what materials do u need to make a sterling silver?

Answer 1

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Silver
"Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The minimum millesimal fineness is 925 (see note below).

To create the alloy of Sterling Silver you need purified silver, and copper or a similar metal, special tongs, a ceramic kin or oven strong enough to reach almost 2000 degrees F, and a fireproof clay crucible that can handle the heat. It takes time to heat the oven to the proper temperature. Many impurities in the base metals can be purified in the heating process as materials with a lower melting point can be boiled off. This can create noxious fumes so it must be done in a vented location.

Fine silver (99.9% pure) is generally too soft for producing large functional objects, and in Sterling the silver is usually alloyed with copper to give strength whilst preserving the ductility of the silver and a high precious metal content. Other metals can replace the copper, usually with the intent to improve various properties of the basic sterling alloy such as reducing casting porosity, eliminating firescale, and increasing resistance to tarnish. These replacement metals include germanium, zinc, platinum as well as a variety of other additives including silicon and boron. A number of alloys claiming firescale and/or tarnish resistance have appeared in recent years sparking heavy competition between the various manufacturers and their different formulations. No one alloy has emerged as an industry leader or standard and ongoing alloy development is a very active area.

Origin of the term
The term "Sterling Silver", in reference to the .925 grade of silver, emerged in England by the 13th century.

The terms "sterling" and "pound sterling", seem to have acquired their meaning over a period of time, and from several convergent sources. The first mention is that of "sterilensis" in 1078, and by the thirteenth century (the 1200s) the term sterling had appeared. "Sterling" is believed to come from the Old Norman French esterlin (meaning little star) and Old English stiere (strong, firm, immovable).

An alternative explanation is that Sterling Silver may have been known first as "Easterling Silver". The term "Easterling Silver" was used to refer to the grade of silver that had originally been used as the local currency in an area of Germany, known as "The Easterling".

This "Easterling" consisted of five towns in the eastern part of Germany which banded together in the 12th century under the name of the Hanseatic League. The Hanseatic League proceeded to engage in considerable commerce with England. In payment for English cattle and grain, the League used their local currency. This currency was in the form of 92.5% silver coins. England soon learned that these coins, which they referred to as "the coins of the Easterlings", were of a reliably high quality and hardness."

NOTE: According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millesimal_fineness
“Millesimal fineness is a system of denoting the purity of platinum, gold and silver alloys by parts per thousand of pure metal in the alloy.
For example, an alloy containing 75% gold is denoted as "750".
It is an extension of the older carat (karat in North American spelling) system of denoting the purity of gold by fractions of 24, such as "18 carat" for an alloy with 75% (18 parts per 24) pure gold.
The millesimal fineness is usually rounded to a three figure number, particularly where used as a hallmark, and the fineness may vary slightly from the traditional versions of purity.

Copper (Cu on the Periodic Table) has a melting point of 1357.77 K (1084.62 °C, 1984.32 °F).
Silver (AG on the Periodic Table) has a melting point of 1234.93 K
(961.78 °C, 1763.2 °F)
Since the melting points are only 221 degrees F from each other then it is easy to mix them in a liquid state. This is critical when making an alloy. Precious metals like gold, sliver, and platinum are often made into alloys. To either decrease the cost of the material or to increase its hardness. To be a proper alloy the metals have to have a similar melting point or problems can arise. Clearly, you can't mix a gaseous metal with a liquid one, but if the other metal is in a more excited state then it is going to be harder to mix them and make a uniform mix.

It is possible to get an oven that you can melt the metals in, so you can make the alloy at home, but you need something that is much hotter than you home oven. The oven has to be built of a ceramic fireproof brick. My sister is a jeweler and she and her husband took classes on how to make silver alloys so I know they have the oven and the equipment to draw it out in a fine wire for her jewelry. However, to do this right you need very special training as well as the equipment. Americans also need a permit to own that much pure metal. The process of making the alloy itself is simple you just put pure bars of the metal into a crucible, use tongs to put the crucible into the preheated oven and them melt the metals and vent the waste products. It’s that simple, but what you do with the metal after that is a lot harder.