Welded Silver

JB Weld on a piece of silver jewelry?

Can I use JB Weld (the Kwik formula) to fix a cracked silver bracelet I have? I know that it would fill the crack and hold it just fine (very familiar with two part epoxies). My main question is will the JB Weld react with the silver? I know it doesn’t react with most other metals, but I can find scant amount of information regarding JB Weld and precious metals. I’m curious if it may somehow react with it? I know i should take the bracelet in to be professionally fixed, but I don’t have the money now (and it won’t be cheap, it’s a 1 1/2″ wide bracelet by 1/16th+ thick with a crack forming on both sides – I really just want to fix the visible crack on top). I figure if I use the Kwik formula that when I do take it in to be done, they’ll be able to melt it out (seeing as silver melts at 1700+F and JB Kwik Weld should melt in the neighborhood of 600F). Yes, I know they’ll charge extra for that, no I’m not worried about it. Just want to fix the bracelet now so I can wear it.

Hello there,

I would not recommend using an epoxy to mend your bracelet unless you decide you will not have it soldered later.

I have not tried JB Weld on silver. It should bond, One of the problems I see is that while it fills the crack, it will not prevent the crack from spreading. Thus the fix would be quite temporary. The only reaction that would be of concern is whether there is sulfur in JB Weld. If so, that would cause the area of the patch to tarnish. I doubt if there is any sulfur in it. Most likely, it will not tarnish the silver.

Having the piece soldered later after the epoxy patch is somewhat of a problem. In order to solder the piece all the epoxy would have to be removed;. Not just the epoxy on the surface, but also the epoxy inside the crack. Yes, hear will soften the epoxy before silver melts, but that does not remove the epoxy completely. Went trying to solder the piece, I could not leave epoxy in the crack, the solder will not flow properly. The epoxy would have to be removed thoroughly before I could solder it. That might require cutting away a portion of the bracelet to remove the epoxied area. From a professional repair point of view, that epoxy will be a major problem.

So, yes, you can use epoxy on your bracelet. If you chose to do that, I suggest you forget about having it soldered later. The repair and removal of the epoxy will cost more than the bracelet is worth. If the cost is not more than the bracelet is worth, then the bracelet is valuable to merit having repaired correctly the first time.

Later,

PUK 3 Welding Device – Shortening a silver bracelet