I believe it's called a "draw plate". A former wife was a goldsmith and used
one frequently to thin down gold and silver wire. Fred's admonitions are
correct.

CJ Riley


--- Fred Swanson <Fred_Swa@msn.com> wrote:

I don't know which jeweler's tool you speak of but if it is the one
with holes that are progressively smaller. It is a lot of work. In
this case with .014 wire you need to taper the end to be able to draw
the wire through a hole .014 or the closest to it and then draw the
wire though the hole the next smaller size. Can't skip hole sizes as
that will probably ruin the piece or the tool. Annealing would be a
good idea too. Clamp the wire at one end and hold the other with
pliers and run a lit match back and forth quickly. Cool slowly.
This work for straightening wire also. It can be chemically
blackened if it clean of grease and oil. Lot of work. Myself I use
Phosphor Bronze wire as it's easily bent where I want it. Has some
spring to it so if I grab the model wrong it helps keep its shape on
longer pieces. Tichy sells it as thin as .008. I think I saw another
place online that sold .004. It too can be blackened.
Fred Swanson

____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs