Copper Wire Questions

Adair M

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Thanks for all the great responses guys. I went ahead and ordered the intro kit from Adams bonsai. I spoke to Mr. Adams on the phone (super nice guy) and he is evidently not doing his own wire anymore. However he has trained a replacement to use his methods. Very quick turnaround time, I just ordered yesterday and got a shipping confirmation this morning. Thanks for the help!
I guess Julian got tired of burning his eyebrows off! Lol!!!
 

TN_Jim

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...been looking for the cheap wire (ala cheap ;) as mentioned above) at a narrower CONSISTANT diameter

thought I’d found the jackpot (such as in the fatter electrical (residential etc.) scrap) in coax...evidently not exactly

I got this coax at habitat for humanity restore -was very proud of myself

so beware, much coax has a steel core...this too may explain the brittleness I experienced that one annealing ago with thinner gauge..

what to do???
first I noticed that the end of the wire did not look solid copper —dug some, it’s maybe only 70%....
next test: strong magnet

so make sure you take a strong magnet just in case

not all coax has steel, some is solid Cu

..this pic ain’t fantastic, but can kinda make out the steel core, btw coax is ~just shy of a US dime in thickness
1542501791685.jpg
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M. Frary

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You can get copper at the hardware store that's thinner.
It's used for grounding houses.
It's in a cable form so it needs to be unspiralled in order to use it.
Of course you will have to anneal it yourself.
 

just.wing.it

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I've used regular solid core electrical wire, 12g. Stripping the insulation is the tedious part.
Then I annealed the rolls on my stovetop in the kitchen...flipping them once in a while....I've done it successfully on an electric glass top.
Quench in water....no problemo!
You gotta kinda know how to observe the color change to make sure it's annealed properly.
A huge part of my job inbolves working with copper and oxygen/ acetylene torch...so I'm familiar with the varoius color changes that heat creates on copper, and how it looks once annealed.
But I'm sure a bit of trial and error will make anyone an expert.

One tip I've found is the thickness of the rolls and the way the wire is laying on itself in the roll is very important.
Basically, especially if using electric range, you dont want a bunch of air gaps in the roll, you want as much contact as possible to get better conduction.
With flames, this is not as important, but flames may be easier to over do it.

Thays my $0.02.
 
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The electric company took down my only shade in the backyard a couple weeks back. Consequently I'll have to rearrange my benches this year but I also have a truckload of pine wood needing to be burned. I may have to raid the scrap metal bin at work and do some bonfire annealing wire experiments this winter.
 
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