Silversmith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A silversmith is a person who works with silver. Silversmiths not only work with silver, but with other metals as well to make jewellery and other items. Silversmiths specialise in the use of silver though, and it is the principal metal with which they work.

Silver is cheaper than gold, and so is very popular with jewellers who are just starting out and cannot afford to make pieces in gold. Silver has also become very fashionable, and is used frequently in more artistic jewellery pieces. Silver also has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

There are several different types of silversmiths: Some are involved in the fabrication of the metals, where items are typically cut and then constructed with differing connections, such as soldering or riveting. Others work in wax and then cast their pieces using a process called lost wax casting, where the wax original is evaporated in a burn-out process in a kiln. There are silversmiths who specialize in forging and forming, producing pieces that are typically made from a single piece of metal that has been hammered or formed under the pressure of percussion or squeezing from a press, such as a hydraulic press. There are silversmiths who only make jewelery and there are silversmiths who only make utensils.

Because silver is such a malleable metal, silversmiths have a large range of choices with how they prefer to work the metal.

Traditionally a Silversmith gets its name from the production of "silverware" (cutlery, bowls, plates, cups, candlesticks and such). Only in more recent times has a silversmith expanded to work on jewellery, due to the similarity in techniques.

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