Is re-using copper wire a dumb idea?

TN_Jim

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Haha there's something reallllly satisfying about annealing, so weird it's like mowing a lawn or something there's just an odd satisfaction to it! Ahh my first-ever anneal:
View attachment 221326
Unsure why but later sessions never left me with something so clean (not even close actually!), unsure what I did differently as I just get a hibachi or my fire-pit going and toss it in, let it get to red-hot glow for a lil bit, then take out and toss on the grass til it's ready to handle (quenching doesn't have relevant effect in this context, at least if you don't have the expensive equipment needed to hyper-cool it which is something a bucket of ice-water definitely does *not* do!)

I'm way over-due for a session so will definitely report back with anything I've forgotten (or learn today, I learn something almost every time as I can count the times I've annealed on one hand, in lots of cases I'm wasteful and just nip-off the old wire / put on fresh (off-the-spool) wire, want to stop doing that if I can re-use for all the good reasons behind re-using stuff :) )



There should be zero reason to wait til the next day, when they're glowing red the crystals are re-aligning (and, thus, making it soft again) so from that point it's "done" and just a matter of getting it safe for use IE off the fire and cooled, you can toss them on the grass and grab them shortly thereafter when making sure your fire-pit / whatever is fully out, or you can dunk them in water and handle them immediately (I read that quenching in water helps reduce oxidation, will cool some on the grass today and quench others in water to see if there's a visible oxidation difference)

Re shape, I'd always done hoops that're between 6-12", just because that's what I'd seen, however this time I'll be doing more rods (well, lots of rods-with-1-center-bend, since I'm always wiring 2 branches with any given wire, so seems to make sense to anneal them as ready-to-use "V" shaped (only an even steeper angle than a V) rods so they're ready for use, just put the center of the V on wherever my 2-branches' center is and start wiring!
Making rolls automatically means doing some work-hardening just to un-roll it before wiring, this isn't a problem (for me at least) with 12g and thinner wires but with 10g it's definitely a lot easier to do a good job if you've annealed it and just have it as a straight-length that's ready to go on as-is and just be twisted-up!

[edited-in: BTW is there anything serious to worry about w/ steel-cored wire? Never even heard of it TBH, will check at H.Depot but 99% sure that their 10g (uninsulated) copper is pure, but if it had a steel core- so what? Is there any problems to be wary of, or you just mean that it'd essentially have the diameter-to-strength ratio of aluminum instead of copper?

What I’m referring to is known in the biz as copper-clad steel (CCS wire). It is exactly what it sounds like and has no relation to aluminum.

In some cases it is difficult to differentiate from just copper as copper to steel core ratios can vary
-look at fresh cut end or cut small piece and see if it’s attracted to a magnet (copper will not be).

What’s the problem? If you anneal CCS in the same manner as copper wire for bonsai, you will end up with an extremely brittle useless wire.
 

Potawatomi13

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FWIW, for anyone interested in wire enough to have opened this thread in the 1st place, I'd love to hear your favorite videos for wiring-technique! I feel like I've passed the "basic comfort" level with wiring so at this point I think it's more just practice&experience but still find it useful to watch wiring videos before doing large sessions, my favorite is "How to wire a bonsai tree with Bonsai Master Mauro Stemberger-W25IEPnMIAU" but it's no longer on youtube (I'd ripped it so have an .mp4, was surprised to find I couldn't find it to link here, it's a great half-hour tutorial) Any 'advanced wiring tech' videos, not on unique/unusual wiring techniques but rather on the finer points & mastery of 'regular wiring', would be greatly appreciated! :)

Mirai Live archives likely all needed to know. Several streams cover;).
 

SU2

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What I’m referring to is known in the biz as copper-clad steel (CCS wire). It is exactly what it sounds like and has no relation to aluminum.

In some cases it is difficult to differentiate from just copper as copper to steel core ratios can vary
-look at fresh cut end or cut small piece and see if it’s attracted to a magnet (copper will not be).

What’s the problem? If you anneal CCS in the same manner as copper wire for bonsai, you will end up with an extremely brittle useless wire.

Thank you!!! This is such a great reply as I actually came across this giant roll of uninsulated ~13g (unsure...) wire that I couldn't discern what it was and I was honestly suspecting it was akin to this am gg check it out & find a magnet! Wasn't planning to try re-annealing this stuff as it's andonized (painted/electro-plated?) but it's just a giant spool so I couldn't turn it down, will be able to control a lot of growth with that (and it was in a client's recycling-bin, epic re-use :D )

I'm tempted to try modafinil just for the purpose of getting the time to actually wire what I want to wire, I don't have the time to wire 1/10th of what I'd like to and am frequently just whipping stuff vaguely into place (everything's in early-development), using zip-ties as often as possible!! Although to be fair I love zip-ties and while I use them for convenience very often, there are also plenty of cases where they are simply the best anchoring method available to me (I use zip-ties, twist-ties, lots of copper, some aluminum and some guy-wiring.....am almost 'looking' for a situation to notch something, hoping the time comes sooner than later but not looking to do it for the sake of it / if unneeded!)

/magnet-search! Thanks again :)


Mirai Live archives likely all needed to know. Several streams cover;).

Youtubes or pay-walled? I like their stuff but there's so much brilliant free material I couldn't fathom paying Mirai (paywalling stuff like that bothers me in-principle but I'd pay for theirs if it were more relevant to me, like if they were in FL and growing what I did then I'd surely pay within reason, definitely not if it wasn't specie-specific stuff, general-knowledge stuff like soils/root-zone, collection, styling etc have tons of absurdly talented people with great Youtube channels :D
 
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