What gauge wire will work

Jewelry Discussion
#1

Hi:

For those out there who work with very fine wire, I have a question.
I have been making a certain style earring…pictured at the bottom
of the page in the Orchid gallery

http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/starbard.htm

Up until now, I have stitched these with needle and thread. I would
like to make my own ear wire for the and make them out of fine wire.
I tried 28g, but it wasn’t thin enough. The quantities to purchase
finer wire are quite high…what will I do with 96 feet of wire? Can
someone make a suggestion as to what g. wire will work for me so I
don’t have to do a lot of trial and error with 96 foot minimums?

Thanks
Kim Starbard

#2

Can you use the 28g wire in a draw plate and make it as thin as you
need?

#3

hi Kim, I use.8mm ( 20 gauge i think) usually, or at the most 1mm (
?18 gauge) thick sterling wire for ear hooks. 1mm for ear posts. i
wouldn’t think that fine silver would be strong enough. For gold I
use.8mm, and i work harden all ear wires, too.

Don’t hold me to the gauge conversions :-), cheers Christine in Sth
Australia

#4

Hi Billy:

Can you use the 28g wire in a draw plate and make it as thin as
you need?

I can, thanks for suggesting that. It’s a long boring story, but I
don’t have torch yet. I am trying to rework some things that I do
without having the torch set-up yet. I am doing a show in mid-Nov.
and (hopefully) after that I will be able to set up my workspace.

My first post on this was confusing. My question actually wasn’t
"what g. should I use for making ear wires"…I am actually trying
to find the proper g. to weave with. In other words, in place of the
thread, i would like to use very fine wire. My first try with 28g
didn’t work…as the wire wasn’t “bendy” enough to go around the
beads.

I’ll try 30g…I think thinner than that and the wire will probably
break when I try to weave with it.

Thanks again
Kim

#5

Hi Billy,

Can you use the 28g wire in a draw plate and make it as thin as
you need?

Depending on the size of the holes in the drawplate, you can use any
size wire that’s a little larger than the largest hole. If you want
to draw it to something smaller than 28 ga, the drawplate must have
the appropriately sized holes. Also when drawing wire to the smaller
gauges the holes should be highly polished & the wire annealed.

Dave

#6

Try laser welding wire, you can usually buy it in three foot
quantities, I swear I saw it as thin as like 36 gauge somewhere.

Thank you,
Eric McCafferty
Studio311.com

#7

Stuller carries laser wire from 28ga to 36ga. It comes in 10kt,
14kt, 14 palladium, 14k red, 18k palladium, eye glass frame wire,
stainless steel, titanium, and.950 super palladium

Andy " The Tool Guy" Kroungold
Tool Sales / Technical
Stuller Inc
Phone 800-877-7777 ext. 94194
Fax 337-262-7791