Engravable Stainless Steel Sheet ???

[mitch]

Hi Andy-

Years ago I made a pendant & matching earrings for my wife out of stainless. I just went back and checked my notes- it was 416. As I remember, it sawed, drilled, filed, engraved, scraped, burnished, & polished just fine. It has also never caused my better half any skin irritation in spite of very frequent wear -and holds up beautifully, too.

I don't have any digital shots of the actual pieces, but here's a link to the (award-winning!) pencil rendering I did of them: http://mrmengraving.com/images/bio1_large.jpg ; and the casting: http://mrmengraving.com/products_castings.html As you can see, they're deeply sculpted and I had no difficulties with the material.

 

[Christopher Malouf]

Yeah Tim ....I get it. ... and hardening any metal will increase it's corrosion resistance.




This discussion is getting a bit confusing quickly as anyone who made something once out of something will add something. lol

Best of luck gentlemen.

 

[AndrosCreations]

Hi Mitch,

Thanks so much for that info... it's quite helpful! Your award winning rendering is beautiful... in fact... It linked your artwork to a knife I saw in Blade magazine recently. I knew the knife was engraved by someone on the forum and as soon as I saw the pencil rendering, I knew it was you.

Thanks again for the information. You do beautiful work!

 

[AndrosCreations]

Chris,

As far as conflicting information... I've sold handmade jewelry for the last few years and there are some people who can wear pure copper and it not stain their skin... on the other extreme there are people who can't wear anything less than 22k gold so if some information appears to be conflicting, it really isn't... We were just trying to find a stainless alloy that the majority of the population wouldn't have a reaction to. So the 'strictness' in your original post is understandable and desirable.

Maybe it would be possible for me to make some items out of 400 series if they were people I'd made things for before and have an idea of their body chemistry... but when selling to the public... the stricter standards must be utilized.

In November I stopped selling all rings. I had such a rash (pardon the pun) of people that had reactions that it was driving me nuts. There must have been 10 people in one month. It was really discouraging. Maybe someday I'll start fabricating them again but for now it'll just have to wait. (All sterling stock was purchased from Rio Grande whom I trust). It didn't have Germanium in it (Argentium)... just standard 92.5% silver to 7.5% copper.

:beat up: <---- retail

 

[airamp]

Hi,

Chris no seriously..Contact Dermatitis is a issue and thanks for bringing it up..

your advise on which ss are best is well taken.

430 has non or low Ni content.

In most stainless the nickel is bound so tightly that it rarely causes a problem.

And yes that is how they found out people had allergys to nickel.. called Contact Dermatitis.

http://www.nickelinstitute.org/index.cfm/ci_id/99.htm


Here is a SS composition chart.

http://www.engineersedge.com/stainless_steel.htm

White gold alloy has nickel in it..

Andy somtimes the composition of the metal is not exactly what they say they are..(some get rid of there scrap in the remelt).

AirAmp

 

[Christopher Malouf]

All I can say on this subject .... when using stainless steel for jewelry ... 316L is used in 99% of commercially available products for a good reason. It is sold as hypoallergenic and tarnish or scratch resistant. 316 is not practical for hand engraving but some of the 300 series steels are.

I am assuming that whatever is being made is not being made as a gift for grandma but for a customer who can make life miserable. Andy, I know that you know that you'll figure out what's best and that forum participants are not the ones' who will answer your phone if something you sell doesn't live up to a customer's expectations.


Best of luck .... Time to bow out of this thread. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves ..


p.s. Mike ... was just razzin' a little about the nickel content.

 

[diandwill]

Arnaud has been doing some wonderful things with Titanium. It might be a viable option to stainless.
Will

 

[mitch]

Thanks for your kind comments, Andy-

just to clarify, i was primarily commenting on the workability of 416- which I found quite pleasant, not its hypo/non-allergenic properties, or lack thereof. my wife is only an unscientific sample of one and she isn't particularly sensitive to that sort of thing. on the other hand, people who are extremely sensitive probably make a point of knowing what is & isn't ok for them to wear, so if you're careful to mark everything you're probably safe using whatever works best. maybe one of the professional jewelers' organizations (GIA?) could provide a list of approved metals/alloys? there are undoubtedly medical/surgical standards for SS, but those won't tell you anything about workability for engraving & jewelry.

and as you're no doubt aware, some SS is a cast-iron B**** to engrave. i can think of several projects over the years where i would have loved to know exactly what that stuff was, so i could either avoid it altogether, or charge triple for the brain damage.

 

[Brian Marshall]

The United States is the only country that still allows nickel in white gold alloys.. everyone else is a bit ahead of us. Though we have karat gold using palladium and other alloys - they are not as common yet.


