How to straighten a metal wire?

How to straighten a silver wire?

Sometimes for a creation, we need a straight wire to make rings or earrings stems. But all we have on hand are wires already worked, bent or twisted... Don't panic! The solution? Straighten your metal wire.

In this new video, Lucie gives you her tips for straightening metal wire. She presents three techniques and a bonus to discover:

1. Smoothing a wire with a tool made of three nylon rollers.
2. Straightening a metal wire between two nylon plates.
3. Tensioning a metal wire with pliers and a vice.

To illustrate these methods, Lucie used a 925 silver wire. But it also works with gold-filled, gold-plated, brass, copper,aluminum,stainless steel...

Technique #1: the tool with the nylon rollers

For this first tip, Lucie used a very practical tool, which is simply called a wire straightener.

• To use it, you insert the thread between the three rollers,
• close the tool to lock the wire (the rollers form a triangle).
• You hold the tool firmly in one hand, then, with the other hand, you pull the wire towards you. The rollers will straighten the wire.
  If you wish, you can use flat pliers to tighten the wire.

The rollers are coated with nylon, which will not damage or mark the thread.

Do not hesitate to pass your thread several times between the rollers if you feel that your thread is not yet straight enough.

Technique n°2 : the 2 nylon plates

For this second technique, we will use a tool to harden the wire creations. This tool, very simple to handle, is composed of two nylon plates. Normally, it is used to flatten and harden metal wires.
But, by diverting its use, it will allow you to straighten your rods.

• To do this, simply place the wire between the two plates,
• then, you roll the plates, one on the other, with your hand. The friction, exerted by the two plates, will straighten the thread little by little.

The advantage of nylon is that your wire will keep its shape and appearance, even if it is diamond coated.

Technique 3: Tensioning the wire with a bench vice

For the third method, you will need to use a mini-vise.

• The wire to be straightened is placed in the jaws of the bench vice
• and pull the wire with a flat pliers to tighten it.

If you are using silver wire, remember to anneal it before attempting to straighten it. That is, heat the metal to make it more malleable and flexible.

Bonus: smoothing the metal wire with a flat nose pliers

This is the same procedure as above, but using flat nose pliers. The advantage of this method is that the nylon tips will not mark the metal.
This is the technique that Lucie recommends. For her, it is by far the best technique to straighten a wire.