The Silversmith on Jewelers' Row

In Philadelphia's historic Jewelers' Row, master silversmith David Huang sits hunched over a crucible no bigger than a coffee mug. Inside, a lump of tarnished sterling — someone's grandmother's brooch, black with decades of neglect — slowly liquefies under 1,763 degrees of focused heat. David has been refining silver for thirty-one years, and he will tell you the same thing every time: "You cannot rush the fire."…