Straight hard pins

Jewelry Discussion
1

Speaking of Wire…

Hello Group, I see supplies for 1/2 hard and soft 14k gold wire
(which comes with a bend to it). I am trying to make straight pins
as hard as possible. Does anyone sell gold in this state, or what is
the best way to achive this?

Thanks
Jeffrey McWhinney

2

Jeffrey, I harden my 1/2 hard and soft wire by putting it into my
tumbler. After rotating for about an hour the wire is hard. However,
I must point out, that my wire is sterling. I have not tried it with
gold.

Alma Rands

3

One easy way to produce absolutely straight hard pins is to start
with soft round wire. It does not matter if it is curved into a
coil. Cut off a length of it, make a loop at one end and twist the
end around itself so that the loop will not open. Make a hook from a
bent nail and grind or file the head off. Insert the straight part of
the nail into a drill and loop your coil over the hook. While holding
the drill in one hand, exert a reasonable pull on the end of the wire
with a serrated parallel jaw pliers. Run the drill to twist (work
harden)the wire. The wire will not change diameter or shape because
it was twisted and will be pulled straight. Cut the lengths you want
and tumble for a bright finish. Experiment with the amount of
twisting to be done for the hardness you want to achieve. Hope this
helps

Ray Grossman
Ray Grossman Inc.
Inventors and Manufacturers of
Jump Ringer Systems

4

An easy way to harden wire is put one end in you flex shaft make a
right angle bend on the other end and hold with pliers and spin it.
Too much and the wire will break to little and it won’t be springy
you can monitor your results by drawing a line down one side of the
wire with a sharpie. Experiment with a few pieces until you get the
results you like. remember to make it a little longer than needed as
the wire on both ends won’t be hardened.

Dave Owen

5

Thanks for the help on this one. I should have mentioned I am trying
to achieve diameters of 12 and 16 ga gold wire. So… this twisting
idea is a bit on the expensive (for me) side regarding
experimentation as it seems like I would need quite a bit to pull
this off. My desired pin lengths are only around 8mm long. Someone
suggested tumbling for hardening. What might be approximate times and
medium type?

Thanks again.
Jeffrey McWhinney

6 
Someone suggested tumbling for hardening. What might be
approximate times and medium type?

I use mixed stainless steel shot (2lbs), enough water to just cover
the shot, ivory soap shavings, and tumble for 1-2 hours. I use this
on my 18k and sterling pieces, and it works hardens beautifully.

Jeni
enjoying a self-induced turkey coma

7

Jeffrey McWhinney:

Because 12 and 16 gauge wire is heavy enough to be held straight in
the jaws of a drill chuck without looping it, you can do so but
make sure that the chuck is as tight as possible. Bend about 1/4" at
the other end into a right angle and hold this with your serrated
parallel jaw pliers. I’m assuming that you want to make it as hard
as possible and that we are talking about karat gold - not fine
gold. Exert some pull on the wire and run your drill until it
breaks. Your wire will be harder than any amount of tumbling can
achieve.

Ray Grossman
Ray Grossman Inc.
Inventors and Manufacturers of
Jump Ringer Systems

8 
My desired pin lengths are only around 8mm long. Someone suggested
tumbling for hardening. What might be approximate times and medium
type?

I’m getting into this topic a bit late - forgive me if I’m repeating
anything, but did you say what you are wanting to do with these 8mm
lengths?

K

9

Jeffrey, I suggested tumbling for hardening. I do it all the time
with no damage to the wire. I use steel shot, and Ivory soap. I get
a bar of Ivory soap, grate it (using the fine grate), and use it for
all my tumbling. It works just fine. Usually I grate the whole bar,
and store it in a jar, so that I always have it on hand. I have a
very small tumbler, and usually use a heaping teaspoonful of the
soap. It usually does the job in about 30 minutes or less. For larger
tumbler you will need more.

When you get the Ivory soap, it is very soft, so, I usually unwrap
it, and leave it to harden. It is easier to grate when it is hard.
However, if you are pressed for time, you can grate the soft bars.

I am always surprised when I hear people tumble their things for
several hours. Often they complain about pits. I think they are
tumbling much too long. I find that 30 minutes is ample. That is all
I use for polishing my metal, or for hardening. Retrieving small
items—especially 8 mm pins, can be a challenge. I just pour the
entire contents of the tumbler into a fine mesh strainer, where I
can then easily pick out my pieces. Often I save the sudsy residue,
put it back into the tumbler with the shot. It protects the shot from
rust, and saves my having to dry it every time I use it.

Alma Rands

10 
Someone suggested tumbling for hardening. What might be approximate
times and medium type?

Tumbling will only give a few microns depth of surface hardening. To
harden the wire your best bet is to start with wire that is 50%
larger in diameter than your desired size and draw it down to the
desired size without annealing. Or order the wire as full hard and
straight from your supplier. Some will supply it like this upon
request.

Jim

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

11 
I use mixed stainless steel shot (2lbs), enough water to just
cover the shot, ivory soap shavings, and tumble for 1-2 hours. I
use this on my 18k and sterling pieces, and it works hardens
beautifully.

Does this work with 22K gold, or is 22K too soft to be tumbled with
steel shot? Is 2 hours enough to polish everything completely?

Larry

12

Larry,

Does this work with 22K gold, or is 22K too soft to be tumbled
with steel shot? Is 2 hours enough to polish everything completely?

I haven’t run any higher karat through yet, but you mentioned
earlier (I think) that the gauge you’re using is pretty substantial.
I think the same time frame would work well for you, but you can
always experiment by putting back in the drum for a longer tumble.

For comparison, I’ve tumbled 20 gauge fine silver with great work
hardening results, and that should be good reference for 22k.