Hello all, I posted a question a couple of weeks ago asking how to
straighten some thick (3mm) wire and several of you were kind enough
to reply.
I guess I’m a wimp – my results were just okay. I had two pieces of
sterling each about 1m long and a piece of 18k gold 40 cm long. I
tried the vice method on the silver and the rolling method on the
gold (I didn’t want to damage the end in the vice).
My boyfriend then came in and took over with his method: clamp one
end in the vice, put on leather gloves and starting at the vice end,
repeatedly pull on the wire towards you. The gloves are because the
wire gets too hot to touch. His results weren’t bad, but never
satisfied, I tried once more. Since I don’t have a large enough
drawplate, I drilled a couple of 3mm holes in a piece of (soft) wood
and ran the wire through that. The holes get too large after two or
three passes, but it worked well enough to straighten the wire for my
needs.
That’s all. Thanks again. Cathy (France)