Bending .032 wire
 

You could heat it a little bit. For the Z bends, several people make Z bend plyers that work great. For the 90 degree bends, just bend it around an old block of wood.

Bending .032 wire
 

Oh yeah, some good, thick gloves help ALOT.

Re: Ok, but...
 

What kind of metal? What are you going to do with it.

Re: Kind of metal...
 

That wire should not snap while putting a Z in it. Go to the local HS and get yourself a Dubro wire. Sometimes the stuff included in kits is junk.

Bending .032 wire
 

but back to your question... how to heat it:

Mr. Metallurgy Book says that to make a difference, you have to "warm work" the wire -- which means raising it half way to its melting point -- which in turn means that it's got to be over 1000 or 1200 degrees. In my shop, that's propane torch territory.

I heat it til glowing dull red, bend it (which is very easy at that point), quench it in water (if it's not red hot anymore when you've got the bend in, reheat before the quench), then heat it until it's sorta tan colored (way way cooler than the first heating) and let it air cool -- at that point, resist the urge to quench it or blow a fan on it or anything to speed the cooling... the idea here is to remove some brittleness by letting the metal crystals rearrange themselves slowly. Enjoy!

Re: Good wire
 

Not defective,... Just cheap:(

Bending .032 wire
 

There are big differences in metals.

I'm guessing that the brittle stuff in the kit was either hardened but not annealed (i.e. it didn't have that gentle reheating step that sorta softens the temper a bit), or it was not properly annealed (there is a cost involved in the process controls that allow uniform product quality), or it may have been specified by strength only.

That's a real problem in how people (maybe including the people who put together your kit) think about metal products. They talk a lot about strength but may not pay the attention they should to stiffness, hardness, brittleness, and things like that. The wire in the kit may have been considerably stronger (i.e. able to bear more stress in the usual modes) that the LHS replacement even though it was unacceptable for its role because of being more brittle. On the other hand, you wouldn't believe how strong lead is, but it is also unsuitable because of how easily it deforms under stress.