Before drawing, the draw plate is held securely in a vise or other fixture. The plate is oriented so that the wider end of a tapered opening can receive a metal wire which is to be pulled through it.
Annealed soft, ductile wire is filed at one end to give it an initial taper. The tapered end is inserted into a tapered hole with a final diameter just smaller than its current width. Special
pliers, called draw
tongs are used to hold the tip of the wire and pull it through, sometimes with the aid of grease or wax as a
lubricant. Small-diameter wire may be drawn manually, while very thick wire may require a drawing bench with a crank to produce enough force. Typically, a wire can be drawn three times in sequence before it needs to be re-annealed. This must be done because drawing wire
hardens it, which causes the wire to become brittle. Brittle wire that has not been annealed may snap during the drawing process (or develop microscopic or macroscopic cracks, which may weaken the piece or "grow" with further working). With a
mandrel, a draw plate can be used to draw tubes of metal. Plates are available in many different sizes and shapes for drawing different shapes of wire, including round, square, oval, half-round, and hexagonal. ==History==