Copper salt and carbon based glue

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi.

I was browsing the brilliant Orchid archives and came across a
posting from Tony Konrath from the year 2002 about granulation. I was
wondering if any of you had the chemical name for “copper salt” to be
used in granulation and/or if you could name me a brand (or two) of
carbon based glues. I have been to various shops that sell stuff for
metalwork and some pharmacists and none of them know what I am
talking about. Another thing I would like to ask is whether or not I
could use the same method as in granulation to diffuse small parts of
sterling silver together.

Many thanks,
Svanhildur Thors

2 
wondering if any of you had the chemical name for "copper salt" to
be used in granulation

I have used copper carbonate, which I believe is called malachite in
the wild.

Bruce D. Holmgrain
JA Certified Master Benchjeweler
Goldwerx
http://www.goldwerx.com
@Red_Rodder

3

Svanhildur,

Copper salts include copper hydroxide and copper carbonate and may
be found in ceramic supply stores.as finely ground pigment…for use
in making ceramic glazes. If you cannot find these, you can actually
grind up malachite into a fine powder. A solution of copper sulfate
will also work…the important element is copper in some form.

For an organic glue, you can use fish glue, hide glue, agar agar,
gum tragacanth…the legendary Elisabeth Treskow of Germany used
saliva…I guess it provided just enough organic material and had a
glue-like consistency. The secret is in not only in the combination
of ingredients, it is in the control of heating the piece to be
granulated. Experiment and you will discover.

Elizabeth McDevitt
Colorado Springs

4

Svanhildur Thors,

Copper Salt has a few names 1. Napthenic Acid 2. Octadecenoic Acid
and there are probably more. Tropag GmbH is a reference.

Luck!! JB

5 
wondering if any of you had the chemical name for "copper salt" to
be used in granulation I have used copper carbonate, which I
believe is called malachite in the wild.

Copper carb does work-- but isn’t malachite colored by chromium?

Noel

6

Svanhildur Thors,

Some jeweler have told me they had luck with Titebond Liquid Hide
Glue when they did granulation. I had a hard time finding Hide Glue.
On the bottle the phone number is listed for any
questions-1-800-347-GLUE. This glue is made for furniture repair.

Terri Sidell
Terr-if-ick Flair,Inc.