Caution when using the charcoal barbeque method below:
You MUST watch it as the heat can become too high. I
know with the price of annealed wire out here that I
get 3 times as much if I buy the electrical grade
instead of the bonsai grade.
Kitsune Miko
--- dalecochoy <dalecochoy@prodigy.net> wrote:
> I certainly recommend getting your annealed copper
> wire from Julian Adams.
> Excellent stuff at great prices that make it not
> worth doing yourself, but,
> if you must.....
> see below
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kitsune Miko" <kits@PACBELL.NET>
> Subject: [IBC] Fwd: Re: [IBC] Copper Wire
>
>
> > > You can buy bare copper wire at places like Home
> > > Depot
> > > and detemper it yourself. Copper does not need
> to
> > > be
> > > heated too high in temp to achieve this. My son
> the
> > > metal worker says to put it on the driveway and
> heat
> > > with a torch until it starts getting red.
>
> No, don't do this. It takes forever and you can't
> get it even. Some places
> annealed, some not and some melted!
> Do it in your barbecue, at night, so you can see the
> color as it heats.
>
> You can
> > > let
> > > it cool or you can quench. The jeweler friend
> says
> > > quench the son says not necessary.
>
> When I did my own I always quenched it. Had nothing
> to do with hardening,
> tempering, etc, but it cleans the wire instantly
> when it hits the water so
> you don't get black crud all over you when handling.
> Use tongs to drop in a
> bucket and a quick "phsst!" and the dirt is gone!
>
>
> (quencing is
> > > quick
> > > cooling in water. I thnk it would excite the
> wire
> > > too
> > > much, excited copper wire gets hard quickly (did
> I
> > > really say THAT?))
>
> No, this does not effect copper wire. It is not
> like heating and quenching
> steel for tempering. It won't effect it, but it will
> be clean and still
> annealed.
>
>
> I find
> > > the wire work hardens as I apply it to the tree.
> > > Not
> > > easy to change once it is on.
>
> That is the point of using it!
>
> Regards,
> Dale
>
>
=====
"I was born with a birth defect-- no herd instinct."
Brenda Ueland
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