24g round HH sterling silver filled wire 65' high qual

The wire:

24 gauge round, half-hard, sterling silver filled wire, 65 feet long, 0.4mm in diameter.

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This high quality, tarnish resistant wire is made expressly for the jewelry making industry. It is an attractive, affordable, quality wire.

It works and wears well, has an excellent sterling color and sheen, and is regarded by many to be second only to solid sterling wire. It is made by bonding an outer tube-like portion - 1/40th sterling silver by weight - to a pure copper core, giving the appearance of sterling at a fraction of the price.

This wire is well suited for use in wire-wrapping and more. Oxidize it. Hammer it, roll it, solder it. Braid it, crochet with it, knit with it. Use it for earwires and clasps. Make headpins that end in a scroll or tiny loop. Use it to make bracelets, necklaces, earrings, pendants, and chain maille. Make bookmarks and paperclips.

SS/40 sterling filled wire is not a plated wire. Electroplated wire has only a microscopic application of precious metal on top of non precious wire, in a thickness of .175 microns ( 7 - one millionths of an inch). To try and visualize this, a human hair measures between 70 and 200 microns, vs .175 microns. There simply is no comparison between SS/40 wire and plated wire.

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Working with this wire - see photos for jewelry made with SS/40 & 10KT/40 wire

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Wire wrapping:

I use Tool Magic to coat my pliers to prevent marring and damage to the wire, which not only protects the wire - it also saves me additional time and work removing nicks or rough areas. When cutting this wire, keep the flat side of your flush cutters toward the end of the wire that will show. The "pinch" will minimize exposure of the core. Use a cup burr to smooth the ends of earwires to prevent irritation.

If you are new to wire wrapping, don't worry - you will make mistakes. Don't be discouraged. Practice with inexpensive hardware store wire. Then come back and see me. I'll gladly sell you all the wire you'd like!

Hammering:

I use a nylon hammer & surface when I flatten this wire. Some artisans use a brass hammer, some protect the wire by sandwiching it between leather or soft flannel. You can use an ordinary hardware store ball peen hammer on this with or without padding. Explore. Have fun. Practice pounding and to see how far you can go.

Oxidizing:

Use liver of sulfur or the hard-boiled egg method to oxidize the surface of silver filled wire. The pure copper core oxidizes as well as sterling silver. You can create a lovely dark finish. If you've (unintentionally) hammered a little too enthusiastically and a bit of copper shows, oxidizing will mask this.

Soldering:

Silver filled wire can be soldered with a torch using sterling silver solder and the same flux and pickle you'd use with sterling. Although I haven't tried it, a soldering iron with silver-bearing solder would probably work as well. Follow the instructions & use the flux recommended by the manufacturer of the solder product you are using.

If you try to fuse or otherwise melt this wire - both of which are different from soldering - you will expose the copper core.


Availability:

I sell 10KT/40 wire in 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 30 gauge, and SS/40 in 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 30 gauge. If you need a larger quatity than listed, please contact me. I have additional stock in all gauges over 99% of the time.

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