soft castings

[josh]

Hello,
A local company have been doing some casting for me recently. The results are very good but the silver seems to be soft or weak??? Already I have broken a few pieces while processing them. Is it possible to somehow harden a casted piece (925 silver)?

The company doing the casting dont have any idea.

Thanks for your help

josh

[tincanart]

Silver needs to be workhardened to give it strength, although castings are usually stronger than fabricated silver, they can still be somewhat soft depending on the thickness of the design. You can try tumble finishing you castings in steel shot. This can act like a light hammering that will work harden the casting and not leave marks. You can try it for an hour at a time and see if it helps. Most casters do this as a way of finishing castings.