Anodised aluminium wire...

[ozzy]

Is bonsai wire made specifically for bonsai, or does it have some other use?

[Naym]

Ok, well I use Aluminium, copper if I can get it and galvanised steel

The later is historical, when I started I could not even get aluminium wire locally and I could not afford buying it and shipping it around the country. So I bought some thin fencing tie wire (~$3/100m) and gave that a go. The steel works fine at small gauges but because the stiffness increases rapidly with thickness it quickly gets unusable beyond about 1.5mm. This means it's really only useable on small trees and branches.

I still use the steel on small trees/branches basically because it works well enough and I'll use up what I have. However I do not recommend it unless you have no choice.

I favour Cu because it hardens with time, and I prefer the look. However it's very expensive and I so tend to buy Al. Occasionally you can come across copper wire in need of 'recycling', but it's usually a lot of one gauge which is not that useful for bonsai. I've also read somewhere that the Cu helps limit root growth through a sort of mild poisoning. No idea if it's true, has anyone had comparative experience here?

[Jamie]

naym,

gal wire is a bad idea at any time, if it is under wet conditions all the time, which it will be with constant watering of your trees you will find it will rust, and that will cause some major damage to your trees, i would just scrap the gal wire now if it was me

i know you stated you dont reccomend it, so if you dont reccomend it why do you still use it?
just curious?
i know copper or alloy wire can seem dear, but it is much more worth it than going with cheap gal wire and losing a tree you have worked on for a number of years...

i dont reccomend it either, at all. its just not worth it if ya ask me.

Haha well don't I feel dumb now =P I assumed it was copper due to it's colour =P
Looks like I use mostly Al because of it's availability!

I use copper mostly. Mainly becuase it seems to be more available. I don't have an aversion to either.

you will find that if it is wire from tess (which is where i am presuming your getting it from ) that it is anodised alloy (aluminum) just letting ya know anyway mate

thats what my wire is from tess any ways

jamie

all good brother

[paddles]

I am assuming that the wire I buy (Through the club) is aluminium, although I also get some copper from hubby (Sparky) but find my sissy girly hands can't bend the copper easily .... and I hate wiring at the best of times.

[Joel]

Here ya go Fly.

I could try and explain what is happening as i studied it in chemistry last year, but wikipedia says it better. P.S. i totally understand if you are not intertested, it is quite boring!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrificial_anode