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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.

I just use the charcoal grill cause I figure why waste the heat. Be careful whichever method you choose because you don't want to overheat the steel just soften it....not much good if your wire melts into a blob or burns. (trust me, thin steel wire burns easily if you apply heat and too much oxygen....don't ask:blushing:)

If you want to prevent oxidation without fluxing you can wrap the coil in stainless steel foil. I don't bother with it because the wire from Lowe's is pretty cheap so losing a bit is no big deal.

Annealing will take the spring out of the wire and should let you wind on hardwood, works for me anyway. The steel won't work harden like copper or brass. You'll have to heat the finished piece, quench it, then temper it to spring hardness. You will need to get the metallurgy report on the steel you use to determine the proper temperatures and whether to use an oil quench or a water quench. There are charts for all that but if you have problems finding the temperature info send me the specs and I'll track it down for you.

Your work flow will be anneal, cut the rings, polish, construct, polish, heat to temp, quench, polish, temper to proper hardness, final polish. You'll probably have to get out the rouge and the cotton string to get the tiny spots for the final polish but you're more than likely used to that step.

If your flexible shaft will use Dremel mandrels try the Dremel fiber reinforced cut-off wheels and a light touch making multiple passes to cut the wire.

To get your rings to stay closed put the ring on the next size down mandrel and close the ends slightly past each other, then when you pull the ends apart and twist them together any spring in the metal will work for you snapping the ends against each other. Using the next smaller mandrel just stops the rings from crushing when you make the ends bypass each other and will compensate for using the thicker wheel to cut the wire.