I have these butter knives that are pure sterling silver for the handles and the blades are stainless steel. I have 11 of them. There was 12 but after a very long struggle i managed to get the handle off of it. But it was quite difficult and im my liking forward to attempting it again 11 times over. I don't have a saw that will cut it safely. Does anyone have any ideas?
Sterling silverware
- Thread starter Rreyes097
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Owltech
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What do you want to do with the handles? Refine them? By dissolving them in nitric acid? If the answer to the last two questions is yes then you don't need to remove the blades. If you dissolve the knives the blades should stay untouched (at least the stainless steel ones will).
Sterling knife handles are stamped from sterling sheet metal. Two halves are bound together and soldered. They are then filled with anything from a cement like material to a resin, the blades are inserted, and the filling hardens. On average, there is somewhere between a few grams up to around 15 or so grams of sterling per handle.
The best way I've found to deal with them is Mr. Hammer. Put them on a solid surface and give them a few good whacks. They'll usually separate at the soldered joint.
Dave
The best way I've found to deal with them is Mr. Hammer. Put them on a solid surface and give them a few good whacks. They'll usually separate at the soldered joint.
Dave
Thanks yall. I was afraid the hammer would be the best way. Because it is still quite difficult but i guess if that's the best way then so be it.
It's usually quite quick. Orient the knife so the seam is facing up and down, or nearly so. Hold onto the blade with a pair of pliers. Whack it! You'll probably see a crack between the two halves after one good smack. Follow the crack as needed with another whack or two and they'll be well on the way. You don't actually have to get the two halves to separate completely. The filling usually breaks up under the influence of Mr. Hammer and you can dump it out. Once it's well broken up, you can pull the blade out easily.
Dave
Dave
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What I have found with table ware is that if just one is in good order it could pay for the entire lot.
Lot's of people have set's that are missing one or two pieces.
Do Not be so fast to destroy until you have tried to sell on.
http://www.cutlerysearch.com/Customers'%20Comments.htm
http://www.flatwarefinder.com/
Lot's of people have set's that are missing one or two pieces.
Do Not be so fast to destroy until you have tried to sell on.
http://www.cutlerysearch.com/Customers'%20Comments.htm
http://www.flatwarefinder.com/
scrapman1077
Well-known member
You could send them to me for trade 
I have always gone by the rule of thumb that a full sized knife from a sterling set contains 1/2 ozt of sterling after the blade is removed and the filler is removed. Since a number of you have done this manually on knives, what is the consensus as to the weight of sterling silver on an average knife?
Would be nice to know.
Would be nice to know.
It depends. As I mentioned above, I've seen handles as light as five or six grams. Not many, but enough to be wary of the half ounce average. I agree that a lot of the major makers' "classic style" stuff is right at an half ounce, but those same makers also put out sleek "modern" designs that can run more like 10 grams.
Dave
Dave
I checked out those sites and they don't work with sterling silver only silver plate and stainless. And the one i did manage to dismantle i believe weighed 14 or 15 grams. And trade for what exactly scrapman1077?
Slochteren
Well-known member
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3...&p=189945&hilit=removing+knife+handle#p189945
This method is what i use and, works pretty fast.
This method is what i use and, works pretty fast.
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The sites where just examples of the trade, the specialist silver merchants are a bit rarer you would have to search harder local to your self..Rreyes097 said:
Also may be not such a thing in the States as it is here.
I had an aunt that would not drink tea out of a mug, it had to be fine china like wise would spend hour's cleaning the silver when ever we had company.
upcyclist
Well-known member
I like the point about using a torch for some. I was just processing some old sterling shells (candle holders, etc.) and heating them to a red glow. On quite a few, I got a lot of solder coming out as soon as heat was applied, making me think it was a lead/tin solder--nothing like the silver solder I use when silversmithing. I dunked the solder puddle into some HCl to see if it would leach well or not, just in case there was any silver in the solder.Slochteren said:
It's more of an experiment--I'm not actually considering chasing the silver in solder used to assemble sterling table ware, at least on an ongoing basis.
