Hey guys,
I finally got my hands on some copper wire. It’s damn hard to find a supplier here in Perth Australia.
Anyways… I brought the wire as annealed. I was assuming it was going to show up looking like the annealed wire we see on Ryan’s videos.
It’s turned up shiny?? Will I have to heat treat this wire before use??
It could have been cleaned after annealing or even annealed in a reducing atmosphere, but that is not very common. I would do two things to check. First bend a section of wire back and forth a couple of times. If it starts out easy to bend and becomes much harder to bend fairly quickly then it has been annealed. I would also look at the surface finish using a hand lens or similar. If it shows longitudinal striations it is probably in the hard, as drawn state. A wire that has been cleaned or a annealed in a reducing atmosphere will show less pronounced striations.
Throw it on a charcoal bbq or fire pit for a few hours. Right in the red hot coals.
Marty thanks mate
You’re right, it’s been annealed and cleaned. No longitudinal striations and the company I brought it from actually sells copper wire in its “hard drawn state”
All the wire that I handled last night when inspecting it has already lost its shine this morning.
Thanks again for your reply