Metal Tempers

Many of you have inquired about "tempers or hardness" of metals.  The following is a very easy to understand explanation.

Temper, or hardness, is commonly described in three ways:

 Dead Soft - Dead Soft it is extremely malleable (easy to bend/reshape) but does not hold it's shape well and does not make a pretty right angle bend. It is good for knitting or weaving wire and it does become harder as you work with it.

Half Hard -  Half hard is also malleable but it holds it shape better than dead soft. It can be easily used for sturdy connections with reasonable reliability in holding some tension. Half hard wire also makes and holds sharp bends!

Hard or Full Hard. - Full hard is of course the least of the malleable choices, but, it holds it shape very well and is the best choice for making clasps. As you work with any of these tempers, they become harder. This is called work hardening. Hammering your finished design will also harden the wire. Heating the wire (called annealing) will soften the wire again if it gets too work hardened. These techniques (hammering and heating) are beyond the scope of this article.




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