At 8:30 AM -0500 12/1/01, Newton Hunt wrote: >Swage, noun, a tool to shape metal It is also a verb and incidentally current in the string-making trade. The flattening of the core wire is called swaging by some people. For that operation (which is indeed swaging) I use the term flattening in order to distinguish it from the 'swaging' of the copper windings. You will find swaged ends on all Hamburg Steinways, on Bechsteins, Erards etc. The swaging gives a nice shiny pointed end to the copper winding. Erard and Pleyel made a very long sharp point whereas other makers give an angle of about 60°. I swage the ends with pliers having a funnel shaped hole that partly files partly squeezes the copper to shape. I have about six pairs to deal with all sizes of steel and copper. In general to swage is to reduce the size of a piece of metal by some sort of compressing action such as hammering or pressing or squeezing. JD
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