POF La Palme (L'Amarante) Corvette 1744 1:36 (Ancre Monograph) by Tobias

Good morning Knut,
regarding your question about the brass wire being too soft. Before I had the pull plate for square wire, I ordered it in sizes 0.6 and 0.8 mm from Amazon. But for La Palme I also needed square wire in size 0.4 mm. Here @shota70 pointed me to AliExpress. The problem was that this one in particular isn't delivered to Germany, so I kept looking and found one on Etsy. The description said that it contains a certain amount of silver and is therefore softer than pure brass wire. I ordered it anyway and tried to work with it. The certain amount of silver makes it softer and when you file it, it smears more so that you can hardly see the square. If you get your pull plate and heat the brass wire before pulling it through, the pulling process will make it even firmer. I think Jimmy @Jimsky has already written an explanation about this.
 
Tobias said:
I think Jimmy @Jimsky has already written an explanation about this.
Click to expand...
yep..., any wire (shape and materials) if you put it at least once through the drawplate will make the wire harder. This is why if you still need to downsize, you must anneal the material before putting it through the next drawplate hole. If additional processing with wire isn't required you can leave it 'hard', otherwise, you will need to anneal it again.

 
Re hardening soft brass wire the drawplate will work very well, but if the wire is already the right size it isn't needed. Brass can be what engineers call 'work-hardened. That is why if you keep bending a piece it will become brittle and break. To harden soft wire clamp one end of a piece in a sturdy vice, wrap a few turns at the other end around a piece of wood - poke the first turn through a little hole through the wood to stop it slipping and pull it hard. You will feel it stretch a little, After that it should be hard., and if it isn't hard enough do it again. But mind you don't fall over if it breaks. My old Dad used to fix the loose end of the wire around half way down a broom-handle, then he would out his foot on the brush to keep it still and pull on the top to do the stretching. Leverage and safety in one package.
 
This UK company- who I have bought from a lot over the years - sells square and every other kind of wire at reasonable prices in a lot of sizes and in steel, copper, silver brass etc. They don't have any really tiny stuff though 0.5mm is probably the smallest. I have no connection with them, just a satisfied customer.

SQUARE WIRES

www.wires.co.uk www.wires.co.uk
 
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