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Platinum Wire: Sponge Rammed, Baked, Forged and Drawn, Ure 1839
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Forge

Created by

Forge

14. October 2026NO
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Platinum Wire: Sponge Rammed, Baked, Forged and Drawn, Ure 1839

No furnace of 1839 could melt platinum, so it was worked like a powder. Andrew Ure: pound the spongy metal, sift it, ram it hard into a cylinder, and bake it 36 hours in a kiln; pure platinum then forges into any shape. Forge a thin rod and draw it down through a drawplate to wire. The picture: our diagram of the five stages.
Advanced
Three days

Instructions

1

Pound and sift

Pound the platinum sponge in the mortar and pass it through a fine sieve.

Materials for this step:

PlatinumPlatinum10 g

Tools needed:

Mortar and PestleMortar and Pestle
Fine Mesh SieveFine Mesh Sieve
Balance ScaleBalance Scale
2

Ram it hard

Fill a short steel tube with the powder, put a close-fitting rod on top as a rammer and squeeze it in the vice as hard as you can, adding powder until the tube is packed. Push the pressed bar out.

Tools needed:

Steel Tube 12mmSteel Tube 12mm
Iron RodIron Rod
Bench ViseBench Vise
3

Bake

Bake the bar 36 hours at the full heat of the kiln. It shrinks by a fifth or a sixth of its volume.

Tools needed:

High-fire KilnHigh-fire Kiln
Blacksmith TongsBlacksmith Tongs
Leather Work GlovesLeather Work Gloves
4

Forge a rod

Forge the bar on the anvil into a round rod, reheating it with the torch whenever it stiffens. File a point on one end.

Tools needed:

AnvilAnvil
Cross Peen HammerCross Peen Hammer
Blacksmith TongsBlacksmith Tongs
Propane TorchPropane Torch
File SetFile Set
Leather Work GlovesLeather Work Gloves
Safety GlassesSafety Glasses
5

Draw

Wax the rod, push the point through the first hole of the drawplate held in the vice, grip it with the draw tongs and pull through. Go down hole by hole, annealing it red with the torch every few draws, until the caliper reads the size you want.

Tools needed:

Steel DrawplateSteel Drawplate
Bench ViseBench Vise
Draw TongsDraw Tongs
BeeswaxBeeswax
Propane TorchPropane Torch
Digital Caliper 6-InchDigital Caliper 6-Inch
Leather Work GlovesLeather Work Gloves
6

How much wire

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Materials

1
  • 1
    Platinum
    10 g
    Placeholder

Tools Required

18

This blueprint makes

Thumbnail
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Platinum Wire

Free

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