titani-hum

can you draw down titanium wire? yes, but it breaks, as per exhibit A, above.

I don’t like to go off half cocked, as it were, so as usual I did my research. Once again, Ganoksin lead the way with their post Working Titanium. I should be able to draw it down three times once annealed, it says. Hmmm.

The tension built up so much that by half way through my first pass the wire was shooting through in 5mm clumps before grabbing again, which made an interesting pattern on the metal (that looked like the sections of a she-oak leaf). By 3/4 of the way through, it was down to 2mm sections, and it was making a loud ringing noise as it went. It sparked as the end of the titanium passed through the plate.

I then annealed it, and every time tension built up again, it broke. After a three breaks, I re-annealed, taking much more care in getting it all glowing red. I finished that pass, and well, you get the picture. It would seem that work hardens to the point that you can’t finishing drawing a long length of it, but at least annealing and cooling is quick.

I started with 914mm of wire at approx 1.2mm diameter. I now have 1390mm in nine pieces, at sizes ranging from 1mm – 0.7mm. Still, I should be able to manage a few ear hooks with that.