Spring steel wire is manufactured for use in spiral springs. In order to satisfy the demands of such springs, the wire is extremely hard (“spring hard”). It can only be cut with a side-cutting pliers when its diameter is 0.5 mm or less; for diameters larger than 0.8 mm an alligator shears is required. For diameters above 2.0 mm only a metal frame-saw or a bolt cutter will suffice. Once the wire has buckled it cannot be bent back into place.

This spring steel wire, which is not a rust-free alloy, can only be soldered by using a lot of flux, having experienced hands and a good quality soldering iron. Gluing work can be done with two component glue like, for example, those based on epoxy or cyanoacrylate; in model making, Uhu hard or Ruderer plastic glue can also be used.