How To: Forging Your Own Ear Wires
Published: November 5, 2007
| Cut two 2-in. (51 mm) pieces of 19-gauge (0.91 mm), round, half-hard, sterling silver wire. Use crosslocking tweezers to grasp one piece of wire at its midpoint, and dip the wire in flux. Hold the wire vertically and lower one end of the wire into the tip of the inner blue cone of the flame of your torch. After a ball forms at the end of the wire, remove the flame, and then quench, pickle, rinse, and dry the wire. Repeat with the other wire. |
| Use roundnose pliers to grasp a wire behind the ball. Rotate the wire, making a small U bend. Make a second U bend in the middle of the wire by wrapping it around a 1/4-in. (6.5 mm) wooden dowel. |
| Use roundnose pliers to grasp the wire 1/4 in. (6.5 mm) from the end without the ball, and slightly bend the wire away from the balled end. Repeat with the other wire. |
| Place an ear wire on a steel block and use the flat face of a chasing hammer to forge the large U bend and to work-harden the wire. Forging the wire will open up the U bend a bit. Gently squeeze the U bend with roundnose pliers to restore its shape. Repeat with the other wire. Sand the wire ends smooth, and polish the ear wires with a cloth. |