Carbide Tungsten Drawplates. Worth the Extra Cost?

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cbilton.creato... A new tool I just bought. Tungsten Carbide drawplate.
They cost more than the usual steel ones and so must be better??
I have never used one before so was interested to understand the quality and price difference.
In the video I test it out for the first time and give my opinion.
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[@VirginiaAngstadt]

I was looking at making a wooden draw plate for my wire weaving and you popped up. I’m so glad! You were very informative and now I can go tell my husband all about this. And you married a Japanese girl and moved to Japan. Excellent! I’m subscribing since you are very enjoyable to watch and listen to. And I love the cat in the workshop!🐱

[@DiamondMounter]

Thank you!

[@lesgarbis1262]

Thanks for that review. Been on the bench for 48 years and have never seen anyone do a demonstration on pulling wire.

[@TheFreak111]

For your drillbits they are in general not made out of tungsten but out of a hard steel. They are sometimes however coated with a layer of tungsten carbide to harden the surface. Or for some drills it is maybe just a tungsten carbide tip. I think an all tungsten carbide drill would break too quickly since it is more brittle.

[@DuelPorpoise]

I've got the exact same draw plate, tungsten is very hard, dense and brittle, its about an 8-8.5 on the moh scale. it's used for contemporary rings, what makes it more popular than say, stainless steel, is that they do not scratch easily. what's the longest piece of wire you've pulled? I've done 50 feet of sterling at once, that was after it broke roughly in half though, I could of been pulling about a hundred feet or so right outside the shop door and into the parking lot! there was a short time when the medical industry had to amputate injured fingers with tungsten rings before they figured out they could just break the ring off with a hammer! tungsten is also close to gold in density, so much so it's a prime choice for counterfeiters, just clad a tungsten disc or bar in gold, or drop a few pieces of tungsten into your ingot and bam, a counterfeit that has the right weight size and mass, only an X-ray can tell it's not solid gold.

[@mjremy2605]

EXACT SAME - both mean the same thing. Use one or the other, not both together. This is a poor speech habit. Mohs scale, not 'moh scale'. Capitalize it. HARD, DENSE, AND BRITTLE. Add the comma. It's called the Oxford Comma when used this way. Leaving the comma out, changes the meaning. Capitalize beginning of sentences. Sloppy writing comes from a sloppy mind. Tighten it up please. Your comment was very interesting and informative. Please don't spoil it with poor grammar and spelling. fyi- better way to break a Tungsten ring on a finger is with vise grips not a hammer.

[@normundsruda8754]

I have used carbide tungsten drawplates only. And with precise measurements in mm. For example, round holes go from 4.0 mm to 2.0 mm with a step of 0.1 mm and from 2.0 mm to 0.3 mm with a step of 0.05 mm. Very precise, every hole matches in mm. Very easy to work. I bought those drawplates some 20 years ago and they still work fine. And all holes are polished. I would recommend to use only that kind of drawplates.

[@DiamondMounter]

They sound ideal. Always good to invest in the highest quality tools

[@CONEHEADDK]

@@DiamondMounter What I like the most about buying known top quality (fx two hand fly rods, and certain tools) is, that if I can't get the result, I see the experts get, I know, that it's not bcz of the hardware - so it has to be me. I recall the first time I tried a very good rod/line combo - and all of a suddon I became 2-3 times as skilled. Never expected that it could be sooo much better. So at least try some of the best "tools", before you decide, what you want to buy.

[@gabrielkirkbaca2910]

Hello sir, from your newest fan. I'm on a fixed income, so cost is very important to me. Is there a certain manufacturer of jewelery tools you would recommend over another. I'll say it again and again. You've got the best hands on videos out there

[@DiamondMounter]

Some of my pliers are from when I first started in the trade they were the cheapest I could find and work perfectly well! I dont think you need to spend extra for the cool brand stuff. In fact most of my tools are from the budget end and I dont feel Im being held back in anyway by them

[@CONEHEADDK]

Look for used.

[@pyrosparkes]

i found the holes on the tungsten one are always slightly smaller than labelled but predictable. the cheap chinese one i got first was all over the place, and the holes didnt even seem perfectly round.

[@HR-mp9ct]

Tungsten is an element and is very fragile, but the tools are usually at most made of 12% tungsten more common 3-8% and makes it wear resistant, very few things are made of pure tungsten

[@nutstt]

Hello from back in the UK. Thanks for the great content.

[@sharonwaller6716]

I tried this for the first time got to hole 4 and same issue went from 2.1m t0 16 m and shaped had to start again as I needed a certain le nth of wire

[@Afro408]

Good review. Do you realise that the RH bearing housing on your rolls is loose? When you were reducing the first wire blank, every time you worked the handle, the housing moved upwards and this can't be good for keeping the rolls parallel.

