Silver scratches easily

I am a newbie to jewelry making, I got hooked on my wife’s hobby of
cutting stones (opals) and soon decided to build equipment to be
able to make my own settings instead of calibrating everything. I
have built a kiln and added a controller to it and have been
practicing casting. I recently carved a cross out of wax and cast it
and absolutely love the way it looks except that it seems to get
scratched easily. Even when using a polishing cloth that does not
scratch other silver pieces. What is happening here? Not dense
enough? Thank you for your help and all the info. that helped me get
started!!!

Ken Thomas

Ken,

Are you using fine silver, or Sterling? Either way, I suspect that
your piece is fully annealed and thus very soft. One thing you could
do is tumble it in stainless steel shot for a while, which will
harden the surface nicely.

Freshly cast silver ingots, which I work with fairly often, are
extremely soft, and you can mark the surface with a fingernail. After
working, the silver becomes much harder.

Loren