Making 2.2mm brass rod

[Max Stone]

So a knife making friend, Jack Connan, offered to make some brass rod for me. We all know how difficult it is to get 2.2mm rod, so this was the objective.

We started with 3mm plate and cut a 300mm long strip about 4mm wide on his band saw (friction cut). Deburred the rough edges and then ran this through a roller to get it approximately round.

He then annealed with a torch to get it soft. Added bees wax to the blank and drew it through reducing sized holes in his die until we had the perfect diameter. From the 300mm rough blank we ended up with about 850mm rod.

Quite impressive what you can do with the right equipment. For interest, he made the drawing machine himself. 

Pic 1: rolling rough blank
Pic 2: tapering end to pull through die
Pic 3: annealing to soften brass
 

[Max Stone]

Pic 4: coating bees wax
Pic 5: drawing
Pic 6: polished and perfect fit

[RF52]

Cool, really like that

Sent fra min FRD-L09 via Tapatalk

[Rapidray]

Wow now that is cool 

[Myron]

This is cool, Max!    Machinists and their shops are the best.  In a different lifetime I'm a machinist.

Thanks for sharing.

Myron

[Sos24]

Very cool explanation.

[Max Stone]

Thanks all! 
Next up he’s offered to make a steel jig to take the guesswork out of drilling scales. Will make it quicker and easier for me to make identical scales. First up may be a naked Swiss Champ with a full compliment of brass liners. Would be a real bruiser.