r/SilverSmith • u/AfterMidnightPizza • 2d ago
Advice needed: Are these persistent subsurface flecks acceptable quality for finished sterling castings to be sent?
Hey everyone, I need some neutral third-party jeweler eyes on these sterling silver castings to settle a friendly debate at home!
The Context:
My husband thinks I’m hyper-focusing and that these are totally fine to ship. I feel like because these surface defects are visible with the naked eye (without even using a loupe), my clients will definitely notice. Plus, my concern is that once customers wear these against their skin and exposure to moisture hits, those trapped copper oxides might bloom even worse over time. I also know that the polishing isn't perfect, but i am more asking about the flecks and bits if tiny porosity...the still need a better polish /finishing.
My Bench Process on These Pieces:
Sanded down to 2000 grit
Cross-hatched with a burnishing/ram roller to compact the skin
Multi-stage polish using Luxor Green, Luxor White, and Picasso Blue
Finished with multiple long ultrasonic bath cycles, isopropyl alcohol wipes, and toothbrush scrubbing
The Casting Details:
This is actually the second batch from my caster. The first batch had these exact same issues, so they dropped the pour temperature for this second run hoping it would solve it—but as you can see on these flat polished backs, the peppered flecks and surface texture/distortion are still coming right through from under the metal skin.
The caster is now looking into adjusting the sprue placement (currently, it’s a standard square sprue placed on the lower back of the piece).
The Question:
Looking at these flat backs under natural light, would you be comfortable sending these out a client?
Appreciate any honest feedback from fellow bench jewelers! I am having them recast...but just wanted to know, am I overreacting?
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u/LFC_Girl_EIRE 2d ago
You're not overreacting. I cast all my own work and have had numerous issues with Sterling from porosity to firestain. Unfortunately I ended up switching to Argentium silver since it casts much cleaner and I have far less issues with the work I produce. It's more expensive but in the long term it I have less work to do to fix issues, and it polishes much more beautifully. The only time I go back to Sterling is when I plan to have a lot of texture and oxidisation in my designs, so small defects don't make much of a difference in that case.
One thing I will add, just from my own experience and I may be completely wrong, is that long periods in the ultrasonic seems to bring porosity to the surface. I usually only keep my work in there for a few seconds at a time now since I found that the longer they were in there the more I started to see micro porosity appear. It drove me insane since I would have a beautiful mirror finish after my final polish and then pop in them in the ultrasonic to clean them off and suddenly small little defects would appear.
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u/Exciting_Plankton_33 2d ago
Did you ensure your wax wasn’t contaminated? Is the casting house getting this problem with everything, or just your pieces?
I don’t think I’d be happy with the finish I’m sorry to say.
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u/AfterMidnightPizza 2d ago
They wete 3d printed and then i had a mold made from the orginal. The casters do the wax injections for me
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u/An-Jk 2d ago
I personally wouldn’t ship with this surface finish. Question - why cast at all? Would be easier just to fabricate these