To stably guide a metallic material to a ceramic guide, to pass through the guide and to suppress the generation of surface defects by taking the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the space of the ceramic guide through which the metallic material is passed to the cross-sectional area of the metallic material as a specified value.

The ceramic guide 1 is composed of the main body 10 of the guide and a guide member 20 made of ceramic which is inserted in the inside of the main body 10. The guide stop 15 of the main body 10 is provided on the outlet side of the metallic material and the guide member 20 is supported. The ratio B/A of the cross-sectional area A of the space of the guide 1 to the cross-sectional area B of the metallic material is taken as 30-90%. The metallic material which is delivered from a wire rolling mill is advanced to the inlet side of the guide 1, guided with the guide member 20 and passed through the guide 1. When the ratio B/A is less than 30%, the gap is too large and the metallic material is bent in the guide hole 205 of the guide member 20 and deformed. When the ratio B/A is over 90%, the metallic material clogs at the inlet of the guide member 20 by the slight bend at the tip of the metallic material and can not be inserted.