Work hardening copper and silver bracelets, rings

Good day to all, I’ve been wondering if subjecting copper and sterling
bracelets and rings to vibration for a time would work-harden them?
My Father used to be a plumber, and he remarked that letting copper
tubing rattle around in the back of a truck would stiffen it in time.
…Perhaps if I used a investment vibrator and a polyethelyne box to
keep the finished pieces from marring? Has anyone had any success
with this or a similar way? Yours, Chip Johnson
Roosevelt, Arizona.

Hi Chip,

I've been wondering if subjecting copper and sterling bracelets and
rings to vibration for a time would work-harden them? 

…Perhaps if I used a investment vibrator and a polyethelyne box to
keep the finished pieces from marring? Has anyone had any success with
this or a similar way? <<

You could tumble your finished pieces in a vibratory tumbler with
steel shot. In addition to coming out polished they’d be harder than
they went in. How much harder I don’t know, but they’d be harder. The
longer they’re tumbled, the harder they’d be.

Dave

    Good day to all, I've been wondering if subjecting copper and
sterling bracelets and rings to vibration for a time would
work-harden them? 

G’day; after a good pre sanding with diminishing grades of wet/dry
papers. I normally polish small sterling jobs in a (home made)
vibrating plastic vessel with a mix of steel balls from 1 mm to 5 mm
diameter plus a covering of water with a couple of scrapings of toilet
soap. After around an hour of this the job comes out with a
brilliant polish which is very long lasting as the surface of the
metal has been hardened. Copper would work harden similarly

I made my wife a sterling necklace of fairly intricate design several
years ago, and polished it this way and people still remark about
the polish. Work hardening the surface helps to avoid minute
scratching which dull the appearance. –

John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua Nelson NZ