Precious Metal Wire Performance Results
Reference this list of shapes and hardnesses to see how each type of precious metal wrapping wire reacts to a range of treatments, from hammering and soldering to creating patinas and more.
Wire Type and Availability
Sterling Silver
Sterling silver is wire is 92.5% silver, with another metal, typically copper, being added for strength and workability.
| Round | Half-Round | Square | Twisted Round | Twisted Square | Oval | Low Dome | Textured Flat | Triangle | |
| Dead-Soft | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Half-Hard | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Full-Hard | X | X | X | X | X |
Fine Silver
Fine silver wire, made with at least 99.9% pure silver, is softer, more malleable and tends to tarnish more slowly than sterling silver. Fine silver can be work-hardened by traditional means such as stretching, hammering, tumbling and other methods, however it cannot be hardened with heat.
Fine silver wire is available in dead-soft and half-hard varieties of round wire.
Argentium® Silver
Argentium silver is sterling silver that contains a small amount of additional alloys, silver, copper and germanium, giving it dramatically better tarnish resistance than standard sterling silver.
Argentium silver wire is available in dead-soft, half-hard and full-hard varieties of round wire.
More information about soldering with Argentium wire can be found in the Ask-the-Experts section of the Fire Mountain Gems and Beads Website.
Sterling Silver-Filled
Professional-quality sterling silver-filled wire has a high-perceived value at a fraction of the cost of sterling silver. Sterling silver-filled wire is made of a durable outer layer of sterling silver surrounding a copper-alloy core and is finished with an anti-tarnish coating to preserve its beauty.
Sterling silver-filled wire is available in half-hard as round or square wire.
Gold-Filled
Gold-filled wire is made from a thick layer of carat gold mechanically bonded to a base-metal core using heat and pressure. United States law requires a minimum 5% carat gold content.
| Round | Half-Round | Square | Twisted Round |
Twisted Square |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dead-Soft | X | X | X | X | X |
| Half-Hard | X | X | X | X | X |
| Full-Hard | X | X | X | X | X |
Rose Gold-Filled
Rose gold-filled wire is made in the same way as gold-filled wire, but the outermost layer of gold contains copper, which gives it a warm, pink color.
Rose gold-filled wire is available in dead-soft and half-hard varieties of round wire.
Wire Treatment by Type and Material
Precious metal wire is ideal for many different methods of wireworking, from hammering and wire weaving to fusing, oxidizing, soldering and more. The chart below shows what types of wire will work for each variety of metalworking. For more information about wireworking, visit Wireworking Resources.
| Sterling Silver | Fine Silver | Sterling Silver-Filled | Gold- & Rose Gold-Filled | Argentium® Silver | |||||||||
| Dead-Soft | Half-Hard | Full-Hard | Dead-Soft | Half-Hard | Dead-Soft | Half-Hard | Full-Hard | Dead-Soft | Half-Hard | Full-Hard | |||
| Hammering | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Oxidizing / Patina | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Forging / Forming | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Chainmaille | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Fusing | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||
| Soldering | x | x | x | Lightly Only | Lightly Only | Lightly Only | Lightly Only | Lightly Only | Lightly Only | x | x | x | |
| Wire Weaving | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Wire-Wrapping | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
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