No matter what medium handcrafted jewelers work in, almost everyone will use wire at some point, it is critical to jewelry making. And while most jewelry makers will start by purchasing wire from the manufacturer, many form their own wire into custom shapes, sizes, and harnesses. With a few simple tools and a little know-how, it’s easier than you think.
Wire shapes and sizes
You can order wire from a manufacturer in standard shapes (square, round, semicircular, triangular, and rectangular), and those shapes come in many sizes. Standard sizes of round and square wire range from 0.5mm to 7mm. Rectangular wire, which is often called sizing stock because bench jewelers use it to size rings, is available in almost any size. You can order wire in specific dimensions if you buy directly from the manufacturer.
Other shapes, such as semicircular, low dome, oval, triangle, bezel, and strip bezel, may be limited to specific standard sizes, depending on the manufacturer’s equipment. Non-standard cable sizes are available from most manufacturers on special order.
how the wire is made
Wire starts out as molten metal that is poured into an ingot mold and allowed to cool and solidify. In small-scale production, a goldsmith repeatedly passes ingot through the grooved rollers of a rolling mill, forming square wire. With each pass, the cable gets smaller and longer. This process, called extrusion, is made possible by the ductility of the metal.
Once the ingot has been milled into wire of a manageable size, the goldsmith reduces it further using a draw plate. In the case of square wire, the draw plate also makes the wire perfectly square, because the grooves in the mill will have lightly carved the corners of the wire.
Standard plates for handmade jewelry are made of steel and have a series of holes in graduated sizes. The holes have different profiles that can transform the shape of a cable while making it smaller and longer. For example, you can pull a square wire through a round hole to make a round wire.
To draw large diameter wire, a goldsmith uses a drawing bench. The drawbench is a steel or aluminum channel with a notch for a drawplate at one end and a boat winch at the other end. The boat’s winch provides leverage to make the process easier. Turning the winch handle rotates a strap or chain attached to pull tabs that slide along the channel, pulling the cable through the pull plate. A typical drawbench produces only short lengths of wire, usually around 30 to 40 inches.