Any solid silver flashlights out there? (Current, not from 50+ years ago)

[Quiksilver]

Silver is quite soft, however it can be hardened with other elements such as Nickel/copper/aluminum.

I would not want a 99.99% proof silver or gold light, however a 90% silver/gold light would be cool, with 10% other metal for hardening.

 

[Cypher_Aod]

I guess part of the problem is that so much material is wasted in the machining process that you would lose a lot of money in material that doesn't even end up on your light.
I suppose you could catch the shavings though and sell them to recoup some of the cost?
Maybe a silver blend would make it cheaper?

But I guess if you had a silver flashlight then you have money to spend and you could put jewels on it too or something else extravagant.

The swarf can very easily be collected, cleaned and reforged into more billet/barstock for re-machining. silver casts and forges very well

"Solid" silver to me means pure elementary silver. Pure silver, although it has superb electrical and thermal conductivity, is entirely unsuitable mechanically. It is very soft. Sterling silver on the other hand is practical. It is 92.5% silver, with the remaining 7.5% usually copper, is mechanically suitable, and still has excellent conductivity. As mentioned, there have been lights made of sterling silver or similar compounds (Lummi and others). Silver in very recent years has become quite expensive, though. Silver in in the neighborhood of $30/oz these days. Seems to me that is far from ruling it out, even though it is an historic high. People pay anywhere from $300 to $1000 or more for limited production titanium flashlights as it is.

Solid doesn't mean "pure" silver in any way, it's used to define that the item is made entirely from silver as opposed to being plated. the purity would be mentioned in addition, so it would be "solid pure silver light" or "solid sterling silver heatsink" etc

I've actually been wondering about the possibility of getting heatsinks made out of silver, i have a large (more than 500g) piece of sterling silver scrap which i've been meaning to do something with. i wish i had the equipment to turn it into barstock or something like that.

As an aside, silver would be annoying for use in a flashlight because the silver-tarnish smells awful because it tarnishes to form silver-sulphide.

 

[Th232]

I've actually been wondering about the possibility of getting heatsinks made out of silver, i have a large (more than 500g) piece of sterling silver scrap which i've been meaning to do something with. i wish i had the equipment to turn it into barstock or something like that.

Now that would be interesting to see.

Perhaps one of our machinists on CPF could make one for you in exchange for some of it?

 

[Cypher_Aod]

That would be awesome, but at the moment the silver is in the form of a very badly damaged commemorative plate which has, at some point been shot repeatedly as well as folded in half with the help of a boot.

It would need to be recast into a more regular shape before being machined, and i just don't have that capability

 

[kaichu dento]

Gold is soft. Silver is a little harder, but still quite soft. Both are terrible choices from a durability standpoint.

The proper alloy of gold would be plenty tough enough, but incredibly costly. If I was still in the jewelery business I'd at least have done one in silver, if not gold too.
Commercial gold has copper, silver and zinc added to it, for the purposes of retaining color, as well as hardening. My favorite is gold/copper alloy, quite tough and beautifully red.

I guess part of the problem is that so much material is wasted in the machining process that you would lose a lot of money in material that doesn't even end up on your light.
I suppose you could catch the shavings though and sell them to recoup some of the cost?
Maybe a silver blend would make it cheaper?

The stock removal goes back to the refiner, or big enough pieces just melted back down into nugget form for either turning into casting shot or rolled out into plate and/or wire.
Silver isn't expensive enough to alloy it if the main reason was to lower cost, but it could make sense for adding durability. Still, 925 is good enough for something that you

I've actually been wondering about the possibility of getting heatsinks made out of silver, i have a large (more than 500g) piece of sterling silver scrap which i've been meaning to do something with. i wish i had the equipment to turn it into barstock or something like that.

You could find a jeweler to cast it and give it back in the form you need. Normally when a small shop not able to buy preformed metals does a pour, we'll make part of it into plate and part into wire, both square and round. The plate just gets rolled, as does the square wire, which can then be drawn into the smaller wire.

 

[AutoTech]

"Solid" silver to me means pure elementary silver. Pure silver, although it has superb electrical and thermal conductivity, is entirely unsuitable mechanically. It is very soft. Sterling silver on the other hand is practical. It is 92.5% silver, with the remaining 7.5% usually copper, is mechanically suitable, and still has excellent conductivity. As mentioned, there have been lights made of sterling silver or similar compounds (Lummi and others). Silver in very recent years has become quite expensive, though. Silver in in the neighborhood of $30/oz these days. Seems to me that is far from ruling it out, even though it is an historic high. People pay anywhere from $300 to $1000 or more for limited production titanium flashlights as it is.

Speaking of esthetic metals, pewter seems like a candidate to me. Pewter is esthetically pleasing, easy to work, not unduly expensive, and does not really tarnish (it just acquires a lovely patina). It is mostly tin (at least 90%), so it probably has considerably better thermal and electrical conductivity than either stainless steel or titanium. I don't happen to be aware of any pewter flashlights.

Nickel silver is another nice esthetic metal, silvery looking. It has no relation to silver at all, however. It is 60% copper, 20% nickel, and 20% zinc. It is probably more practical/suitable than pewter, but on the other hand it has been done (by Lummi at least), so it would be less unique than pewter. For some reason, even with all that copper content, it has poor thermal conductivity; about the same as titanium, worse than stainless steel.

Don't think pewter would be much good for a light, it's very soft. I remember my folks had some pewter decorative pieces and I used to be able to bend them about.

 

[PoliceScannerMan]

I am a proud owner of a Lummi Raw made of sterling silver.

I carried it on my wedding day, 3/27/2007. I wouldn't be a true flashaholic if I didn't somehow include a flashlight in our special day. :naughty:

At the reception, when it came time for my garter toss, it was a perfect opportunity to pull the Raw out.

My new bride sat on a chair. I walked up and kneeled down. I pulled the Raw out of my coat pocket. I turned it on high, put the Raw between my lips then got on my back and went under my wife as if I was going under a car. Her dress hung down so no one could really see what I was doing under there. With the light in my lips I kinda shook my head back and forth so the beam was shining all over her dress that was hanging down. After a good 10 seconds I came out with the garter in hand. It was great, and I have video of the whole thing. :laughing:

Any who, this was a great opportunity to share, I couldn't help myself. Sorry for the slight off topic story.

 

[fnj]

Don't think pewter would be much good for a light, it's very soft. I remember my folks had some pewter decorative pieces and I used to be able to bend them about.

There are a lot of formulations of pewter. Some are softer than others. I wouldn't make a jackhammer bit or gearwheels out of any of them, but if sterling silver has been used successfully (and it has), certainly pewter could be, too. Tableware such as spoons have been made of pewter. Antimony and copper harden the tin in pewter. Lead is not used any more. I imagine tin-lead pewter was pretty soft.

 

[dosei-45]

Looks like Klarus is doing a limited run of gold plated...

http://www.klaruslight.com/products/Flash_light/86.html