Reaming Metal Beads

A few weeks ago, I ordered a bunch of metal beads to feed my torch enamel habit. I have thousands of beads to choose from now, but there're always a few flies in the ointment, you know?

Several...thousand, there, I said it .... several thousand of these beads have very small holes. Too small for the smallest mandrel. So I experimented with my handy cutting broaches yesterday:

It's not easy, but the holes can be enlarged. It's tedious, and it's a 2-step process. The hole has to be reamed with the 3rd broach from the top (in the pic above) first, and then again, with the next largest broach. It takes a lot of pressure, because the beads are made from iron! But it can be done.

And so, today, I am watching movies and reaming thousands of beads. We'll see how many I get done!

Thank goodness the vast majority of the beads I ordered don't have to be reamed! Which gives you a clue about how crazy I got when I ordered these beads!