Quote - Nice jewelry work!

On the stainless wire difficulties:

Choosing the stainless wire makes a big difference, lower percentages of chromium and vanadium result in a softer steel so would be easier to work....that and power tools. I make jump rings using stainless wire from Lowe's frequently as it is fairly ductile for a stainless.

Anneal, wind onto a piece of wooden dowel and use a cut-off wheel in a flexible shaft tool or Dremel to cut the wire.

To anneal the wire I normally just bind the coil tightly and toss it in the charcoal grill after the food is off then retrieve the coil after the remaining coals have burnt out and everything has cooled off. I lose some wire to oxidation but I don't flux because it would wreck the grill.

Putting all those little rings together to make jewelry like you have....not happening here....I suffer from repetitious motion boredom.:biggrin:

You know, I NEVER thought of putting the coil of wire in the GRILL??? I wonder if it will work on a gas grill? No matter, I'll dig a pit in the yard just to burn logs in...LOLOLOL. Anyway, that's a stellar idea and THANK YOU. You just KNOW I'm going to have to try it again now....LOL. I suppose any softness that may happen will get worked out by just regular work hardening and when I put it in to tumble in the shot for 12 hours or so. But it's definitely the springiness that gets me - I can wind it and all, but when I twist the rings closed they have a tendency to not stay closed...LOL.

The stainless steel I buy is specifically for chainmaille. I get nearly all my wire from a place in Canada even tho I'm in the U.S. (and even thought the shipping is more, I still can get it cheaper than anywhere else).

"Anneal, wind onto a piece of wooden dowel and use a cut-off wheel in a flexible shaft tool or Dremel to cut the wire."

I have a flex shaft to cut the coils with and a specialized jig that holds them so that the saw is straight and cuts in one pass. However, the delicate blades will not stand up to stainless steel, although it will cut nearly everything else. I also have a professional winding machine with various sizes of mandrels as well as a large set of transfer punches to serve as mandrels for the in between sizes. I've never had any luck winding on wood - too soft. I've used a phillips screwdriver shaft a time or two in my day....LOL.

As for the chainmaille being tedious, I've done tedious things for fun all my life...LOL (I have no idea what that says about me). But since I rarely think about the work involved and only the finished piece, it goes by rather quickly. And, depending on the weave, I can do a bracelet in less than three hours most of the time.

Laurie