Directions: To make a good hinge for jewel boxes or jewellery requires some knowledge of how to make wire and tubes out of sheet metal. In order to do this you must have a draw plate and that you can make yourself, in the following way: Take a piece of iron 1⁄4 × 11⁄2 × 3 ins. or 4 ins. long. Drill a number of graduated holes through the piece along the centre. The smallest hole should be about 1⁄32 in. in diameter and the largest, about 1⁄8 in. Take your steel punch and file the end down, tapering so that the point will go into the smallest hole. Drive the punch into the hole until it just goes through. These holes take the shape of the tapered punch. Repeat this in each hole until the draw plate is made up of a number of graduated tapering holes. Your draw plate is used for reducing wires from a large size to any size you have holes for and for making hollow tubing for hinges.
To reduce wire: You can always buy the wire any thickness you wish, but many times a small piece of wire is needed quickly and can be made with little trouble.
If you should wish to reduce a piece of wire 1⁄8 in. thick to any size smaller than 1⁄8 in., file the end of the piece so it just goes through the hole far enough to grasp with the tongs. Rub a little soap over the surface of the wire, draw it through the hole. It is reduced to the size of the hole it goes through. After the first or second operation the wire must be annealed, as pulling it through the draw plate hardens it.
Tubing for hinges: Cut a strip of No. 28, copper (or silver) any length. Cut the width of it three times the diameter of the tube you wish to make, and cut the end of this piece to a point. Place your 6 × 1 × 3-in. block in the vise. With a round file, file a groove across the block.
Shaping tube before drawing in plate
Place the strip of copper or silver over the groove and, using the hammer, drive the metal into the groove, forming a gutter.
Repeat this until you have driven the copper into a cylindrical shape. Put the pointed end through the largest hole in the draw plate. Rub well with soap. Clasp the end sticking through with the tongs and pull it through. Repeat as you did when drawing wire through. Anneal when necessary. Continue to put the tube in one reducing hole after another until the tube is the size you wish. This tube with a small hole through the entire length is used for fine hinges.
Draw plate and tongs with tube going through