Feature Archaeotechnology

The History and Evolution of

Wiredrawing Techniques
Brian D. Newbury and Michael R. Notis

Wire has been produced for thousands crude techniques made it difficult twistings were used. Strip twisting
of years by a variety of methods. Strip to keep the wire’s diameter constant involved forming a tube from the metal
and block twisting of silver and gold over long lengths. The earliest known ribbon (Figure 2, left) while block
wire resulted in a high-quality jewelry written reference to wire manufacture twisting involved twisting about the
wire, but the drawing process was is contained in the Bible’s book of ribbon’s axis (Figure 2, right). The metal
developed as quantity and strength Exodus, chapter 39: “and they did beat strips were then converted to wire
requirements increased. Historical the gold into thin plates, and cut it by rolling them between two flat surfaces
documents are vague as to when this into wires, to work it . . . in the fine or drawing them through a rudimentary
transformation occurred—the earliest linen.” This description is probably die.6 Both techniques were used concur-
concrete evidence of an accepted of the hammering process, in which a rently in making fine wire for jewelry
drawplate points to the Vikings, but sheet of gold is cut into thin strips and from antiquity to approximately 1000
telltale markings left on older wire will then hammered into a round shape.5 A.D., with no apparent geographical
fuel the debate for years to come. The strip twisting technique involved preference for either method.6
cutting a thin strip of metal from sheet However, these two main techniques
INTRODUCTION
and twisting the strip to form a wire, do not account for all types of wire
Wire is used in a multitude of products, as shown in Figure 2. Two types of found in ancient artifacts. The so-called
from musical instrument strings to cable
supports in suspension bridges. Wire
is produced by a drawing process,
in which a cylindrical ingot of metal
is drawn through a cone-shaped die,
reducing the diameter (Figure 1). This
process has been in use for at least
1,200 years, although die design and
materials have significantly improved
in the last 150 years. It is no surprise
that such an important process has
been thoroughly studied to find optimal
drawing parameters for modern wire
production. However, very little is
known about the beginnings of the
Figure 1. A schematic of a wiredrawing die
process, and debate is ongoing over illustrating pertinent parameters.1
when wiredrawing in the modern context
was invented.2–4
PRECURSORS TO
WIREDRAWING
Early wire was produced by either Figure 2. Schematics of strip twist (left)
hammering or strip twisting, depending and block twist (right) wire formed from
thin strips of sheet.6
on the wire material and size. These

Over the last 40 years, there has been a discernible increase in the number of scholars who have focused their research on early industrial
organizations, a field of study that has come to be known as Archaeotechnology. Archaeologists have conducted fieldwork geared to the study
of ancient technologies in a cultural context and have drawn on the laboratory analyses developed by materials scientists as one portion of their
interpretive program. Papers for this department are solicited and/or reviewed by Michael Notis, a professor and director of the Archaeometallurgy
Laboratory (www.Lehigh.edu/~inarcmet) at Lehigh University.