B.

 

[Gemsetterchris]

To be honest, if you want to make pendants with hand engraving & make money you need to use gold, platinum or palladium.

Steel & silver is for cheapskates.. you will not sell a steel pendant to cover your hourly engraving needs (unless famous i guess).

Steel is for guns & knives.

 

[AndrosCreations]

Thanks again for all the comments everyone...

Chris M , Your input has been extremely valuable and if it weren't for you, I probably would have ordered something inappropriate by this time... and I don't mean dirty magazines :just kidding:

I actually have some 304 'in hand' now that I can test. I will give an assessment of it probably later in the day. It's fully annealed and at a Rockwell hardness of B70, I'm hoping it should engrave well. "Before" I saw your last post about 302, I had ordered a sampling of the 304.... if the 304 doesn't work out, I can try 302 next although it is a little more expensive:

302 16 gauge 12" x 12" $94.68
304 16 guage 12" x 12" $15.03

I know... there is a wide variance in these prices, but a 12 x 12 sheet of 302 is still very cheap when a 1 inch square pendant size would amount to 66¢, big deal... especially if it ends up being a superior medium. Also, an interesting quote from onlinemetals.com "Under normal circumstances T-304 can be dual-certified as T-302 because the standards overlap". Interesting...

Gemsetterchris , I know what you mean. Steel isn't a classy jewelry metal and silver could be called cheap and it isn't very durable. Unfortunately, my clientele don't have allot of money so I just make these small items to make ends meet here whilst getting some practice in. Someday I hope to do more work in gold but for now I'll have to make do with lesser materials until I build a reputation as a jeweler / engraver.

Thanks again guys...

 

[AndrosCreations]

As a follow up on the 304... It cut wonderfully in its fully annealed state. Yes, it's a little harder than mild steel but even being a novice... the cutting went great... and that was with an HSS graver.

However, Christopher was correct about cutting it with a jewelers saw. I managed to cut out a guitar pick shape but it took a long time and I wouldn't want to have to do it again. There certainly wouldn't be any savings as there would be more labor involved in cutting an item out and cleaning it up.... But for the record, the engraving went well.

When I engrave nickel silver in its fully annealed state, something ugly happens and I'm guessing that it's the work hardening. As the graver is cutting, the metal almost wants to 'bunch up' on either side of the graver track as if some of the metal is being displaced rather than removed. The 304 did this to a very small degree but it really wouldn't be an issue but I thought I would mention it.

All in all, I learned much and hopefully others can see this post and be aware that 304 does engrave very nicely, but it's a pain to fabricate the items if you need to do so... Thanks to all who contributed.. :thumbs up:

T-304 was obtained at onlinemetals.com - I ordered what was called their "2B" finish which was very nice. One side was covered with a plastic peel away coating. Ordered in a small sheet of both 16 and 18 gauge.

 

[Keith]

However, Christopher was correct about cutting it with a jewelers saw. I managed to cut out a guitar pick shape but it took a long time and I wouldn't want to have to do it again.

Thats why I suggested having the parts waterjet cut. Call the guy and he will do a great job

 

[AndrosCreations]

Hi Keith,

I sent him an email to get an idea how much the cutting would be per part.

Thanks again for the suggestion... we'll see what he says.

-Andy

 

[Keith]

Andy, I did the jewelers saw thing and it took longer to cut the pieces than to do the engraving. I spoke to my buddy and said he was on the road doing shows and should be home soon.

 

[AndrosCreations]

Hah, I hear ya, Keith... I got 1/3 the way around the cut with the jewelers saw and my blade was toast... There's no way I have that kind of patience...

I look forward to him getting home to hear how much it might cost and see if it would be feasible.

Thanks!

 

[Christopher Malouf]

You'll be alright Andy .... waterjet cut your design 100 times over an entire sheet. Give your customers more engraving to make up for the loss in markup in offering a metal with higher intrinsic value and you'll have yourself a fantastic, low cost, "exclusive" item which will give years of use long after it has left your shop.

All the best ...

Chris

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

Thats why I suggested having the parts waterjet cut. Call the guy and he will do a great job

The problem with water jet cutting is you don't get a really straight 90 degree edge. If the sheet is thin enough it probably doesn't matter though.

I produce accessories for the Chevy SSR and have my parts cut out with a huge CNC industrial laser. That makes them a perfect 90 degree cut and they can turn out the parts by the hundreds for me at what I consider cheap prices. I used to have them done on a CNC router which is yet another choice.

Depending on what resources are nearby that is. But, if they have lasers in Grand Forks, ND... they must be everywhere. :big grin: