Hi all,
Does anyone know where I can get Fine silver in teardrop and oval shaped tubing? I can find a bunch of Sterling tube shape options, but once you start looking at fine silver, I can’t find any sellers.
If not, do any of you metal wizards make fancy shaped tubing from round tubing stock using a drawplate?
Have any of you taken round tubing and run it through a shaped drawplate to make it pear, or teardrop shaped? If so, how did you taper it down to feed it into the holes to start with, and how do you grab a hollow shape with draw pliers? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
I use fine silver for enameling, (Sterling does not work for me in this case). There are times when fine silver teardrop shape, or oval shaped tubing would be really handy. Since I haven’t found anyone who sells teardrop shaped fine silver tubing, I think I’m going to have to create my own specialty shaped tubes. I heard from one smith, that it can be done with a drawplate. He said he just draws it from round to whatever shape he needs, but I don’t know how to start hollow round tube into a shaped hole. Your thoughts?
If you’re going to create your own from scratch, this Charles Lewton-Brain article might help (apologies if you’ve already seen it):
File the end at an angle so that you form a tail shape that will fit into the draw plates before the entire cross section of the tube enters the first hole. If you haven’t already purchased your draw plate, don’t skimp. Buy a good one and be prepared to spend some money on it. Good luck…Rob
Thanks, that is my plan. What is throwing me is taking a round tube and putting it in a tear-shaped drawplate hole. Normally, you go for a close fit if drawing down round stock to smaller round, but since I want to make tear, and marquise shaped tubing, I am wondering about maybe trying to form the pig at the end a wee bit before trying it in a hole, versus starting with a bigger hole and letting the plate do all of the shaping.
Thanks it is a great article, when I was done with it, I still don’t know if (since I want to make tear, and marquise shaped tubing) if I should try to form the pig at the end into the desired shape a wee bit before trying it in a hole, versus starting with a bigger hole and letting the plate do all of the shaping. Trying to get an answer from someone who does this.
Start with a larger oval hole and then work your way down. Pay attention to the need to anneal. I suppose that you could also waste some tube and roll it down to a tapper in the square rollers of your mill first…Rob
Thanks , don’t have a mill but I can sacrifice a bit and hammer it down.
Hi there,
i am not sure what pear shape dimensions you are working with…another tool to consider would be a bezel forming block.
they come in various shapes and sizes.
other sites might have lower pricing.
i will try to find a video on how to use them.
although the sizes are somewhat calibrated, there are ways to be flexible with dimensions…ie using various holes to compress or stretch…
although they are designed tapered, you can straighten the sides a bit by flipping the bezel over and tapping it into the hole again…
you start with a tube (bought…or made…with strip)… contemplate your starting size hole, hammer it in straight with a chasing hammer…progressively moving to smaller holes
the punch would be used to stretch the bezel (in the appropriate hole
then, if needed you can stretch the fatter part with a round bezel mandrel…or pear hezel mandrel for that matter…or hammer it narrower by tapping the sides gently on a block…possibly using pliers to shape/ squeeze, torque a bit, etc…
here are some youtube videos on how to use a bezel forming block…i didnt just pick one, as each instructor may show different tips and tricks…
https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=ho+to+use+a+bezel+forming+block
julie
Thank you so much for your well thought out alternative. I hadn’ t thought of using a bezel block, it is a great idea. I am still trying to find good way to shape tubing. I will use it for enamel cloisons. since it iallows for making multiples of simliiar shapes - Slicing small segments off shaped tubing is a great time saver for that.
I don’t think it will be too hard to draw round fine silver tubing into a pear shape, but it will be expensive. The draw plate is about $160, then unless you have super human strength, you’ll need a draw bench. There’s lots of threads on Orchid to make a draw bench for not too much cash, but if you want to buy one, they’re about $800+ and weigh a ton, so shipping is expensive.
If you’re trying to make pear shapes for cloisonné wouldn’t it be easier to just bend them into the right shape. You could leave them unsoldered (the simplest), solder them with high temp solder or weld the ends with a pulse arc or laser welder. I’ll bet you could make a bunch of them at once and create an efficient an assembly line. You could buy a pear shaped bezel mandrel to true them up.
Bezel blocks are awesome, but they’ll make a tapered pear shape. I think you want a straight pear shape.
I have to go into the studio today. We don’t have a pear shape drawplate, but we do have other shapes. If I get a chance, I try out pulling some different shaped tubing. It’s been a while.
Jeff
Hi there,
…another thought…what about shaping the tubing a bit (then annealing) before drawing…
ie: place it parallel along the edge of a bench block and tap down at an angle to kinda form the narrower pear point a bit?
in my mind, it seems like taking fine silver strip. cutting it to the appropriate length, and shaping it on a mandrel and/or with round/flat pliers might be easier and result in flatter tops and bottoms…
just my morning coffee musings.
(i built a nice draw bench for around $100 bucks…it is great!)
julie
Here is one option. How to Bend Tubing into a Circle
Since a draw plate the shape that you need might be fairly expensive, you might consider making a mandrel the shape that you want and wrapping cloison material around it. I would just roll out wire until I got the width that I wanted and then roll it around the mandrel, saw it into single coils, solder the joint and then be ready to go. The down side is that you have a soldered joint that might come undone. You could also determine how long the piece needs to be so that when you wrap it around the mandrel it will result in the shape that you need. I do this when I am making a number of 8mm bezels. Good luck…Rob
Thanks Jeff. I love Otto, but sometimes they are not the best bargain. I was able to find both tear shaped and marquise shaped draw plates for less than 80 bucks each. The sizes I need are smaller than the mandrels go. (have those). I don’t have a draw bench, will be doing it old school. Put pig into back of plate. Sit on floor with knees up, (pillow behind where head would go). place plate with pig on arches of feet, grab pig with draw pliers, staighten legs. (Ignore children laughing as you fall into pillow.) The thicker walls of the tubing, will make each slice used more of a design element than cloisonne wire the same thickness as used elsewhere in the pieces. (I don’t have a rolling mill either.)
A drawbench will have to wait till the kids graduate grad school, and I get the rest of the garage back- right now its 1/2 studio and 1/2 weight room. 
I did do a test yesterday to remind myself of the process. It’s been a long time since I pulled tubing through a drawplate.
I took some scrap sterling tubing and pulled it through a skinny triangular draw plate and a square draw plate. It definitely worked. For the skinny triangular shape like Julie suggested, I hammered it with a rawhide mallet into a kind of triangular shape before pulling through the drawplate.
For both shapes it took at least three holes to get it into the shape which meant that the tubing was getting smaller and thicker with each draw.
I was using a draw bench. I don’t know if I would have been strong enough to pull it through without it?
So your concept definitely works. It’s just a question of whether it’s practical or not without a draw bench. That you’ll have to decide.
Best of luck!!!
Jeff
I was doing a 22 - 28 gauge wire pull with a pair of pliers and pulling the wire freehand across my shop. It had gotten a bit hard to pull, so I started to pull harder when the wire broke. I went sailing across my cellar and ran my hand through the gear wheel of an exercise bike and impaled my back on the end of the back wheel axle. I won’t do this again even if it is supposed to be easy…Rob
Scary stuff. Drawing is something that has to be well planned, including where you land if you go flying. That’s why I do it sitting down on the floor (less distance to fall.) When I have room I will try to build a bench.
Thanks, Jeff,
Any idea of how much longer the tubes got, after 3 draws compared to the original length?
I’ll give ‘foot’ drawing a go in the next couple of weeks and let you know if old bats like me, can draw without a bench.
I failed to mention in my reply that I have a draw bench with a pulley that will allow me to do a pull longer than the bench. I guess that I just decided not to use it that day. This will never be the case again…Rob