2004 February • JOM 33

 THE WIREDRAWING PROCESS of forgery. The argument over early
Modern wiredrawing entails reducing a wire diameter to a smaller size by drawing wiredrawing has been ongoing for
the raw material through a converging die.1 Figure 1 is a schematic indicating pertinent over a century, with H. Schliemann
physical characteristics of the process that affect the required drawing force. The reduction claiming to have excavated in 1873 gold
of the wire from drawing is defined as: jewelry from Troy that was produced
εw by drawing.9 Conversely, W.M.F. Petrie
R= (A)
εt stated in 1901 that all ancient wire he
where Do and Df are the initial and final wire diameters, respectively. The drawing observed was faceted from hammer
force, F, is equal to: shaping.10 The argument will probably
w  never reach a conclusive end because
ln  0 
εw  w several modern experiments to repro-
R= =
−(ε w + ε l )  lw  (B) duce early jewelry wire have shown
ln   that characteristic draw plate marks can
 l0 w0 
be easily removed by a light polishing
where Rf and sxf are defined in Figure 1. Given constant material properties, this
force is directly related to the amount of reduction r%, semi die angle a, and the or burnishing operation.5
friction between draw material and die.1 As the value of these factors is increased, MODERN WIREDRAWING
the draw force increases.
The percent reduction in historical wiredrawing varied with the ductility of the metal. In HISTORY
1700s England, reductions of approximately 20% were found to be optimal to minimize The modern wiredrawing process
wire breakage and the number of draw passes for metals such as brass, copper, and soft
iron.11 More ductile gold and silver wire could be drawn with more severe reductions.11 requires a drawplate with successively
With the introduction of drawn steel wire in the early 1800s, new draw plates with much smaller dies with which to reduce
smaller reductions (when compared to the brass and soft iron draw plates) had to be the wire. (Details on the wiredrawing
introduced to deal with the lower ductility of the steel.11 process are provided in the sidebar.)
Precise measurement of wire diameter only became possible with the advent of The earliest concrete evidence for a
micrometers in 1869. Before then, a test wire’s extension in length was measured after
passing through each hole to determine if the drawplate was within proper specifications.11 modern-style draw plate is from the
An interesting result of not having an accurate means to measure wire diameter available Vikings dated to 800–900 A.D.4,12 This
to both manufacturers and consumers alike was the development of wire gauges. Partly draw plate, made of a bronze plate with
a result of nationalistic trade secrecy, each nation tended to develop its own numbering iron inserts for the wire dies, is very
system for wire gauges. Even within a country, different gauge numbering systems advanced technically.
were used for different industries, as dictated by the guild.11 Less savory businessmen
would often take advantage of the fact that wire was sold by weight to pass off cheaper, The earliest written account of
heavier-gauge wire for more expensive finer grades.11 wiredrawing is that according to
Theophilus in 1122 A.D., in which he
succinctly describes the draw plate:
“Two iron [plates] three fingers wide,
narrow at the top and bottom, thin
throughout and pierced with three or
Egyptian wire-making method started the same material is possible for silver,
four rows of holes [of diminishing
with a very thin ribbon of metal that copper, and gold.2 This technique is
size] through which wires may be
was drawn through a soft metal or stone believed to have begun around 2000
drawn.”3
die.7,8 The force of drawing the ribbon B.C. when wires of precious metals
is much lower than drawing a rod (as were drawn for jewelry.3 Recycling of The lack of details given for such
in modern wiredrawing), enabling the the die material accounts for the absence an important metal-forming process
use of softer die materials and the hand- of surviving dies from time periods suggests that the process was well
drawing of the wire.8 Dies of copper where seemingly irrefutable evidence known and no further detail was needed.
or soft iron were used, and after one or exists for wiredrawing. Using a cast Compared to other technologically
two passes the strip became a tube with die with a conical hole, wires were important metallurgical processes, such
a visible seam from the two original relatively easily drawn to diameters of as the art of brass manufacture, which
edges of the metal ribbon. Depending 0.51 mm.2 Die wear was considerable, has numerous detailed descriptions
on the number of draw passes, the with most dies lasting only a few draw throughout history, the lack of detail in
tube closed and the original seam may passes, depending on the wire length in describing wiredrawing is puzzling.
have become obscured, giving the each pass. Because the dies were made Biringuccio provides a more complete
appearance of a modern drawn wire.5,6 of precious metal, and were only useful description of the wiredrawing process
Wires produced via this method show for a few draw passes, they would surely as well as some excellent images of
evidence of both strip twisting and have been recycled. wiredrawing equipment and techniques
wiredrawing, as seen in Figure 3. This early period of proto-wiredraw- in his Pirotechnia of 1540 A.D. Shown in
ing is of great importance to museums Figure 4, the equipment illustrates both
EARLY WIREDRAWING
and collectors of ancient jewelry as hand- and water-powered equipment.
Thomsen and Thomsen have shown many collectors view the existence of The coarse drawing of brass and iron
that drawing wire through dies made of characteristic draw marks as evidence required the power of the watermill,

