volume of metal substantially equivalent to that of member 66 as indicated in fig5 b blank 96 is typically severed from a coil 100 of metal wire utilizing a suitable cutting means generally blank 96 will be steel or an appropriate alloy thereof for example it is believed that a medium carbon carbon steel such as a steel having a 38 45 carbon range and some lead may be suitable for this purpose other suitable metals or appropriate materials however may also be utilized within the scope of the present invention referring now to fig6 a a circumferential chamfer 102 is formed at the leading end of blank 96 in the first stage of machine 80 chamfer 102 defines a circular end face 104 having a diameter d 1 chamfer 102 may be manipulatively formed by pushing blank 96 into a complementary die 106 in portion 84 via one of punches 94 such as that shown in fig6 b as shown blank 96 may retain a length of approximately l 1 at this stage after chamfer 102 is formed punch 94 is retracted blank 96 may then be removed from die 106 utilizing a removal pin inside of portion 84 an axial passage 108 is defined in portion 84 so that the removal pin can engage the leading end of blank 96 and push it back out through the respective of holes 90 although not explicitly described herein it will be appreciated that other stations of machine 80 except the final station in many cases will also typically use removal pins to effect removal of blank 96 from the associated die the shape of blank 96 after the second stage of machine 80 is illustrated in fig7 a as can be seen blank.