I've put up a couple of photos of pieces that ere made of hardenable silver and cracked after being enamelled....
Having spoken to Bill, I find the pieces in the photographs are not
Argentium Silver but are a Johnson Mathey hardenable silver alloy
that was sold about 20 years ago.
There appears to be some confusion about hardenable silvers - the
alloy Bill used was an oxidation hardening alloy, Argentium on the
other hand is a precipation hardenable alloy. With oxidation
hardening alloys, you cannot reverse the process once the alloy is
hard. Precipitation hardening alloys can be hardened and softened
as many times as required.
I am not an enameller. I am trying to track down somebody in the UK
who I believe has had success enamelling Argentium. I will post a
message on Orchid when I have more
Peter Johns
E-mail: peter.johns@argentiumsilver.co