34 JOM • February 2004


while fine wire was still drawn by hand.
In this work, we also find a reference for
brass and iron music strings:
“Brass and steel, which are stronger
things (than gold and silver), are also
drawn into wires to make strings for
musical instruments, as fine or as thick
as pleases the one who uses them.”13
Biringuccio and others describe wire-
drawing as a two-step process involving
reducing a square ingot to a rough round
bar to begin drawing, and drawing
by capstan or windlass to achieve the
needed wire diameter, as shown in
Figure 4.12–14 The first step was often
referred to as straining, while the second
step, known as ripping, represented
the first few reductions of the strained
ingots.12 After about 1800, iron plate was
rolled between grooved rolls that would
form the plate into rods, eliminating the
straining step.15
In this description, Biringuccio also
describes the need for annealing the
wire between the heavily worked stages
and lubricating the wire stock with
wax to reduce die friction. Although
universally applied, lubricants were a
closely guarded secret amongst many
wire drawers.4
For drawing iron and steel, manpower
alone was not sufficient. The wiredraw-
ing industry of Nuremburg was the first
to convert water-powered flour mills to
a b
2004 February • JOM
Figure 3. Strip-twisted wire
showing the parallel scratches
along the wire axis as evidence
of draw marks.6
the production of metal goods around
1390 A.D.4,12 Biringuccio describes
the mechanism to harness water power
for the drawing of these materials
(Figure 4). As shown in Figure 4a,
the metalworker sits in a large swing
connected to the water wheel axle. As
the U-shaped axle rotates toward the
worker, he slides forward and fastens
the pliers to the wire. When the axle
U rotates away from the worker, it
pulls the worker backward on the swing
while, at the same time, pulling the wire
through the drawplate. This is repeated
in an interrupted draw until the wire is
completely through the drawplate. In
the straining step, water-powered trip
hammers were used that could strike as
fast as four times a second in the mid-
1700s, reducing an ingot to 9 meters in
length and 0.5 centimeters in diameter,
as seen in Figure 5 from Diderot’s
Encyclopedia.16 Biringuccio mentions
that the finer stages of wiredrawing
must be preceded by annealing.13,15
This was further explained by Ray in
1674 when referring to wiredrawing at
Tintern in England:
“. . . [P]ut them into a furnace and neal
[sic] them with a pretty strong fire for
about 12 hours: after they are nealed
[sic] lay them in water for a month
or two (the longer the better) then the
Rippers take them and draw them into
wire through two or three holes. Then
they neal [sic] them again for six hours
or more, and water them the second
time about a week, then they are carried
to the Rippers who draw them to a wire
as big as a great packthread.”14
Ray further described another annealing/
watering/drawing cycle to produce the
finest gauge wire. The watering step
produced a layer of soft rust on the
surface of the wire, which was easily
removed. This eliminated the fire scale
on the wire surface that resulted from
annealing in air, providing a fresh metal
surface for the subsequent drawing
steps.12 One early writer proclaimed that
annealing should be done in the firebox
of a baker’s oven after the last batch
of bread had been baked!4 Drawing to
final dimensions was done by hand with
a barrel apparatus, as seen in Figure 6,
to eliminate any tong marks along the
wire’s length that could cause failure.15
The finest wire was very expensive,
with the wire cost doubling every five
reductions in the drawplate.11
IRON-BASED WIRE
MATERIAL
At this point, it is important to more
rigorously define the iron-based alloys
in the time period in which we are
interested. Figure 7 illustrates the iron-
carbon phase diagram and portrays the
three general alloy classifications of
interest: wrought iron, steel, and cast
iron. Wrought iron refers to essentially
pure iron, from 0% to 0.008% carbon
(Figure 7). A practical definition from
the workshop is that if wrought iron is
quenched in water, there is no strength
or hardness gain.18 Wrought iron is the
softest and most ductile of the three
alloys. Steels contain from 0.008% to
1.7% carbon and exhibit a hardness
and strength increase when quenched
Figure 4. (a) A water-
powered wiredrawing
apparatus, (b) a hand-
powered drawing appa-
ratus, decreasing in wire
diameter clockwise from
top.13
35

