Can I apply silver to a weapon myself?

[holywhippet]

The character I will be playing has proficiency with smith's tools. In the PHB it says it costs 100 gold to apply silver to a weapon which is both the cost of the silver and the expertise to apply it. Can I apply silver to my own weapon using my own skills? If so, what would be the actual time and cost involved/

[SharkForce]

The character I will be playing has proficiency with smith's tools. In the PHB it says it costs 100 gold to apply silver to a weapon which is both the cost of the silver and the expertise to apply it. Can I apply silver to my own weapon using my own skills?
presumably yes.

If so, what would be the actual time and cost involved/
whatever your DM thinks. probably half the gold cost (i think that's the expected parts cost for pretty much everything), but there's absolutely nothing in terms of guidelines even.

most methods of plating stuff today would be done with chemistry, typically electroplating although more conventional chemical reactions can also be used (which would imply using alchemy tools proficiency). if you wanted to plate a weapon using blacksmithing tools, you'd probably need to use copper as a base, or possibly "german silver" (copper alloyed with zinc and nickel, 60/20/20)" as the only blacksmith-friendly plating method i've found irl. even then, i'm not so sure the materials would be very good for actually making a weapon. copper is perhaps not the worst metal for it ever, but... well, there's a reason bronze, then iron and later steel replaced copper in weapons. such a weapon would likely be quite bad.

or, of course, you could just decide that this is a fantasy game, nobody cares about chemistry that much, and it's more fun to just let you use some technique that doesn't exist irl because we never had an urgent need to learn how to plate silver onto steel weapons in order to be able to defend ourselves from monsters and demons that want to eat our faces, and your blacksmithing tools proficiency is used for that. it's certainly more scientifically plausible than dragons that can fly in areas where magic doesn't work, whale-sized monsters on land, or a number of other things that people allow into D&D.

[Armok]

There's no real specific rules for doing it yourself as far as I know. If this came up at my table I would probably say sure, provided you have a source of silver and access to a forge. Since you'd be doing it yourself, I'd think you could do it for less cost in GP than paying another smith to do it for you... but it should carry some cost to represent the various droughts, oils and the like to apply to the blade during the process that you'll need to obtain.

My suggestion is to work out the specifics with your DM, this is the sort of thing I wish my players would do more often. Chances are they'll be willing to work with you and hammer out the details!

[EvilAnagram]

Like everyone has said, there aren't any specific rules. The DMs I've had all allowed me to do it for 50 gold, so just talk to your own DM for a while.

[Zalabim]

If you do it like crafting an item, it would take 50 gold in materials and 20 days, IIRC. It's a downtime activity. For a little more, you could be making a fresh, silvered weapon.

[JackPhoenix]

Depends if you rule it as the weapon must be entirely covered in silver (which is more a matter of alchemy than smithing, take note that in previous edition, "silver" weapon's material was actually called alchemical silver) or just doing stuff like carving groves into the weapon (better to do with axes, hammers and like than swords) and beating a silver wire into the grove is enough (which would involve smithing tools).

In either case, ask your GM, not us, unless you want to show him the opinion of random guys (and gals) on the internet to sway his opinion to your side.

[JAL_1138]

There's some real-world precedent for silver-plating weapons. It was done to hilts and scabbards of Victorian-era British military sabers relatively commonly (for officers who could afford it) before cheaper nickel plating became available (primarily as a means to prevent rust), and was on very rare occasions done to the blades (at considerable expense) as well. Unfortunately I don't know the method used for such sabers, electroplating or Sheffield plating. Sheffield plating simply uses a thin layer of silver and sufficient heat to partly melt the silver but not the underlying metal, but risks taking the tempering out of a steel blade.

[SharkForce]

There's some real-world precedent for silver-plating weapons. It was done to hilts and scabbards of Victorian-era British military sabers relatively commonly (for officers who could afford it) before cheaper nickel plating became available (primarily as a means to prevent rust), and was on very rare occasions done to the blades (at considerable expense) as well. Unfortunately I don't know the method used for such sabers, electroplating or Sheffield plating. Sheffield plating simply uses a thin layer of silver and sufficient heat to partly melt the silver but not the underlying metal, but risks taking the tempering out of a steel blade.

the source i found indicated that sheffield plating was done only for plating silver onto copper (or the "german silver" i mentioned above). nothing remotely suggested it was possible for other materials, it was a specific trait of copper and silver that they could be combined in that way.

though again, i'm totally open to the possibility that in a fantasy world with monsters that can only be harmed by silver-plated weapons, more research went into this and someone found an alloy of steel (or silver) that makes weapon-grade silver-plated weapons using the technique rather than poor-quality copper weapons plated with silver and being rather awful as weapons in general.

[Fishyninja]

Silver generally in its pure form is extremely soft as a metal so normally as far as I am aware the plating is actually an allow, I believe I saw German Silver being mentioned....

One way you might be able to work it is the silver could be folded into the cruicble steel as it is forged (similar to the nanotubes and structures found in damascus steel).

This would probabaly require having your weapon melted down and reforged with the silver in some way. Again you can only do it if you are proficient in smiths tools.

It's an idea.

[JAL_1138]

the source i found indicated that sheffield plating was done only for plating silver onto copper (or the "german silver" i mentioned above). nothing remotely suggested it was possible for other materials, it was a specific trait of copper and silver that they could be combined in that way.

though again, i'm totally open to the possibility that in a fantasy world with monsters that can only be harmed by silver-plated weapons, more research went into this and someone found an alloy of steel (or silver) that makes weapon-grade silver-plated weapons using the technique rather than poor-quality copper weapons plated with silver and being rather awful as weapons in general.

German silver =/= silver. It doesn't contain any--it's a copper-nickel-zinc alloy.

