This session will help you understand why jewelry metals behave the way they do, so your bench decisions make more sense and deliver more consistent results.

Stewart Grice, internationally respected metallurgist and VP of Mill Products at Hoover & Strong, will connect the underlying science of metals to the everyday realities of forming, soldering, setting, and finishing. The focus is not on theory for its own sake, but on building a mental model that explains what you see at the bench and why certain approaches work better than others.

He will cover:

1. What makes metals metals, from atomic structure to bonding.
2. How alloy composition, karat, and color affect strength, elasticity, and workability.
3. Core concepts like stress, deformation, Hooke’s Law, annealing, and the three R’s.
4. How different production methods influence metal behavior in real bench work.

You will leave with a clearer understanding of metal behavior, stronger instincts for choosing the right approach at the bench, and a foundation you can keep building on as your skills advance.