Cracked sterling in hollow form

Jewelry Discussion
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Hi all. I make a lot of hollow forms. I’ve made plenty in sterling, but today, one of them cracked all the way around. (I’m a new jeweler, btw). I want to first say that quenching hollow forms sort of feels like petting a dog’s fur backward to me. Just feels yucky. Because of thermal fracturing. Anyway, I usually quench because we were taught to quench. The holes in my forms are usually part of the design, so, usually large or in multiples, so, plenty of openings for steam/gas to escape. Today my form just had a drill hole in it. Something I usually never do because a plain drill hole is boring. I’m not sure why my form cracked (it’s not argentium, it’s sterling), because several variables were happening all at once: 1) I usually work with 18 gauge silver, but have been working with 22 gauge to experiment with a lighter-weight metal for my forms, with much success so far until today, and today, the lid to my piece was 18 gauge, but the sides and bottom were 22 gauge 2) my hole was made with a #52 drill bit 3) I quenched immediately after soldering, even though everything inside me was screaming to let it air cool, at least for a few minutes. Now that I think of it, there is no reason to quench my hollow forms because they won’t be further shaped so they don’t need to be malleable.

SO, do you think that the metal cracked from thermal shock when quenching, the contrast in metal gauges, or from the hole being too small? I would love any advice, thoughts or opinions. I’m at the sponge stage of my learning and I file every bit of information away as I move along my new and very thrilling path. Everyone here has been doing this for ages, and I value your experience. THANK YOU!

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If I am understanding what you described, I believe that when you quenched your piece steam was created inside and the hole you drilled wasn’t big enough to handle the expanding steam and the weakest part gave way.
Stv

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Thank you. This is my hunch as well!

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How large is your form? I don’t have anything useful to add but I am curious about the process.

I was wondering about hydroformed shapes and could that work with silver. Like the previous commenter said, could the steam be used as an aid to develop forms?

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I agree with Steven that quenching the piece was probably the culprit. It occurred to me that a possible way of saving your work in an interesting way might be to fill the crack with gold solder like the Japanese Kintsugi method of piecing together broken pottery.

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I was thinking of that as well! I do pottery, so it was the first thing that came to my mind. I saved the piece and when I first saw the crack I said ‘ooooh, that would be a great gold vein!’ I’ll look into gold solder. I’ve never worked with it, so, thank you for that suggestion. I have since stopped quenching since this post, and no cracking :slight_smile: I did find a really good post on cracking silver on this site which was really informative too. Thanks for reaching out! xo

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I love this idea! Fill cracks in silver castings with gold solder. Genius!!

Jeff

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Now we will all be trying to crack our silver :joy:

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An update on Kintsugi-ing cracked jewelry, it doesn’t work. LOL. It fills the crack in nicely, but blends right in with the silver and you can’t even see it! Ah, well :sweat_smile:

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Can you post a picture? Would really help with the diagnosis