Working with platinum is not as difficult as many people believe. Though platinum has many different characteristics compared to that of other metals, platinum by far is my most favorite metal to work with.

Preparation
Melting, annealing and casting platinum is very different from gold and silver alloys. Platinum alloys are oxidation resistant, formable and easily anneal. It is very important to maintain cleanliness to avoid contamination, which leads the platinum to become brittle.  Keep all tooling clean. Do not use excess lubrication.  Keep roll surfaces and dies highly polished.

Tools
The following are tools and materials you will need to manufacture platinum wire:  A cylindrical block of steel or an anvil, drawplate, drawtongs, rolling mill, two-pound mallet, Wesco platinum crucible, 12" to 18" long, multi-port tip torch with propane and oxygen mixture capable of melting platinum and standard welding equipment (eye protection, apron and gloves.)

Cleaning & Melting
Start by pickling the platinum in a mild nitric acid for at least 15 minutes.  Melt the platinum using the force of the flame to stir the metal. Make sure that platinum is completely molten. Let it cool for about 20 to 35 seconds and then quench the crucible in water. You will now have separated the platinum from the crucible. Grind or file off thoroughly the silica stuck on the moon-like craters on the bottom of the metal. Place the platinum button with the craters facing upwards on the reverse side of the crucible. Take the torch and heat the button until the surfaces becomes molten. This is to eliminate the surface pits and to push silica to the edge.  You should now have a smooth surface on the platinum button.

Forming
Quickly move the button with a pair of tongs to the steel block and start hammering the button to a rectangle rod. When the platinum button has been reduced 50 percent of the button size, anneal it. Heat the platinum to a bright red and hammer it again to the desired shape. After forming the rectangular shape, heat the platinum so that the surface is smooth at all sides.

Rolling
The platinum can now be rolled down into the wire side of the rolling mill.  Roll the platinum until you achieve the approximate desired size wire.

Drawing
Before drawing, use a bright blue oxidizing flame to anneal the platinum. The first step in drawing wire is the forming of a tapered shape at one end of the wire so that it can pass through the beginning hole of the drawplate. Lubricate the wire with beeswax or Bur-Life. Grasp the wire with a drawplate tong or drawtong and pull the wire through. Re-file the tapered end if it breaks off. Repeat the drawing process successively passing through the openings until you have reached your desired size.

Final
Anneal the finished platinum wire in a coiled form.  In the process of annealing you are also burning off the wax on the platinum.  The platinum can be air cooled or quenched in water after annealing.
 

V5N5

Manufacturing Platinum Wire By Hand
Christian Tse
Christian Tse Designs

This is an abbreviated version of the original work. For full technical details, please consult the original paper.