 A hardness of 4 meant that the wire had been drawn through five or more times and the wire was as stiff and as hard as possible.Most jewelry wire that is sold now is designated dead soft, half-hard, or hard, where dead soft is wire that is manufactured with a hardness of 0, half-hard is wire manufactured with a hardness of 2, and fully hardened wire is wire with a hardness of 4.Dead soft wire is extremely soft and pliable.