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RecoveringFixed*Star
gbj_tester
Has this question never been answered in over 100 pages? Wow, wheelbuilding thread, I am disappoint! Oh well, there's always google with nearly 750,000 results, albeit polluted by alarming amounts of misinformation. For best results, let's quote Jobst Brandt:
*Spokes are in pure tension at midspan where they do not need to resist bending,
so they can be swaged thinner there without sacrificing strength. Swaged spokes
are made by drawing regular spoke wire through a reducing die. After swaging,
the unreduced ends are formed the same way as unswaged spokes. The diameter
reduction increases spoke elasticity, increases strength by work hardening, and
reduces weight. However, the most valuable contribution of swaging is that peak
stresses are absorbed in the straight midsection rather than concentrated in the
threads and elbow, thereby substantially reducing fatigue failures. Swaged
spokes act like strain screws commonly used in high-performance machinery.*
Where he says "swage" he is talking about the process which results in the spoke becoming butted. That's partly a matter of 1970s American usage, and partly Jobst being a production engineer rather than a mere consumer, so he concerns himself with how something is made rather than what comes out at the end.
Owning a copy of "The Bicycle Wheel" should be a qualifying requirement to participate in this thread, since it would be only 10 pages long if all the questions which are already answered by Jobst were not posed here :-)