Wire Question

BonsaiBen

I bought a spool of copper wire and am not sure if it has already been annealed. Is there any way to know? From what I have read, it seems that if it hasnt been, it would be rather tough to bend, which it is not. Now if I wind it off the spool it is on, will it then lose its ease of workability and force me to straighten it and anneal it anyway before applying to the tree?

Also, what guage of copper wire would you suggest for a 3/4" juniper branch?

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pdbbonsai

I would think that if you cut five or six inches of wire and bent it, you would know it was annealed if it became rigid. If it doesnt, then it most likely isnt.

As far as a 3/4 inch branch being wired....it may be a difficult task in itself to bend a branch that thick with one thick gauge of wire....may I suggest branch jacks, or raffia with several strands of wire.

Paul

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TreeBay

It would be very unusual to find a spool of annealed copper wire. If it had been annealed it would have a dull red finish and surface oxidation. Almost all wire used for bonsai is annealed in fire and the spool would melt. Wire can be annealed electrically, but I doubt anyone would bother because the primary applications for copper wire (magnet wire, speaker wire, electrical wire) all demand bright, shiny copper.

Properly annealed wire bends very easily - it's butter soft compared with unannealed wire.

Regards,

Matt

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BonsaiBen

Thanks to both of you for the advice. I will likely use raffia and a couple of lengths of wire.

I have read several tutorials on annealing copper wire and is it as easy as it sounds? (In the past I have always used aluminum) If I undo the required lengths, hold it with a plier over the stove, let it turn red and then dump it into cold water it will do the trick?

TreeBay

There are some links in bonsaiTALK Links if you try searching on ANNEAL. This is usually done in a firepit or at least a barbecue pit. It needs to be very hot. You might be able to use your gas stovetop but it would be time consuming. The wire needs to glow cherry red. Not very comfortable to hold in pliers and you might get a hard spot where you held it.

Water can be useful to remove the oxidation that can develop during the annealing process, but it's cosmetic. It needn't be cold and it won't stay that way for long when you drop the hot wire in it.

Regards,

Matt

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GaryS

I anneal my own wire and the barbecue works well. I use regular charcoal and it's good to do after you've cooked a meal and the coals are grey and cooling down a little but are still glowing red.

I take the wire off the spool (I bought one spool of #6 grounding wire) or usually just buy it by the foot, like 30 feet of #10,12,14 wire and strip the insulation off.

Then I take a small coffee can and wrap the wire around the can carefully so it doesn't get all tangled up and twisted. It springs off the can when your through and then you can take some small #20 wire and tie the roll on both ends with that so it stays together.

Put it into the hot coals and let it glow red and let the fire burn down.

the wire will have a coat of black, flakey oxidized material on it and you can brush or shake it off.
What's left is soft dull red or magenta wire that is ready to use when it cools.

For that 3/4" branch I would some raffia and #6 copper wire to start and then you may need another length of #6 or maybe #10 to get it to hold.

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BonsaiBen

Thanks everyone for your advice. Since the copper wire that I had was 18 guage--no where near what has been reccomended for the tree I need to wire, I went out to find something thicker. After searching a couple of hardware stores, none of which had considerably thicker copper wire, I paid a visit to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and picked up a couple of spools of 3.0mm kiku copper plated aluminum wire. Of course I did not go specifically to get wire--they have an amazing collection of trees as well.

Not to diverge too much from the topic, but sadly it seemed that they haven't been paying enough attention to their amazing collection. I saw a spider web with resident spider on an amazing ancient Shimpaku and other bugs thriving in a fantastic Acer Palmatum forest. There were also trees that looked like they needed some maintenance pruning to remove needles and fine ramification that had died back and others that needed new shoots removed. Really very surprising stuff to see at such a renowned and amazing collection.

clrosner

Spiders are a Bonsaist best friend!!! I have resident spiders, in fact that is one reason, my wife wont go into my green house.

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Bonsainut

Sounds like bonsaiBen needs to volunteer some time to The BBG. Bring it back to its former glory.

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