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#11
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Use of extremely fine drawplate
Bingo!
That makes sense Abrasha. I will try that and only annealing prior to doing the zogan work. Peter, The technique of forging the drawing end and cutting to a point is brilliant. I will let you know what success I have. I have many hours to perfect the technique of cutting precise and uniform cross hatched lines in the steel. This is not a craft for the impatient. Thanks again for being able to draw from this pool of knowledge and experience. You guys are the best, Fred |
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#12
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Use of extremely fine drawplate
In this here newsgroup called rec.crafts.jewelry on Thu, 13 Nov 2008
21:43:20 -0800 we all dun see'd a message a-written by "Peter W.. Rowe," which dun sed: On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:47:18 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry Fred Zweig wrote: Good morning everyone. I have used a great many drawplates in my time and have recently acquired one that draws down to an extremely fine diameter. I need a loupe to see the last few holes in the plate. Are there any tricks to draw down wire this thin? I will be using 22k-24k gold and fine silver. I am expecting to have difficulties keeping the wire from breaking and even feeding it into the smaller holes of the plate. Anyone have experience drawing very fine wire? Thanks, Fred Don't neglect annealing as needed. That will considerably reduce breaking problems. With very fine wire, the easiest way I've found to anneal a coil is with a small kiln or one of the small beehive enamelling ovens, rather than trying to do it with a torch. Set the temp at around 900 or so, and after firecoating the coil, put it in there for ten or fifteen minutes. gives a very even and good anneal. Putting a decent point on the wire so you can grab it can be tricky. If fine sanding disks in a flex shaft don't do it for you, sometimes you can simply anneal and then stretch a short section till it breaks, which reduces the diameter a little in the stretched area. With some drawplates, this is enough. Some wire can be acid eched at the end to reduce the diameter, or electroetched/electrostripped, for the same result. If doing it with a sanding disk etc, it seems easier to me to point it before annealing it. Grabbing the end to pull it. Drawtongs of course are out for wire this fine. Just a lightly sanded texture on the inside of flat jawed pliers is usually enough to grab the wire sufficiently. Serrated jaws are too much, sometimes cutting the wire. If the pliers you've got tend to slip too much, hammer lightly directly down on the ends of the plier jaws. Creates a slight lip at the edge. Careful: Too much makes them cut the wire. Same lubes for the drawplate as you'd usually use. For very fine wire, I prefer liquid or paste "Bur life". More solid lubes like beeswax clog the holes and it's harder to poke a sharpened very fine wire point through thicker lubes. Hope this helps. Peter What he said. And cursing. Lots of cursing. |
#13
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Use of extremely fine drawplate
On Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:49:52 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry Bro
wrote: What he said. And cursing. Lots of cursing. Except, as Abrasha pointed out, that high karat and pure gold are best drawn down without annealing. Unlike lower karats, which get too hard and brittle with too much work hardening and then break, work hardened fine gold remains ductile, and breaks less when it's not butter soft... Same for almost fine (like 22K). Fine silver and platinum also don't require annealing much, if at all. Peter |
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