Sterling silver vs Pure silver
Pure silver or fine silver has no added anything. It has no copper and therefore is tarnishing very slowly (goes to yellow metal in colour). Hardness is not an issue here and both wires can be bought as soft, half hard, or hard. The hardness is determined by the anealing of the wire. Sterling Silver is generally refered to as 925 silver, meaning that 925 silver parts are pure silver and the other 25 parts are copper or some other suitable metal. The 25 parts are added so that the melting temperature is raised of the silver and therefore other alloyed wire with different mixtures of metals can be used as solder. Now, although 925 silver is in the general mind of most people, today the amount of pure silver is slightly higher, less copper is used, and more exotic metals are added into the mix to create special alloys that tarnish less. These are now sold under trademarks such as Germanium etc. I think there are now 6 or 7 versions of these special "sterling Silver" alloys. These require also their own solders.
Pure silver or fine silver has no added anything. It has no copper and therefore is tarnishing very slowly (goes to yellow metal in colour). Hardness is not an issue here and both wires can be bought as soft, half hard, or hard. The hardness is determined by the anealing of the wire. Sterling Silver is generally refered to as 925 silver, meaning that 925 silver parts are pure silver and the other 25 parts are copper or some other suitable metal. The 25 parts are added so that the melting temperature is raised of the silver and therefore other alloyed wire with different mixtures of metals can be used as solder. Now, although 925 silver is in the general mind of most people, today the amount of pure silver is slightly higher, less copper is used, and more exotic metals are added into the mix to create special alloys that tarnish less. These are now sold under trademarks such as Germanium etc. I think there are now 6 or 7 versions of these special "sterling Silver" alloys. These require also their own solders.
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