Full hard. Half hard.
Dead soft. This is jewelry jargon? It sure is, and it
confuses a lot of people. Let’s try to clear it up!
Full
Hard ~ Fully tempered metal, very stiff and, well, hard!
It's very difficult to manipulate, especially in heavier gauge
wires.
Half
Hard ~ This is stiffer than dead soft wire, but not yet
full hard. Makes beautiful ear wires that maintain their shape.
Dead
Soft ~ Very pliable, unworked metal (wire) and my personal
preference for most jewelry work.
The
more you "cold work"
metal, the harder and, ultimately, the more brittle it becomes.
There’s
a fine line between "hard" and "broken!"
Manipulating
the metal by bending, hammering, coiling, tumbling, even slapping with
a rubber spatula (for real...don't laugh) will harden metal to
different degrees. This is called "work-hardening" and is actually a
physical change to the molecular structure of the metal.
Sterling
silver may be hardened by heating to 600 degrees F for 30-50 minutes to
3/4 hard.
Other wire-related topics:
Jewelry
wire gauge
Metals
used in artisan jewelry |
