unclestu
Cave Dweller 
WINNER OF THE FIRST RTH KILLER CAB CONTEST UNCLESTU'S AGUA NUEVA AGATE
Member since April 2011
Posts: 2,298
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Post by unclestu on May 2, 2014 19:18:27 GMT -5
Well I did my first wrap and now I have a lot of questions.
1) I was told that you should straighten out the square soft wire when you take it off the spool. Is there some sort of special techniqque to getting the square wire to lay flat after you take some off the spool? When I did it no matter how tried it would always curve in one direction or another. How staright must you get it before you begin?
2) When you make your 3 bindings around the square wire, do you simply start wrapping around the square wire by hand or do you make your right angle bends with the pliers first and then start wraapping around the square wire?
3) Do you crimp each individual wrap as you go or do you do all of your wraps in the particular section and then crimp them?
4) Also do you use a regular chain nose plier or a bent chain nose plier? My chain nose plier seems to be very narrow at the tip, like a needle nose. Is that the correct plier to use or should I use the flat nose plier instead?
Thanks for any and all help you can give. Here is a link to my first wrap:http://forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/65503/fist-attempt-wrapping?page=1&scrollTo=741036
Stu
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Post by rockjunquie on May 2, 2014 20:29:41 GMT -5
1) There are pliers with plastic jaws that people use. I have never used them or needed to. I use a polishing cloth (or tshirt scrap- whatever) and pull the wire through the rag. When you do this, you kinda get a feel for how the wire is behaving and you can adjust the angle that you pull to compensate for the bend. HOWEVER- a kinked wire will always have a ding in it.
2) I start my bindings with flatnose pliers, sometimes round nose if the wire is real thick.
3) I "crimp" (squeeze) every single turn.
4) I never use a chain nose. I use flat nose pliers for almost everything. Of course, I have a lot of different widths of flatnose pliers. I never liked to use a chain nose. I got rid of mine and I don't own a bent nose.
I think you are going to find that every one is different. What works for one person, may not work for another. And, there are lots of styles of wrapping- the techniques are different. But, for the basic border wrapping that you are doing, the bindings are extremely important, so you want to really get those down.
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milto
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2010
Posts: 162
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Post by milto on May 3, 2014 9:22:25 GMT -5
like rockjunquie.
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Post by manofglass on May 3, 2014 10:20:38 GMT -5
I use a drill press vise to straighten wire
I put the vise on the floor I cut the wire in 3ft lenghs put one end in the vise clamp it down hold on to the wire put your foot on the vise grap the other end of the wire with pliers and pull up soft wire wil brake if you pull to hard.hard wire will only strech a little
Walt
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Tommy
Administrator 
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,989
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Post by Tommy on May 3, 2014 10:32:50 GMT -5
I used to use the plastic tip pliers to straighten out the wires until five minutes ago when I tried Tela's cloth method and really liked it  Regarding the bindings my theory is that the less I put pliers against wire the better it turns out. Less is more in my case. I start the wire by hand- hold it flat against the base wires and just start wrapping and making sure every turn is good - when it's all wrapped I come back and squish the whole thing flat with flat-nose. In my method it's VERY important to make sure the base wires are taped flat together because if they squeeze together then you try to flatten them again its a mess. That being said - do what the guru says There's a very good reason why her stuff looks fantastic and mine is so-so at best. |
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Post by wireholic on May 3, 2014 13:14:59 GMT -5
I use the cloth method too. You can feel when the wire starts getting that "buttery" feel. The only time I use the plastic pliers is if the wire got badly twisted on the spool & I need to get it back on the square
When you start your wrap -make a little hook with your flat nose with the short end going off to the side a bit. That goes in the back of the bundle. Now when you wrap around the bundle, the wires in front with be straight and the ones on the back will be slanted. I crimp after every turn and flip the bundle so my turns are all the same. Over the top, crimp, flip the bundle, and over the top again. It helps keep your wrap even.
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Post by FrogAndBearCreations on May 7, 2014 10:09:18 GMT -5
1) I use a cloth to pull the wire through to straighten it out
2)&3) I use my flat nose pliers to make the first bend then go around the bundle with a slight squeeze at each turn - if you squeeze too hard then you lock that binding where it is and it becomes hard to slide if you need to reposition it - at the final positioning I give it a hard squeeze to lock it in place
4) I use chain and bent nose for different wraps that I do - round nose for bail, rosette and curls - flat nose for the main square wire wraps
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Post by drocknut on May 8, 2014 12:55:33 GMT -5
One thing to add is that the wires don't have to be perfectly straight starting out. I use a cloth to straighten mine just like most of the others on here but they never get totally straight. I'd say as long as they lay well next to each other a little curve doesn't make much difference. If it helps put the wires so the curves are all going the same way and to the inside of the wrap so when you curve it around the stone you don't have to work against a curve. Also I use flat nosed and chain nosed pliers interchangeably unless I am wanting a really crisp bend in which case I use the flat nosed. As far as crimping the wraps I've done it both ways so I think you'll get your own style going as you wrap. When I first started I crimped every time I wrapped the wire but now I've gotten lazy and tend to only crimp down after a few wraps since it saves time.
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unclestu
Cave Dweller
WINNER OF THE FIRST RTH KILLER CAB CONTEST UNCLESTU'S AGUA NUEVA AGATE
Member since April 2011
Posts: 2,298
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Post by unclestu on May 10, 2014 0:07:33 GMT -5
Thanks for ll of the great advise. I tried the cloth method for straightening the wire and I like it. I am glad that the wire does not have to be perfectly straight as I never seem able to get the wire perfectly straight. Now it is just a matter of practice, practice, practice.
Thanks
Stu
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on May 11, 2014 22:54:36 GMT -5
You've probably noticed already but the more you straighten the wire the harder it gets.
I also don't worry about a little curve as long as they all lie together. I try and only bend or straighten when I'm fitting the wrap to the stone.
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