Does All Aluminum Wire Have Weak Points?

by Carol Braden-Williams.
(Independence, MO USA)

I’ve been a silversmith and wire jewelry artist for 25 years.

Recently I was asked to make an aluminum piece and thought, no problem, aluminum is soft, I can do that.

But after I received the 1/4 hard 14 gauge aluminum wire, I had problems working with it.

I tried to bend it with my hands, but it seemed to have weak points about 1″ apart where it would bend sharply rather than gracefully.

Did I get a bad coil of wire or is this a characteristic of aluminum?

Julie Colquhoun says

April 21, 2016 at 22:55

I won’t pretend to be an expert on aluminum wire, but I have worked quite a bit with 12 gauge Beadsmith Brand aluminum wire. It is very soft and will become brittle if over worked or hammered too thinly. It concerns me that your wire is unevenly malleable. I’m thinking there is something wrong with it. You should be able to shape it with your fingers.

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