Annealing is an important part of the jewelry making process, and it is basically where the metal is heated to soften it for handling and working. You will need some special jewelry making tools to manage the process, and in this article we go over what is involved.
The process will vary depending on the metal you are working with because each metal has a different melting point. For example, if you are working with copper it has a high melting point and will require a lot of annealing, while if you are working with gold it is naturally flexible and may not require annealing at all.
The most common tool used by jewelers in the annealing process is a torch, which can be either propane or natural gas. When using the torch, the flame should be held on the metal at the point where the blue and yellow parts of the flame intersect. As the color of the metal changes, it becomes more flexible, and using the correct heat, this shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds. The temperatures at which metals are collected are:
- Copper 1110 degrees,
- Silver 1110 degrees
- Platinum 1110 degrees
- 1200 degree white gold
- 1200 degree gold
If you are using metal wire to make jewelry and have access to a furnace, this can be a useful alternative to a blowtorch. But a furnace isn’t one of the standard jewelry-making tools, and when you start out, you don’t need anything more than a hand torch.
