ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
Fine Silver Wire Drawn Through a Drawplate
Silver is one of the most ductile metals and draws easily into wire. Forge fine silver into a rod, taper the end, and pull it through the holes of a drawplate one size at a time, lubricated with beeswax and annealed as it stiffens. The volume stays the same, so the wire grows longer as it gets thinner.
The picture: a drawplate in the vise, beeswax, and silver wire in a pan.
Intermediate
Half a day
Instructions
1
1
Make a rod
Make a rod
Hammer the fine silver into a round rod a little larger than the plate's largest hole, heating it to a dull red and quenching whenever it stiffens.
Materials for this step:
Fine Silver30 g
Water5 litersTools needed:
Anvil
Cross Peen Hammer
Propane Torch
Blacksmith Tongs
Quench Bucket2
2
Taper the end
Taper the end
File the first 2 cm to a long taper so it pokes through the hole.
Tools needed:
File Set
Bench Vise3
3
Set up the plate
Set up the plate
Clamp the drawplate in the vise, tapered side of the holes toward you, and rub beeswax on the rod.
Materials for this step:
Beeswax5 gTools needed:
Steel DrawplateBench Vise4
4
Draw
Draw
Push the taper through the first hole it will not slip through, grip it with the draw tongs and pull it through in one steady pull, straight out from the plate.
Tools needed:
Draw TongsSteel Drawplate
Leather Work Gloves5
5
Next holes, and anneal
Next holes, and anneal
Draw through each smaller hole in turn. When it gets stiff, coil it, anneal it to a dull red on a fire brick and quench.
Tools needed:
Propane Torch
Fire BrickQuench Bucket6
6
Measure and coil
Measure and coil
Stop at the size you need, measured with the caliper. Anneal it once more for soft wire and coil it.
Tools needed:
Digital Caliper 6-Inch7
7
Length from the rod
Length from the rod
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
Tools Required
12- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
This blueprint makes
Related Blueprints
These blueprints share knowledge with this one — techniques, materials, or principles that connect them in the learning graph.
CC0 Public Domain
This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.
Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.