annealing wire

[Jack Davenport]

I have some 18k wire that was drawn at least 3 times. How do I anneal a piece of this to soften it. Thanks

 

[Ron Smith]

Jack, 18k work hardens readily, even when it is annealed, but coil it up and put it on a charcoal block or asbestos pad. Try to get it as flat as you can on the pad and run a brushy blue flame over it until it is red hot. You can just let it air cool or quench it after a few minutes. Be careful not to get it too hot where it isn't laying flat on the pad. Make sure you get your undercutting sufficient and if it doesn't set on the first whack it will curl on you. have never used the gravermax to inlay with so I don't know those techniques, but in teaching a class on multi-colored inlays at GRS, I found that it was not as effective as the chasing hammer for setting the gold. The students had trouble with it and they were skilled engravers, but there were other extenuating circumstances we were working under that might not be the case on gun steel. Hope this helps. Of course there are other methods, but I usually put teeth along the channel on both sides of the channel to increase the holding power of the channel. I have always had a fear of my inlays popping out so I go to great lengths to prevent that.
Ron S

 

[Jack Davenport]

Thanks Ron: I have a plan to use gold overlay or inlay as the ribbon in the cross ribbon application but will wait untill I have some 24k sheet to work with. I think that the ribbon in gold will balance a gents knife that has gold shield and pins. Thanks for the info.

 

[Ron Smith]

Jack: Gold always adds class to a job. Are you saying that you are going to do a banner? Will you be able to do it with one wire or will you have to do parallel wires? I am a little confused by the "ribbon in the cross ribbon" comment.

 

[pilkguns]

Ron, I also find that I get better results setting gold with a chasing hammer.

 

[Jack Davenport]

this ribbon tutorial is in the first page of the web site.