How Sterling Flatware is Made

How sterling silver flatware is made

The world's most talented silversmiths from America's leading brands create all of the sterling silver available from Lifetime Sterling. They follow time-honored techniques to create the beautiful, high-quality sterling silver flatware and accessories for all of your dining needs.

What it's Made Of

Sterling silver flatware and tableware is crafted with the utmost attention to detail, combining 0.925 parts pure silver with 0.75 parts alloy, which provides strength and durability. There are several steps involved in creating each piece of sterling silver flatware.

How it's Made

• The first step is "Blanking:"  When beginning work on a piece of sterling silver flatware, the craftsman cuts, or "blanks," a piece of silver according to the approximate width and length needed for the intended pattern and the finished product.
• Next comes the "Cross Roll" and "Grade Roll:"  The silver then goes through several "rolling" phases. With a spoon, for example, the "breakdown cross roll" stretches the sterling silver width-wise into the required bowl size. The "breakdown grade roll" stretches the entire piece of silver by 50%. The "finished grade roll" finally stretches the piece by 100%.
• Then the "Cut Out" process begins:  After the sterling silver has been stretched, it needs to go through a "cut out" process to remove excess material and prepare it for the striking stage.>
• The "Striking" stage is:  Once the sterling silver has been cut out, it goes through several striking dies in a hammer press, where the pattern's details are firmly imprinted into the piece.
• Finally comes "Trimming" and "Finishing:"  In this phase, our craftsmen trim any excess silver from the piece of flatware, much like trimming excess dough from the top of a pie prior to baking it. After trimming, the piece is machine-polished and hand-inspected to ensure the highest-quality workmanship. The end result is an exquisite piece of premium-quality sterling silver flatware.