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What Kind of Wire Do You Use for Your Creations - Dead soft, half hard, hard?
When experimenting with a new design, I use artistic wire or copper wire which is much less expensive than sterling silver or fine silver. When I am ready to make the real deal, I use dead soft wire which is easier to bend and great for designs that are more free flowing such as spirals. I find half hard wire to be best for sharp corner bends. Hard wire is difficult to use for wire wrapping and sculpting but in a pinch I soften the wire by heating the wire with a torch and then quenching in it water. Finally I work harden the wire by tumbling or lightly hammering the wire in order to add some strength. What is your experience or recommendations for using different types of wire?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by KMarie0218 on
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Hello, new the site as of today. Saw this post and thought I'd chime in.
I prefer half-hard. Mostly what I use it for is to create earwires, and making links and head pins. Dead soft seemed to soft for me and I've had good luck with half-hard. I made a mistake when I ordered wire or maybe they shipped the wrong thing - but it's HARD and I'm having a very difficult time using it to even make earwires. Which is rather annoying considering the cost of sterling silver wire these days.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon Niles on
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I use soft though I buy whatever is cheapest as it is easy to annel wire. After I finish I temoer and work harden my items
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Permalink Reply by wanda fain on
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I'm new to this. What does work harden the wire mean?
Gordon Niles said:I use soft though I buy whatever is cheapest as it is easy to annel wire. After I finish I temoer and work harden my items
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