[@DiamondMounter]

Well spotted. Yes I have it all tightened up now.

[@aethon6335]

Hey. Thanks for the videos. I would like to know how you would deal with a broken wire lodged in say .32 mil hole. It almost happened to me once. Seems the draw plate is ruined? Any tricks? Thanks again. Subscribed

[@DiamondMounter]

Id just get a broken drill to put in and bang it back out the back of the drawplate

[@Capthrax1]

a little tid bit on tunsgen carbide. its not a metal. more of a ceramic. Carbide inserts are used in a lot of machining tooling and sometimes the tool is pure tungsten carbide. It has very high hardness, it can cut any alloy of iron. Carbide on drill bits is often used for cement and tiles, pretty much every saw blade for wood working is a carbide (on the tips of them, the body of the blades are still steel). the common stuff to sharpen carbide is diamonds and silicon carbide . It is a powder that is pressed into its shape and sintered. It is very chemically stable very resistant to solvents, acid and bases, but has its weakness. The draw plate is almost certainly steel body with little tungsten carbide inserts that do the actual shaping of the wire. They should be all very smooth as a burr or something will never wear away with gold and silver. cheers

[@flyingcheff]

Chris, at 6:27 I see you're using the Tungsten Carbide drawplate. Is (or isn't) Isn't the wire supposed to go IN the indented side and out the flat side or are both sides indented?? Just checking... Thanks for doing this comparison. I totally agree that most/many (all that I've used) have been inaccurate, consistently inconsistent!! You're great!

[@DiamondMounter]

The numbers side is the front!

[@CONEHEADDK]

Logic says, it has to go in the side, where the wire is compressed, by being pulled through, and not "shaved".

[@flyingcheff]

@BØRGE ODK mine has the same look/ profile on both sides....eeks!

[@flyingcheff]

@@CONEHEADDK And it wasn't cheap.

[@CONEHEADDK]

@@flyingcheff Strange.. I'd probably widen one side a bit with a flame burr or something like that, to create a tapered hole. Just make sure, to not go through, so you don't ruin the outer diameter - IF the holes fit the numbers on it. Maybe pulling a bit of wire and measuring it, is a good idea. If it turns out not to be acurate, you can just pick the hole that fits your needs in the future, and then write it's actual diameter. I suspect the metal to be to hard to knock new numbers in, and atleast being hard on your stamps. Maybe grinding the size is the best. I'm for using what you got, instead of buying new, and buying something you don't have for the saved money instead.

[@Dziabum]

Would you say it’s more worth your money to invest in a rolling mill and draw plates or just stick to pre-made wire to begin with? If pre- made to start with when would be the point when you’d say a mill would be a good idea?

[@CONEHEADDK]

All the other things that you can do with the mill. And you don't have to buy lots of different diameters of wire. I don't own a mill, but am looking forward to finding one - preferably used.

[@mjremy2605]

I think what you mean is that Steel Plates are made in China and not precise in measurements. Tungsten Plates are not made in China and precise in measurements. I'm sure a German Steel Plate would be precise too. Tungsten is definitely the metal to have your wire drawing plates made from as the wire will not damage the openings. However, Tungsten is not the metal you want for a hammer. Tungsten has tensile strength (will hold against load bearing forces) but no impact strength. It is brittle so shatters with a vise grip or hammer blow. Nice way to get the ring off an injured finger in Trauma Centers. What you want is a Titanium hammer - light on the arms, and hard as a rock. The hammer and the Bench block should not be made from Tungsten.

[@iliketurtles2993]

I find the sizes are pretty accurate

[@allanconnor1013]

Wire should be pulled through draw plate from tapered not flat side. BTW. Your cat doesn't care what Tungsten is!

[@CONEHEADDK]

Yes - compress, not "shave".

[@stephencoster9532]

Hiya, I've seen loads of people who use their hands to work with tools wearing Tungston Carbide rings on YT in America.

[@danhoyt9961]

If you forged a point you wouldn't lose any of the wire.

[@rexgeorg7324]

tungsten carbide bring it on lol

[@renanjacob6791]

What? strange, this steel ones are more expensive than carbide here in Brazil, 50% more I guess

[@DiamondMounter]

ooo get selling them online

[@mjremy2605]

Tungsten Carbide is not Carbide.

[@lilmookie6688]

Ohhhh man 666 views

[@kyimedical]

Your light bulb filament is made of Tungsten mettle right!

[@DiamondMounter]

I didnt know! Its LED though

[@TheFreak111]

Old incandescent bulbs indeed have a tungsten metal filament.