Walk into almost any bench jeweller's workshop and you will find three metals within arm's reach: silver, brass and copper. Each behaves differently under the hammer, takes solder in its own way, and costs a different amount to get wrong. Knowing which to reach for saves both money and frustration.
Fine silver, sterling and Argentium
Fine silver is 99.9% pure (stamped 999). It is soft, a warm bright white, and almost immune to firescale, which makes it lovely for bezel wire, fused work and anything you want to solder repeatedly without staining. That same softness is its limit: a fine-silver ring shank or a bangle will mark and bend far too easily, so it is rarely used where a piece must hold its shape.
Sterling silver is 92.5% silver with the balance usually copper (stamped 925). It is the workhorse of the trade — strong enough for rings, hard-wearing, and it work-hardens nicely as you forge and planish it. The copper is a mixed blessing: heat it and you invite firescale, a grey copper-oxide stain that lurks under the surface and only shows itself once you polish. You manage it with a firecoat of flux, with depletion gilding, or simply by pickling and re-finishing. Sterling also tarnishes, which is a maintenance question rather than a working one. Our guide to annealing and forging silver covers keeping it moving without cracking it.
Argentium is a modern sterling in which a little germanium replaces some of the copper. It strongly resists firescale, tarnishes far more slowly, and fuses beautifully. The trade-offs are a higher price and a different feel at the torch: it goes glassy and can slump before it glows the way you expect, so it is easy to overheat if your hands are trained on standard sterling. If tarnish is your main worry, our notes on anti-tarnish strategies for silver are worth reading before you pay the premium.
Brass and gilding metal
Brass is copper alloyed with zinc. It is cheap, golden, and noticeably harder than pure copper, which makes it excellent for findings, mixed-metal work and — importantly — for practising. It anneals and solders well, though the zinc will fume if you seriously overheat it, so keep the space ventilated. Bear in mind that some brasses contain a little lead; for anything that sits against skin, choose a stated lead-free alloy or seal the surface.
Gilding metal is a high-copper brass, roughly 95% copper, with a warmer, more golden colour that sits close to a low-carat gold. Enamellers favour it as a base, and it raises and anneals kindly, so it is a common choice for costume pieces and for rehearsing a design before you commit precious metal to it.
Copper: the honest practice metal
Pure copper is soft, cheap and a genuine pleasure to work. It anneals to a dead-soft state, raises and fold-forms without fighting you, and takes a hammer texture crisply — which is exactly why it belongs on every learner's bench. Forge a copper cuff first and you make all your early mistakes on metal that costs pennies, not on sterling at several pounds a gram. The catch is that copper tarnishes quickly and can leave a green mark on skin, so for finished wear it usually wants lacquering or a deliberate patina. For hammering and raising practice, pair it with the right tools from our hammers & forming collection.
Bronze and nickel silver in brief
Bronze is copper with tin. It is harder than brass, casts well, and carries a rich, slightly darker gold tone that suits sculptural and cast work. Nickel silver — also called German silver — contains no silver at all: it is copper, nickel and zinc, prized for being bright, cheap, hard and springy. That springiness makes it handy for certain findings, but nickel is one of the most common skin allergens there is, so keep nickel silver away from earrings and anything in long-term contact with skin.
Matching the metal to the piece
Choosing well is mostly a matter of matching hardness, colour and cost to the job. A structural ring or a bangle wants sterling for durability; a delicate bezel wants fine silver for its softness; a bold cuff you are still designing wants copper or brass, so that mistakes stay cheap. Colour matters too — brass and gilding metal read warm and gold, while nickel silver and sterling read cool and bright. Whatever you pick, the finishing routine shifts with it: sterling and fine silver polish to a brilliant white, while the copper alloys take more work to hold a shine, and our polishing & finishing tools will see you through all of them.
Cost sets the running order. Copper is cheapest, with brass, gilding metal and nickel silver only a little more; bronze sits in the middle; silver is dearer again, and gold is another conversation entirely. Because silver is sold by weight, it pays to know what a design will actually consume before you cut — our piece on calculating metal weight and cost shows how, and the measuring & marking tools help you lay it out accurately in the first place.
Practising cheaply and using your scrap
The thrifty habit that separates comfortable makers from anxious ones is simple: rehearse on copper or brass, then repeat in silver once your hands know the moves. Gauge is worth planning too, so read our wire gauge guide for jewellers before you order stock. Nothing needs to be wasted, either — silver offcuts, filings and failed solder joints all hold value. Melt clean scrap into a bar with a cast-iron ingot mould, then roll or draw it back into usable stock, pulling it to exactly the gauge you need through a tungsten-carbide draw plate. If you would rather pour that scrap straight into a shape, our guide to cuttlefish and Delft-clay casting is the natural next step.
Ready to put a metal to work? Browse the hammers & forming collection and start on copper before you commit to silver.