Teardrop 3.0-0.5mm

Tear Drop reduces 3mm to 0.5mm

Used mainly by jewellers and model ship builders to reduce the diameter of wooden dowels or wire by pulling them through successively smaller holes which shaves off a tiny bit of the diameter of the wire or wood with each pass. Specialist jewellers draw plates which change the shape of wire to squares, ovals or other shapes are also available.

Our Italian made steel draw plates are made of properly hardened steel for reducing and shaping soft non-ferrous metals like gold, silver, platinum, palladium and copper alloys. Our Italian manufacturer has been producing the best quality steel draw plates using modern machine tools. Quality is paramount. Holes are precisely graduated for even and easy to use draw downs.

Drawing Gold Wire. Another way of preparing gold or platinum for use in jewelry making is to draw the metal into wire. Precious metal wire is used to create prongs, filigree, and delicate designs. After pouring an ingot and rolling it into square rods on the rolling mill, you will form the metal into wire on a draw plate. The square rods of precious metal will be manually pulled through a series of tapered holes in a carbon steel plate. After each pass, the wire thins and has to be reheated and annealed to a cherry red to soften the metal so it can pass through the next gauge hole to further.

Hold a drawplate  in a bench vice when drawing wire with drawtongs. We sell a larger selection of various shapes & size drawplates.  Or make life super easy and use a draw bench for fast & easy wire drawing.

TIP: Use bur lubricant or Beeswax on your wire and drawplate for smooth wire drawing.