Nickel, silver plate - Wire help

[justatish]

I am concerned about hammering either - will the plate flake off? I have worked with silver plated head pins, and when I make a wire wrapped loop, it cracks.
Can I use the nickel silver just like I am use to using the sterling wire, as far as wrapping, hammering, ring making and so forth.  The price of silver has shot up, and I want to give a nice affordable product to my customers, but i do worry about the nickel allergies.......

I found great information on this forums about the differences in soldering temps, but haven't seen anything about hammering.

[Polly]

Nickel silver wire will keep its color (no plating to flake off), and our nickel silver wire is more malleable than many on the market (it's close to feeling like sterling silver).  It is a nice metal to work with, but you are correct - there are the allergy issues (and you can't sell nickel for jewelry in the EU at all).

Another option is surgical steel wire. It's harder, so more difficult to hammer, but you have fewer allergy issues.  Surgical Stainless Steel commonly has a small amount of nickel, but our 316L alloy has a very tiny amount. There is some more information about the various Surgical Steels used in jewelry-making on wikipedia. 316L is a popular alloy for jewelry due to a number of qualities (workability, weight, durability, wearability) compared to other alloys.

[justatish]

I bought some stainless from Rings and Things a while back, at a customers request due to allergies.
i am having a heck of a time working with it, due to the hardness - it is wrecking my arthritis!!

thanks for the info of not being able to sell nickle in EU -  I do have customers in EU, so this is also something to consider.

*sigh* the price of silver shot up - and I want to offer a silver tone as a choice in my designs, but the cost of the silver will make the price higher.

oh what to do - what to do......

Thanks for answering Polly

[Shiprakaul]

I think silver wire is the right metal but the main issue is Nickel; allergy.In comparison with other alloy, i think A16L is the best one.