Turns out there's another method than Sheffield plating called "close plating" that's fairly similar and was done with some types of steel called close plating, where silver sheets ard soldered on. Sometimes done with kitchen cutlery. I doubt it's how the military swords were done. Electroplating is probably the answer, even in the early-mid 1800s. Electroless plating can be done with silver if you have the right chemicals, although it produces a very thin layer compared to electroplating.

[Fishyninja]

Turns out there's another method than Sheffield plating called "close plating" that's fairly similar and was done with some types of steel called close plating, where silver sheets ard soldered on. Sometimes done with kitchen cutlery. I doubt it's how the military swords were done. Electroplating is probably the answer, even in the early-mid 1800s. Electroless plating can be done with silver if you have the right chemicals, although it produces a very thin layer compared to electroplating.

Hmm a very interesting method indeed. I'm actually looking around trying to find some historical records on silver plating of swords. I think you are right in thinking that Electroplating would have been the most common method. I'll keep you posted if I find anything.

[SharkForce]

German silver =/= silver. It doesn't contain any--it's a copper-nickel-zinc alloy.

i know, that's why i'm putting it in quotations. i even put the ratios above. it's beside the point, because it wasn't the thing used for the plating material, it was the material that it was possible to plate silver onto using the sheffield plating method... in other words, you would make sheffield plating stuff by sandwiching a "german silver" object in actual silver (it was called "german silver" because it looked similar enough that when the actual silver plating wore off it was less visible than when there was copper underneath).

interesting that it could be done with steel, nothing indicated that in the sources i found... but i can't imagine soldering a silver plate onto a piece of metal would work very well with something like a sword.

but yes, i would suspect electroplating was the most common method as well. once electroplating was possible, it would become by far the easiest and best method of plating anything, which is why it's the method we use today for plating stuff. however, electroplating requires an assumption that electricity has been harnessed, something which i don't tend to assume for a typical game world :P (lightning sure, in the form of magic, but generally speaking you don't want your electricity to be destructive when you're trying to use it in machines :P )

[RickAllison]

Maybe it is just me, but I always figured that the process didn't take much in the way of materials, that most of the cost was in the labor. I figured that (based on what I've seen of werewolves in other media) the silver isn't about the ability to penetrate the tissue of the lycanthrope, but a burning associated with the contact that neutralized the healing factor by preventing the wound from healing. Rather than reforging with silver in the alloy (weakening the blade) or plating (which would be dinged to hell and back under war conditions), I saw the process as imbibing just the surface with silver dust so that when the weapon wounded the werewolf, it would stay wounded. I don't know whether this would be a more mechanical (grinding it in) or metallurgical (heating just the surface enough to work the silver in), but that whichever way it requires massive time and skill to do.

[JAL_1138]

i know, that's why i'm putting it in quotations. i even put the ratios above. it's beside the point, because it wasn't the thing used for the plating material, it was the material that it was possible to plate silver onto using the sheffield plating method... in other words, you would make sheffield plating stuff by sandwiching a "german silver" object in actual silver (it was called "german silver" because it looked similar enough that when the actual silver plating wore off it was less visible than when there was copper underneath).

interesting that it could be done with steel, nothing indicated that in the sources i found... but i can't imagine soldering a silver plate onto a piece of metal would work very well with something like a sword.

but yes, i would suspect electroplating was the most common method as well. once electroplating was possible, it would become by far the easiest and best method of plating anything, which is why it's the method we use today for plating stuff. however, electroplating requires an assumption that electricity has been harnessed, something which i don't tend to assume for a typical game world :P (lightning sure, in the form of magic, but generally speaking you don't want your electricity to be destructive when you're trying to use it in machines :P )

One of the trinkets on the d100 table in the equipment section is pretty much a 9-volt battery. That could generate some current--might even be enough, for what little I know about electroplating. Probably not--the voltage would be there, but the duration of the charge and the amperage probably aren't.

There are also some extremely potent acids available, and brass exists so copper and zinc are available, salt isn't too hard to come by, and wire is purchasable in 10ft increments—wouldn't be hard at all to rig up a fairly good voltaic cell with those components; that'll get your current going.

[Kane0]

Yeah you probably could. Would probably need smithing tool proficiency and some downtime. The crafting rules allow something like 5gp worth of work per day, so might take a week or two.

[SharkForce]

One of the trinkets on the d100 table in the equipment section is pretty much a 9-volt battery. That could generate some current--might even be enough, for what little I know about electroplating. Probably not--the voltage would be there, but the duration of the charge and the amperage probably aren't.

There are also some extremely potent acids available, and brass exists so copper and zinc are available, salt isn't too hard to come by, and wire is purchasable in 10ft increments—wouldn't be hard at all to rig up a fairly good voltaic cell with those components; that'll get your current going.

it's not the existence of the materials, it's the knowledge of electricity and how to use it that i'm doubting. we have had all those materials on earth for quite some time. far longer than the few centuries that we've actually known what to do with them to produce electricity.

[StoicLeaf]

...

one of my players told the blacksmith to go plough a horse, went home, melted some silver coins and dipped his arrows into the pot.

[EvilAnagram]

...

one of my players told the blacksmith to go plough a horse, went home, melted some silver coins and dipped his arrows into the pot.

I'm all for doing it yourself, but you kind of need a forge. The melting point of silver is 961.8° C (1,763° F). You can't reach that with most furnaces or ovens. If you tried "at home," you would burn your house down.

[RickAllison]

...

one of my players told the blacksmith to go plough a horse, went home, melted some silver coins and dipped his arrows into the pot.

Arrows work great for that because they are intended to be fairly disposable. If a sword fails after a couple uses, that compromises the ability of the user to fight. If an arrow fails, it is no different than if it were to break or be lost, which is fairly common in 5e (half of the shots per fight).