Question: Seeking Material Advice

cropduster

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Hello to All - Although Nickle Silver was well used for engraved inlays on German Jaeger muzzleloaders, I have not yet seen or heard mention of it for use in engraving today. Is there a reason? Thanks and Best Regards - Cropduster
 

KCSteve

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Nickel silver doesn't get used much these days because it cuts kind of 'gummy' and for a lot of work the cost of the material you're engraving is too small a part of your overall cost to justify a cheap material.

Silver is back down to somewhat reasonable levels so there's little reason to use Nickel silver.

Take a women's bracelet for example. If you do it in NS you'll spend what? $10 at most for the material. With real silver you shouldn't spend more than $60 (3 ounces is a heavy bracelet for a woman). But in both cases you can spend hours making and engraving the bracelet. When it's time to sell, which one do you think you're going to get more money for? I'll give you hint: you'll easily get more than $50 more for silver bracelet.

We recently discussed use of copper for inlays. It was pointed out that a current gold prices it's not unreasonable to use real gold in your practice plates. I was one of the ones pointing out that money is still money and that copper being somewhat harder to work with is actually kind of an advantage in practicing. But I agreed that for your real work the choice between copper and gold should be based on artistic reasons, not price. $5 - 10 in material costs won't keep you from most projects. But $5 - 10 worth of gold inlay can make a huge difference in selling price.

And in the same way, if there's something about Nickel silver other than price that makes it a better choice for your project, then go right ahead and use it.
 

DAK4442

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Nickel in jewelry can also cause an allergic skin reaction in many people which is why you can find a lot of jewelry labeled as "nickel free"...
 

mtlctr

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Hello to All - Although Nickle Silver was well used for engraved inlays on German Jaeger muzzleloaders, I have not yet seen or heard mention of it for use in engraving today. Is there a reason? Thanks and Best Regards - Cropduster

most of the inlays I have seen on Jaegers is "German silver " with varying degrees of silver. I doubt any were nickel silver. on American longrifles an offshoot of the Jaegers all the inlays would have been coin silver of the day. Some claim allergy to nickel silver, i don't use it for anything that touches the skin, ie. earrings, pendants, bracelets etc. I do use some for hair barrettes. NS when polished does not have the same tone, not as "white" as sterling imho. hope this helps.
 

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