I've done a few jewellery classes and have drawn wire by hand. Even
very thin wire very definitely has to be clamped at one end and clasped
tightly with pliars at the other end on order to pull it through the
holes and it's quite a physical effort.
Gravesend Adult Ed Centre has a very well equipped jewellery workshop.
For wire drawing a heavy metal plate with holes in (rather like a very
heavy knitting needle gauge) is clamped at one end of the apparatus.
The wire is filed to a point to push a few mm through the required
hole, grasped with very heavy pliars and pulled through to narrow and
elongate it. There is no way the little contraption on ebay could be
used for wire drawing!
I think it may be for positioning threads in embroidery - or even for
crimping pastry but not wire drawing!
Brenda
On 27 Jan 2009, at 05:25, Avital wrote:
So my guess was right (and if I'd been paying attention, I would have
seen the French and translated it but I've had a cold for a couple
days). It's a tool for drawing wire. Wire is made by hammering a piece
of metal into thinner and thinner (and longer) pieces. The final wire
is formed by drawing it through a gauge with pre-formed holes (we're
talking about wire-making by hand). I wasn't sure about it because
most of the wire-drawing tools I've seen had handles that enabled you
to clamp them to a work bench because you want the gauge to be fairly
stable so that you can draw the wire through with a pair of pliers. If
the metal were very soft, I guess you could use a hand-held
wire-drawer like this.
Here's an article explaining the process:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_drawing
Most wire-making is done by machine these days but there are jewelers
who do wire-drawing by hand. Arlene Fisch describes the process and
tools in her book, "Textile Techniques in Metal." (Great book. Pity it
appears to be out of print at the moment.)
Avital
On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 12:00 AM, Susan Reishus
<[email protected]> wrote:
The online translation is for the ebay item is:
"Draw wire Handle in oak Very beautiful general presentation"
So must be something for wire to place while working with it.
Conceptually reminds me of a French knitter so one can work in a
tube. The openings seem disturbingly harsh for threads, imho. I
agree that often listers can unknowingly misrepresent items.
Best,
Susan
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