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How to Heat Treat Silver

Over time, silver jewelry will get tarnished and show its wear, but through the process of heat treating you can increase your silver's hardness and tarnish resistance. Heat treating can change silver's tarnish resistance and hardness because, as the metal is heated up and then cooled off (a process called "annealing"), its properties change. And though this process requires welding knowledge, specialty items like the Blue Alcohol can be found at most tool supply houses.

Things You'll Need

2 metal (or ceramic) bowls
Blue Alcohol
Ice water
2 fire bricks
Welding apron
Welding gloves
Welding helmet
Oxyacetylene welding torch
Tongs

Instructions

- 1
  Put some Blue Alcohol into one of your bowls. Use enough of the Blue Alcohol so that your silver can be completely immersed in it after it is heated. And put some ice water into your other bowl.
- 2
  Set your fire bricks side by side onto a metal table or other flame-resistant surface.
- 3
  Place the silver that you want to heat treat onto your fire bricks.
- 4
  Put on your welding apron, gloves and helmet.
- 5
  Light your welding torch.
- 6
  Run the flame over your silver until it turns dull red. This means that it is annealed.
- 7
  Remove your silver from the fire bricks using tongs.
- 8
  Immerse your silver in the Blue Alcohol, keeping it in your tongs.
- 9
  Remove your silver from the Blue Alcohol and return it to your fire bricks.
- 10
  Use a neutral flame (approximately equal parts gas and oxygen) to burn the alcohol from your silver.
- 11
  Pick your silver up with your tongs and drop it into the ice cold water in your other bowl.

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