As you work with jewellery wire you will notice that it tends to get a little hard to bend. This is because the more you bend the wire the more “work hardened” it becomes. So if you have some Half Hard wire, it bends relatively easily, until you try and do some tight, close-knit bends. However once you have finished, it holds its shape very well. So the moral of the story is that work hardened jewellery wire will hold its shape better.
You can really see this at work if you try the following……
- Get about 10 cm of copper wire – around 18ga.
- Bend the wire a few times so that you get a squiggly looking piece of wire.
- Now, get hold of one of those bends and try to pull it out of shape (do it slowly to get the effect and feel of the wire).
- You will find that it pulls away quite easily.
- Now for the magic. Remember in this step we are not changing the shape of the wire, we are only going to ‘work harden’ the wire. Take your nylon pliers (or chain nose pliers if you don’t have any); put the wire between the pliers’ jaws and gently press down. Do not squash the wire out of shape or damage the surface – its all about being gentle. Move the wire along a little and gently press down again. Continue until you have done this along the whole piece of wire.
- Now, try and pull the wire out of shape (do it slowly). You should notice that the wire is "harder" and that it holds its shape longer, before coming away. It doesn’t look like much, but this is what "work hardening" of wire is all about.
It is how you can make a really intricate design using dead soft wire, then "harden" the wire to allow it to hold it’s shape under stress. You can work harden wire with pliers, using a chasing hammer or even just pushing down on your design with a block (yep people do sell a block specifically for work hardening).
Have a play around with this. It really is quite fascinating to see how simply applying pressure to the wire can help it keep its shape. Please keep in mind that you only need a small amount of pressure – if you apply too much you are just going to flatten the wire or squash your design.
You also work harden the wire when you bend it. So if you bend the wire, then straighten it, then bend it again; you are work hardening the wire. If you do this too many time, you may find the wire snaps! This is the effect of over working the wire and making it brittle.
So the moral of this story is, easy does it! Better to apply the pressure slowly, or you may end up snapping your work.
