If you have access to a ceramics studio (look around--lots of schools and community centers and the like have ceramics programs) you might find to be of interest. I'd never heard of it before--seems like intersting stuff.
It's very good stuff. Pure silver (or gold, depending). I don't know how strong and hard it is, though. Although I suppose you could form your hinges around pieces of brass tube to provide the bearing surfaces for the hinges.
--RC "Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.
also, pmc shrinks when fired, anywhere from 6-20% depending upon which flavor you get
Silver is far too soft - they will break. Use nickel silver instead. You might well plate silver on top of this.
Silver-plated brass is a slightly lower cost, but much less quality. When the plating wears on the corners they're more obvious, as there's a colour contrast.
A convenient source of metal stock for making these in small quantities is old "EPNS" (electroplated nickel silver) tableknives from a charity shop. If you want bigger sheets of nickel silver, talk to the model railway people.
I can't help you with local .ca sources, but talking to a silversmith who works on teapots, jugs and the like rather than jewellery ought to help.
Silver is harder and stronger than one might suppose. I still plan one day to cast some hinges in pure silver so they won't tarnish. These are going to be thick hinges. If you have ever seen the really nice thick solid brass hinges sold by woodworking supply places, well thats what I'm talking about. Sufficently heavy, I am convinced they will be fine. Sterling is used a lot for jewelry where weight, thus thickness is important. Same for holloware that has to be hard enough to be servicable. I believe a pure silver hinge thick enough will last a very long time indeed in a small decorative or jewelry box. Of course I may find out differently some day. What I plan to do is buy a good quality hinge and use it to make a rubber mold so I can make multiple waxes and then have a go at casting. Also on my want to do list is to inlay some pure silver wire into a small project as decoration. There's a name for that but I forget what is is. Breide or something like that. Lot's of Indian (not american indian) objects were donein this manner. Contrast between a dark wood and the light silver is really nice. BTW, most 'sterling silver' jewelery you buy nowadays has been rodium (sp?) plated so it wont tarnish. That explains the high shine you see.
"Mike in Arkansas" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:
Pure silver will tarnish just as much as the sterling variety -- I have a few silver ingots (.9999 pure) that have a "nice" coating of black silver oxide.
Okay, I'm not trying to be contentious here, but. . .
Sterling silver is. Pure silver is a lot weaker and softer than sterling -- which is why silversmiths use sterling for most things. If you want to see what pure silver is like, play with some plain bezel wire sometime.
Oh they'll tarnish. It's just that pure silver tarnishes more slowly than steriling. But it still tarnishes.
For something like a jewelry box, the silver wouldn't have to be all that thick -- if you used sterling. You could probably use 18 gauge nicely.
I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean here. The main reason most silversmiths use sterling is because it is considerably stronger and longer wearing than pure silver. Sterling is only about 7 percent copper so you don't save that much money by making a piece in sterling rather than pure silver -- that is if you could make the two pieces equally thick.
However you'd not only have to make the pure silver piece thicker, it would accumulate nicks and scratches much more quickly.
I think you're undoubtedly correct here.
There are many names for the technique because cultures from Japan to Norway have traditionally practiced it.
Inlaying silver wire into wood or metal is much easier than learning to cast.
donein
BTW: A lot of that 'wire' inlay you see is actually strip silver (called 'bezel wire' in the trade which is inserted into cuts made with a jeweler's saw. I learned the technique from a friend of mine, a wonderful woman who sadly died in December.)
It makes for some beautiful pieces. Silver combines wonderfully with wood.
Onk? You get an absolute mirror finish on silver by simply polishing it correctly. I don't know about commercial products, but I know most silversmiths don't rhodium plate their pieces.
--RC (who has a couple of silver projects sitting on his bench right now)
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad
-- Suzie B
Try wire inlay. It really isn't that difficult and it can add a lot of a project.
--RC
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad
-- Suzie B
Enjoyed this exchange - as usual learned more than I bargained for.
Thank you all.
Will silver plate hinges as noted earlier. Next time I am in Durango I will look for some. If I find a source I will post it.
What's wrong with tomatoes in a fruit salad? Cherry Tomatoes that is? "-) Love 'em...
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