Making straight rods: Round & square ones?

[handmadeblanks]

I would like to add to my repertoire of pendants and make some bars/rods. I would like to make round ones as well as square. I have an ingot mould to make the bars and was thinking of buying a draw bench and various square and round drawplates. Would the resultant bars/rods be straight or would they require further work? Any tips on how I might make these otherwise? As a rough guide I would like them to be about 5mm in diameter and 18mm in length.

As always, thanks in advance!

[Goldsmith]

when I had a drawbench the wires drawn through drawplates were quite straight, I also used my drawbench to straighten shop bought wire lengths. The only down side is that you need about 15mm. of pointed length that is gripped in the drawbench pliers that will become useless waste.

James

[Dennis]

If you anneal wire evenly and stretch it by clamping one end and pulling with serrated DIY pliers it will become perfectly straight, but thinner by a fraction.

However, wire thicker than about 1.50 mm is too heavy for most of us, and will need a draw bench with gears. That said, commercially available draw benches do not have a convenient way of clamping one end, so I have this home made one, using a smooth carpenters vice at one end for gripping and a small boat winch for pulling.

As James has said, there will be a certain amount of wire mangled in the process and therefore wasted.

An alternative is to use round or square tubing, which comes already straight and is stronger than wire of the same size. The downside is that it will have to be kept vented once quenched or pickled, if it is to be heated further, or you will experience the power of exploding steam.

My second picture shows tubing used for the straight parts of this pepper and salt set, before I had my draw bench.

[Paul Kay]

using a smooth carpenters vice at one end for gripping and a small boat winch for pulling.

Genius! I'm off to the chandlers

[Dennis]

If you are really interested Paul, then get me to list the crucial components and dimensions, which have been tried and tested by me for twenty years. At today's prices you will still be spending about £150, excluding the surface to mount it on.

Also you will be accumulating at least two draw plates, one large and one small for each profile (round, square, rectangular, oval, D-shaped and triangular.) Dennis

[handmadeblanks]

@James: Thanks, it's good to know I can get it straight.

@Dennis: Thanks for the tip. I had *exactly* the same idea of making my own draw bench using a winch like you have done. Now that I see it in practice I will try making my own. What is the gear ratio of the winch and does it require much effort to draw wire through the plates? I was thinking of using vice grips instead of tongs(?) : http://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-vise...pliers-4/5181k

P.S: Your pepper and salt set is superb, but I'm thinking about making pendants that are slightly smaller and easier on the neck.