Hi, I have bad color blindness which makes it very difficult for me
to see the color change in silver when it is at annealing temperature.
I have found the only way to deal with this is to do my annealing in
a totally dark room so that I can see the glow of the metal. This is
kind of a pain! Does anybody out there have a better solution? (I
don’t have the same problem when soldering because I usually pre
place my solder so I can see it flash when it hits the right
temperature.) Thanks, Eric
Hi, You can get “wax sticks” like crayons that you wipe on an object
and they change colour at a set temperature - a very precise
temperature. You can even put a few daubs of different ones on to
see when the temperature is approaching that you need. I’ve never
used them but I have seen them used. Maybe someone more knowledgable
will be able to add more.
Regards,
Brian.
it isvery difficult for me to see the color change in silver when it is at annealing temperature. I have found the only way to deal with this is to do my annealing in a totally dark room so that I can see the glow of the metal. Does anybody out there have a better solution?
Do what industry does. don’t bother with torch annealing. buy a
small kiln, and at the start of the day, set it to around 1150 F.
When you need to anneal something, do your normal procedure to fire
coat it, then put it in the kiln for ten or fifteen minutes. an
advantage of kiln annealing is you can use the published figures
which are longer times at lower temps. this results in much less
distortion and fire scale, and eliminates problems when annealing
things like coils of very fine wire, or items with fine, easily
melted details along with heavier sections. The industrial version
of this is often a conveyor belt furnace where the hot zone is bathed
in inert or reducing gas, so that fire coating isn’t needed, but you
don’t need that degree of complexity to make this work. While I
normally anneal with a torch, one consequence of laser welders is the
need for continuing supplies of very small diameter wire, which can
be tricky to anneal. So I often use a small kiln for the purpose. I
got one of those small digital controlled ones sold for fireing PMC,
which makes it really easy to select a temp and have the kiln just
hold that, and this smaller kiln heats up much more quickly to the
needed temp than my larger burnout kiln.
Peter
Eric, Try building a little “annealing oven” when you start to do
it. You can use soldering pads or firebrick and basically construct
an open-sided “box” or “tent” out of them, with the opening facing
toward you (i.e., not on top). Place the piece inside and torch
away.
Not only can you see the glow clearly due to the darkness inside the
oven, I’ve found that you anneal much more quickly, due to the
reflective heat from the firebricks being retained around the piece,
instead of dissipating in the room air.
I do this routinely for mokume stacks as well, because they take so
darned long to anneal in the early stages. Works like a charm.
Hope this helps!
Karen Goeller
@Karen_Goeller
Eric, You can judge the right annealing temperature on silver by
watching for the “haze” to begin to follow the torch on the metal’s
surface, As you heat it the haze begins to form and gradually
intensifies. Just experiment with it a little bit and you will soon
develop a sense for just the right degree of haze that willl
indicate the best annealing temperature. Hope this works for you.
Jerry in Kodiak
Hi, I took a raising class from Jack Deserve. We were all having
trouble figuring out when our pieces were annealed, because they
were so big and we had to use 2 torches to get them up to
temperature. He had us mark a big X on our silver bowls with a black
sharpie pen. We heated our bowls until the X disappeared and then
they were annealed. It works great on smaller pieces too.
Katharine Whittaker
kw@katharinewhittaker.com
Silver reaches annealing temperature when paste flux runs clear so
all you have to do is to put a dab of flux on the metal where you
can see it.
Marilyn Smith
Eric, some folks put a small bit of paste type flux on the item to be
ann ealed; when the paste turns to a watery clear viscous liquid
then your a t the proper temperature for annealing. I prefer to
anneal with me bench light off. Good Luck.
Mark Kaplan
I seem to remember reading somewhere that colour blindness can be
compensated for in a lot of cases by wearing one lens of a fairly
strong colour like purple or green. May be worth experimenting with
or doing a bit of research…
Best wishes,
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield, UK
Look for “Tempilstik”. They are markers that melt at temperatures
from 100F -1800F. About $9.00 each. Made by Tempil. Some welding
shops carry them or order from a big catalog supplier like MSC or
Grainger. BIll
One type is called Tempil Stick. You can find them at Centaur
Forge, www.centaurforge.com There is another type called Thermomelt
in the Rutland Tool catalog, www.rutlandtool.com Hope this helps.
Linda Holmes-Rubin
ForCapital Associates of Atlanta
Phone: 770-479-7837
Fax: 770-720-7555
Email: @LINDA_HOLMES-RUBIN
I teach jewelry design and holloware and I find the best method for
determining the correct annealing temperature for silver is to
apply a stripe of flux onto the surface of the silver prior to
heating. As the silver heats the flux becomes glass like. That is
the point to stop. I believe this will help you.
Jennifer Friedman in Atlanta
Hi, You can get "wax sticks" like crayons that you wipe on an object and they change colour at a set temperature - a very precise temperature.
Hi Brian and others: Yes, these are called “tempilsticks” by trade
name. They are typically used in tempering/hardening steel. They
make a chalky mark on metal (but the surface needs to be somewhat
rough to get a mark). The chalky mark turns liquid at a specific
temperature. Try a welding supply house, or a tool supplier who
supplies materials for machinists.
David L. Huffman
David L. Huffman Studios, Inc.
If you are annealing a coil of wire, and you have difficulty seeing
the color, just watch carefully until you see the coil ‘relax’.
Then it’s annealed. Dee