Hardening Wire

A lot of the jewelry I make uses wire as a major component. When people start out working with wire, a common problem they have is controlling the hardness of the wire. The easiest solution, in my opinion, is to use dead soft (also known as fully annealed) wire for most applications, since hardening wire is fairly easy (at least with sterling silver - not all metals will work harden quite the same, since different metals have different working properties). Simply working with wire will harden it to a certain extent - but sometimes a design requires wire to be harder or springier than it gets just from bending the wire into the design. Here are a few methods for hardening wire:

• Twisting - securely hold both ends of the wire (I put one end in a vise and the other in a drill) and twist it a few times. The more you twist your wire, the harder it will become. This is a great way to harden round wire that will be used for findings such as earwires. If you twist square wire or half-round wire, you will end up with wire that has an interesting twist pattern to it, which can be used as a design component.
• Hammering - this works best on two dimensional designs, and can be done after creating the design. Place your piece of wirework on a smooth, hard surface (a steel bench block works well). Lightly tap it with a hammer to harden it. If you don't want your wire to get flattened out or dented, use a rubber mallet. If you want to add a hammered texture or flatten the wire in certain spots, use a metal hammer. The shape of the hammer head will affect the texture that is acheived, so it's good to practice with some scrap pieces to see how the hammering changes the look of the wire.
• Tumbling - this method is used to polish and work harden a piece of finished wire jewelry. You will need a tumbler that is partially filled with stainless steel shot. Put your jewelry in the tumbler (caution: some beads may be damaged by tumbling, so don't tumble anything with expensive beads unless you have tested the material and know that it won't be damaged), add enough water to cover all the shot and jewelry, then add a few drops of a mild liquid dish soap, and place the lid on the tumbler barrel. Tumble for anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours - sterling silver wire jewelry usually will be polished after just a few minutes, but I often leave pieces in the tumbler longer because the effect of the shot hitting the wire over and over hardens the wire a little bit more. I recommend at least partially hardening your wire before tumbling, because in my experience, tumbling does not result in wire that is as hard as twisting or hammering will get it.