of the white paste
fluxes—many of them create firescale on both SS and AS. My-T-Flux
(Rio Grande) and Batterns are yellow/green liquid fluxes that are
the favorite for me, Ronda Coryell, and Peter Johns (inventor of
AS). When I was in Australia, I saw that AU Flux is pretty commonly
available, and it is pretty similar to these other fluxes.
Cynthia Eid
Hi all
got my flying unicorn stamp today. Stamped all my Argentium pieces it
looks so cool. Also got a note from A and E Metals about needing to
be registered to use the brand and mark by law. I had already done
that.
If you need to do so email Clare Felgate at argentium silver.com You
get a password to marketing resources and a password/registration
number and all for free.
Only problem was the wife who said about me waiting for the stamp to
arrive.
“You are like a 2 year old waiting for santa. Shut up! If you don’t
you know what’s for dinner a cold shoulder or knuckle sandwich!” LOL
I will post the formula for the flux I use on Argentium. Not at
workshop now so that will be tomorrow.
all the best
Richard
Hi all
the flux I use is Cigweld, comweld silver brazing flux no. 2. It
contains Boric Acid 350mg/g, Potassium Bifluride 380mg/g and Potassium
Hydroxide 50mg/g. I use this on fine silver, sterling, argentium and
18 kt yellow. Works well and is very inexpensive. It actually works
better than other fluxes I have used. What I like about it is when it
stops bubbling it becomes sticky so I put the solder on at that stage
and it does not bounce around. I do solder with an extraction fan.
I direct solder, putting solder straight on join and pick solder
balling up solder and picking up with a titanium pick and placing on
join after heating to near solder join.
One thing the Argentium solder is slower to melt than sterling
solder so does not jump as fast into join gives me more control. Also
when soldering a bezel into a fused lemel piece of Argentium you can
get Argentium easy to begin to flow and then pulling the torch away
quickly you can get an uneven join to the bezel. Thus continuing the
texture of the base piece up to the bezel.
Also with careful torch play you can get some mild reticulation on
the bezel.
I made a piece from pieces of Argentium lemel today. Ran out of time
to heat in the oven, so I scratch brushed it. Looks good to me and
scratch brushed easier than sterling. Set an Alexandrite lab grown
corundum into the piece. Changes from purple to green in different
lights.
Set one of those Alexandrites in a ring for a present a customer was
buying for a friend. She did not tell the friend that it changed
colour. Caused some good fun.
all the best
Richard
I made a piece from pieces of Argentium lemel today. Ran out of
time to heat in the oven, so I scratch brushed it. Looks good to
me and scratch brushed easier than sterling.
Richard, remember that if you don’t heat the Argentium Sterling
after the final abrasive finishing, it will look fine, but the
tarnish-resistance will not be as good as if it had been heated.
Heating excites the germanium into rapidly creating germanium oxide.
The germanium oxide prevents tarnish. Any amount of time at any heat
will accelerate the creation of germanium oxide. (For hardening +
tarnish resistance, two hours at 580F or longer at 350F is needed.)
Cynthia Eid