Silver News
UK Inventor, Finnish Manufacturer Team Up
to Produce Tarnish-Free Silver - Alloy Took Ten Years of Trial
and Error
At long last - tanish-free silver.
Could it be true?
A British silversmith says he has found a way to make tarnish-free
silver, and the largest silver manufacturer in Northern Europe,
believes he is right.
Peter Johns, a trained silversmith and technical tutor at
Middlesex University has been working for about 10 years on
a problem than has plagued smiths for centuries. Called firestain
or firescale, the dark coating found on silver occurs when
the metal oxidizes at high temperatures. It is nearly impossible
to get rid of and it makes working the silver very difficult.
"It causes problems when you join things together because
if you solder on top of the firestain, you don't get a proper
bond," says Johns.
Silversmiths often deal with firestain by coating the metal
with boric acid or other caustic, sometimes toxic solutions.
Johns found that by adding germanium, a semiconductor used
in early transistors and now employed mainly as a vital part
of military nightscopes, the silver alloy didn't develop firestain.
He said he tried germanium at the suggestion of a French company
that was trying to find new uses for the element after the
Cold War ended, military uses were diminishing and most transistors
and chips were starting to be made of silicon.
The tarnish resistant characteristic is what may be of the
most interest to consumers but it is the firestain resistance
that is most important to Johns and other silversmiths. Because
firestain is virtually eliminated in the alloy, it can be
welded with a laser, allowing increased automation of silver
manufacturing. "You also need less,grinding," says
Johns. The product has been in limited production since last
year, but is growing almost weekly, according to Tony Jackson,
technical development manager at Kultakeskus OY, an 81- year
old privately owned silver manufacturer about 60 miles north
of Helsinki.
The company, which is the largest silver maker in Northern
Europe, has been working with Johns for six years to learn
the right amount of germanium and other metals to produce
a silver product that has the best characteristics of sterling
but without the firestain. "Finally, we found the correct
mixture," says Jackson, "but it took us a long time
to do it. We went through every possible usage (silverware,
hollowware, Jewelry) until we found the correct percentage."
The alloy is considered sterling because it is 92.5 percent
(sometimes called '.925') pure silver.
Like Johns, the most important aspect to the company is the
no-firestain feature. "Because there's no firestain,
it saves production time and we don't have to use acids or
other substances (used to prevent firestain) that are not
environmentally friendly." He adds: "One of the
big savings is that we can weld which saves a lot of time.
A lot of people said that we could never weld silver, but
we can - with a laser."
He says that consumers in Scandinavia are asking the company
to produce additional products made of the tarnish-free alloy.
"They're asking us 'when can you make such and such'
product. We're increasing production weekly," said Johns
who would not give out production figures.
The new alloy is not without drawbacks. Adding germanium raises
the price 7 to 10 percent, but Jackson believes that most
consumers would gladly pay a premium if they didn't have to
polish their silver pieces to eliminate tarnish. "To
many people, it's drudgery." The other issue is that
of,availability. Germanium is a by-product of lead and zinc
extraction, and is also found in coal. The main source is
in Kazikstan, which is in an unstable political region. "We're
always worried about the price of germanium going up,"
says Jackson.
Another side effect is that the silver alloy gets some yellow
substance on it. "We're not sure what it is, but it wipes
off easily with a damp cloth," says Jackson.
The bulk of the effort to produce this new alloy has been
accomplished by trial and error. "We trust the alloy,"
he says. "it does exactly what we want it to do and consumer
demand is high and growing in Scandinavia and elsewhere."
Johns realizes that skeptics exist, so he invites people to
study. "It's in the public domain. Anyone can see it."
He also freely gives demonstrations to silver makers on how
to make the alloy. "They're surprised that I'm so open
about it."
Silver News - February / March 2000
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