Figure 6. The final wiredraw-
ing steps with barrel appa-
ratus.16
in water from the austenite region of
Figure 7. This, coupled with tempering
heat treatments, can produce a wide
range of physical properties in the steel.
Cast iron, which represents the highest
carbon of the three alloys, from 1.7%
to 5%, has a lower melting temperature
than steel and wrought iron due to its
higher carbon content. After solidifica-
tion, cast iron is hard and brittle, suitable
only for vessels that will see no shock
or impact.18
DIE MANUFACTURE
There were very few written accounts
of the manufacture of wiredrawing dies
before the early 1800s.4 At this time,
die manufacture was described as taking
pot metal (cast iron) and breaking it into
little pieces to remelt. This was cast onto
an iron plate, cracked, remelted, and
repeated for many cycles.4 This is an
obvious attempt to remove some of the
carbon from high-carbon cast iron and
to convert it to a more ductile hyper-
eutectoid steel plate (approximately
0.8–1.7% carbon). At this point, the
metal was broken into fine pieces once
again and smeared into a deeply scored
36
Figure 5. A water-powered
trip hammer during the strain-
ing process.16
wrought iron plate. The assembly was
wrapped, heated to red hot, and ham-
mered. The process was repeated until
one solid piece was produced, which was
then drilled for wiredrawing holes.4
MUSIC WIRE
Most development and refinement of
the wiredrawing process in the Middle
Ages was driven by the need for metal
wire for musical instruments. Music
wire was often very thin, requiring
numerous draw passes that produced
very high strength wire (due to work
hardening associated with numerous
draws). In the 17th and 18th centuries,
wire for harpsichords was produced
from brass as well as iron and steel.19
The thicker bass strings were made of
brass, while the thinner treble strings
were of iron or steel. Brass wire was
supplied from Germany, Sweden, and
the Normandy region of France.19 Iron
and steel wire of the finest quality
was produced in Liege and Cologne.
Hubbard notes that harpsichord iron wire
was much softer and more pliable than
current-day music wire. This difference
in properties would affect its tone.19
Brass Music Wire
Brass music wire can be broken into
two general classes: red and yellow.
The red wire corresponds to a zinc
composition of 10–15% while the zinc
content of the yellow wire is 25–30%.12
The brass was manufactured by the
traditional cementation technique, in
which zinc oxide was reduced in the
presence of copper metal between
1,000°C and 1,100°C. The zinc, in
gas form, diffuses into the copper to
form brass.20–23
Iron Music Wire
The Dictionnaire Portative de Com-
merce of 1770 gives a description of
iron music wire production. The raw
material for iron wire was “the first
iron which runs from the ore when
it is smelted, being the most ductile
and strongest.”24 This observation was
also made 100 years earlier by Joseph
Moxon, who stated that this iron was
specifically saved for the production of
wire.25 Goodway asserts that this iron
melts first due to its high phosphorus
content, which depresses the melting
point and increases the liquid fluidity.12
It is also noted that the iron was very low
in carbon content because the presence
of phosphorus and carbon together in
iron causes rapid failure in cold working
known as cold shorting. The low carbon
content was a result of the Westphalian
iron-refining process. This iron was
then drawn into a number of diameters,
ranging from the thinnest, 00, to 6,
which was “as large as one of the
strongest goose quills.”24
The Westphalian iron-refining pro-
cess, which was unique to iron-refining
for wire production, was developed to
eliminate wire breakage during water-
powered drawing. It produced a highly
decarburized iron that was also slag free,
minimizing inclusions that decreased
the drawability of the iron. The process
involved collecting the molten iron as it
trickled from the ore onto a long staff.
The staff was held in a highly oxidizing
blast furnace to burn off all carbon
in the iron. The staff was then dipped
in molten slag to dissolve any non-
metallic impurities. This was repeated
successively as iron was refined from
the ore to produce a very pure iron
mass.26 The only impurity present in
JOM • February 2004

