why is the candidate deprived of all metals before initiation

The deprivation of money and metallic substances serves both a moral purpose regarding charity and an allegorical purpose concerning detachment from temporal wealth.

Experiencing a temporary state of poverty is intended to impress upon the candidate the realities of distress, encouraging a compassionate response to the needy 2. An article on the Grand Lodge of India's website notes that this "Rite of Destitution" demonstrates firsthand what it means to lack physical necessities, ensuring that the candidate understands the moral importance of relief when later asked to demonstrate charity.

Beyond this moral lesson, Masonic commentators offer philosophical interpretations. Wilmshurst reads the surrender of metallic items as a symbol of leaving behind the gross, outer attachments of the world, which are superfluous to spiritual growth 1. In his view, "money and metals" represent the attractive power of temporal possessions; the act signifies that a candidate must achieve inner detachment from worldly wealth to receive spiritual light 1.

While both subjects involve metallic objects, the traditional account of Solomon's Temple being built without iron tools carries a distinct symbolic meaning in the Masonic lectures. The biblical detail that no ax, hammer, or metallic tool was heard during construction—because the stones and timbers were fully prepared in the quarries and forests before reaching Jerusalem—is adopted to symbolize the peace and harmony that should prevail among Masons while engaged in their spiritual labor 3.

Commentators also extend this passage from the First Book of Kings to represent a moral or spiritual building, viewing the silence of iron tools as symbolizing man himself as a temple of God 3. However, the supplied sources treat the silence of iron tools as a symbol of unity, peace, and spiritual construction, and do not explicitly connect that history to the candidate's personal divestment of metals prior to initiation.