The temper of a wire refers to the hardness or softness of the wire. Softer wire is easier to work with and gets harder as you work with it. Wire is sold in three tempers: dead-soft, half-hard and full-hard or spring-hard.
Which kind of wire temper do I want to use?
Dead-soft wire has been heated or annealed to make it more malleable and easy to work with. It will bend and coil without difficulty. You can create your piece and work harden the wire as you go or at the end in a tumbler.
Half-hard wire is harder to work with then dead-soft, but some wire jewel makers prefer to use it. Over the years, taking classes and after reading wire books I have found that this is a personal preference. If I want my wire to be half-hard, I pull on and work harden my dead soft wire before starting the project. After time you will see what you prefer.
Full-hard(spring-hard) wire refers to wire that does not bend easily and is not generally used for wire jewelry making. You can use this type of wire to make spring back pins.
Note: As you work with dead-soft wire, you are changing its temper and making it hard. It will go from dead-soft to full-hard.
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