0 5
1600 0.09
0.53
1493°°C
1400 0.16 1493
1200
Temperature (°C)
(γFe)
1000
0.65
800 0.021
0.022 0.76
600
(αFe)
400
0 1
the iron was phosphorus, which was
unknown at the time of production.
The phosphorus present acted as a
strengthener for the iron wire.27–29
Steel Music Wire
Early attempts at making steel wire
failed due to too much slag in bloomery
iron-based steel and phosphorus in
Westphalian refined iron. European steel
during the Middle Ages was often made
by heating wrought iron in the presence of
carbon to carburize it. If the wrought-iron
raw material was made from bloomery
iron (a solid-state iron-refining process
that often allowed a large amount of
slag to remain in the iron), the slag
inclusions would cause wire breakage
very quickly.12 If the iron for carburizing
was produced by the Westphalian refining
process, the presence of phosphorus
(which was in both the ore and the
charcoal fuel) with the newly introduced
carbon would cause the cold shorting
discussed previously.12
Steel wire was first made of crucible
steel. Before 1827, steel music wire
in the modern sense did not exist.30
The English company, Websters of
Birmingham, first produced steel piano
wire in 1827, making it commercially
available in 1830.30 Its introduction
correlates roughly with the increase of
popularity of the piano. From the 1830s
to 1840s, instruments were made with
either iron or steel strings, each with
different tonal qualities. The invention
of the Bessemer process in 1856 allowed
for mass production of steel at a fraction
of the cost of crucible steel.31 Following
the development of carbon steel mass
2004 February • JOM
Atomic Percent Carbon
10 15 20 25
Figure 7. An Fe-C phase
diagram illustrating compo-
L L + C (graphite) sitional ranges for wrought
iron (αFe), steel (0.008-1.7
1252°C wt.% C), and cast iron
1153°C 4.2 (1.7-5 wt.% C).17
2.1
21.4 1147°C 4.3
Fe3C
740°C
727°C
2 3 4 5 6 Metallurgy Society, 11 (1) (1977), pp. 16–21.
Weight Percent Carbon
production, the addition of other alloying
elements (such as manganese) allowed
for the production of high-strength
modern piano wire by the end of the
century.30 Studies of the mechanical
properties of piano wire from the 1850s
to present day have found an increase
in wire stiffness and strength from 1850
to 1900, and then relatively constant
physical properties to current day wire.32
With the increasing tensile strength of
piano wire came a dramatic change in
wire tone.32 The increased strength of
the higher-quality steel wire throughout
the century led to the substitution of the
iron-framed piano for the wood-framed
instrument,30 a necessity to withstand
the 32 tonnes exerted by the wires of a
modern instrument.33
References
1. B. Avitzur and W.Z. Misiolek, Encyclopedia of
Materials: Science and Technology, (St. Louis, MO:
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2. E.G. Thomsen and H.H. Thomsen, Journal of
Engineering for Industry, (98) (Feb. 1976), pp.
201–205.
3. J.G. Hawthorne and C.S. Smith, Theophilus On
Divers Arts The Foremost Medieval Treatis on Painting,
Glassmaking, and Metalwork (New York: Dover
Publications, Inc., 1979), pp. 87–90.
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(3) (1972), pp. 321–323.
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de L’Institut Francais d’Archeologie Orientale du
Caire, Tome Second (Cairo, Egypt: La Bijouterie et La
Joaillerie Egyptiennes, 1907).
8. C.R. Williams, Gold and Silver Jewelry and Related
Objects (New York: The New York Historical Society,
1924), pp. 39–43.
9. H. Schliemann, Ilios, The City and Country of The
Trojans (New York: Harper, 1880).
10. W.M.F. Petrie, Diospolis Parva: The Cemeteries
of Abadiyeh and Hu (London: Egypt Exploration
Fund, 1901).
11. W.R. Thomas and J.J.K. Rhodes, The Organ
Yearbook, 10 (1979), pp. 126–139.
12. M. Goodway and J.S. Odell, The Metallurgy of
17th and 18th Century Music Wire (Stuyvesant, NY:
Pendragon Press, 1987).
13. C.S. Smith and M.T. Gnudi, The Pirotechnia of
Vannocio Biringucchio (New York: The American
Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1942),
pp. 377–381.
14. J. Ray, A Collection of English Words Not Generally
Used . . . with catalogues of Englishbirds and fishes:
and an account of the preparing and refining such
metals and minerals as are gotten in England (London:
1674).
15. H.W. Paar and D.G. Tucker, Journal of the Historical
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ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts, et des
Metiers (Paris: Librai Associes, 1751–1776).
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18. J. Needham, The Development of Iron and Steel
Technology in China (Cambridge, MA: The Newcomen
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19. Frank Hubbard, Three Centuries of Harpsichord
Making (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1965), pp. 205–206.
20. J. Bayley, Journal of the Historical Metallurgy
Society, 18 (1) (1984), pp. 42–43.
21. Joan Day, 2000 Years of Zinc and Brass Revised
Edition, ed. P.T. Craddock (British Museum Occasional
Paper Number 50, 1998), pp. 133–158.
22. A.M. Pollard and C. Heron, Archaeological Chemistry
(Cambridge, U.K.: The Royal Society of Chemistry,
1996), pp. 196–238.
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(Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press,
1995), pp. 292–302.
24. Dictionnaire Portatif de Commerce, Vol. III (Liege,
Belgium: 1770), p. 19.
25. Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises or the Doctrine
of Handy-Works (London: 1677), p. 13.
26. H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and
Steel Industry from c. 450 B.C. to A.D. 1775 (London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1957), p. 295.
27. M. Goodway and R.M. Fisher, Journal of the
Historical Metallurgy Society, 22 (1987), pp. 21–23.
28. B.E. Hopkins and H.R. Tipler, Journal of the Iron and
Steel Institute, 188 (1958), pp. 218–237.
29. J.W. Stewart, J.A. Charles, and E.R. Wallach,
Materials Science and Technology, 16 (2000), pp.
275–282.
30. Stephen Birkett, Associate Professor, University of
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, personal correspondence
(2003).
31. K.C. Barraclough, Steelmaking: 1850–1900 (London:
The Institute of Metals, 1990), p. 40.
32. Randal Werner, (MS&E 379/390 Senior Project
Paper, University of Wisconsin–Madison, May 1998).
33. Frederick Allen, Invention & Technology, 9 (2)
(Fall 1993), pp. 34–43.
Brian D. Newbury and Michael R. Notis are with
the Archaeometallurgy Laboratory, Department
of Materials Science and Engineering at Lehigh
University.
For more information, contact Brian D. Newbury,
Lehigh University, Archaeometallurgy Laboratory,
Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
5 East Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015; (610)
758-4701; e-mail bdn2@lehigh.edu.
37