AusBonsai

I've been paying far too much money at Bunnings for my wire, same as a lot of you no doubt Well my girlfriend' son is my electician and he did some work for me yesterday and we got talking about bonsai. I showed him a packet of wire I had just bought $8 for about 4ft. He turned up later in the day with one of those huge plastic containers on wheels you store stuff in and it was jammed packed with copper wire of all thicknesses. He normally threads it and sells it to the scrap metal place for $5 a kg...if it's unthreaded he only gets $2.50 Well I probably have a supply that will last me years now and what I spent at Bunnings can go towards other bonsai equipment.
If anyone has a friend who is an electrician have a word with them as it's less of a hassle for them for you to have it rather than going to the scrap metal yard for a pittance.. Wish I had a photo to show you
Loretta

Hi Loretta , i have never purchased Bonsai wire in my life .I simple couldn't afford too .I have used electrical cable of varying thicknesses since starting .I find it very good for bonsai .You can also pick up alluminium wire as used buy the SEC and Sparkies at recycle yards for about $5 a kilo .If you find it too hard simply aneal it with heat , don't get it red hot or it will fracture as you use it .Cheers Alpine

What a great find Loretta. I should speak with an electrician I know and get some from him.

Alpine I have some of that aluminium from the SEC and always found it too hard to work with. Thanks for the heads up on heating it.

nice score loretta . the stuff from bunnings is a absolute rip off. $12 for 100 grams at my local bunnings.
might have to give an old electrician mate a call i think

DH shares work premises with a sister company that supplies wire.
Apart from having to share with the joys of winding coils for wind generators, I am well supplied too!

Jake wrote:nice score loretta . the stuff from bunnings is a absolute rip off. $12 for 100 grams at my local bunnings.
might have to give an old electrician mate a call i think

Sheesh, even if you get it at a bonsai nursery or order it online you should be able to get proper alluminium bonsai wire for 30-40 bucks a kilo (+ postage), its worth getting nice stuff in bulk I reckon, I'm sure one of the nurseries here would be able to supply you.

Nice work Loretta I always recommend trying to find cheaper alternatives to dept store products.

Jake, just bare in mind mate that it isn't a rip off and your not forced to buy it. The wire offered at bunnings is there for people, that want to muck around with a single bonsai and need say 1 roll of wire. I don't even think they expect people to come back time and time again to buy it at that price point.
I work there and I have only ever bought 1 pack when I ran out and couldn't be bothered driving 35 minutes and wasting petrol to get it a few dollars cheaper. Smaller roles of bonsai wire are always high in price even from a bonsai nursery, bulk is the way to go.

Hi Loretta, as Alpine has said, before you use your new found treasure it is best if you anneal the copper wire. Not hard to do, assuming the wire has already been stripped of the outer plastic coating just get your self a couple of sheets of newspaper and crumple it up a little bit. Lay a coil of wire on the paper and light the paper. Let the paper burn away and after allowing the wire to cool totally, use it as you want.
It will be a lot softer and easier to bend after annealling, but the holding power of the wire will return as you wind it around the branch your working on.
Good luck with it mate, nice to have friends in usefull places.
Oh yea, if the wire hasn't been stripped, just hold the wire with a pair of pliers and the plastic in another and pull in different directions - either that or get the young lad to come around again.

...what mitch said....

Mitchell wrote:Nice work Loretta I always recommend trying to find cheaper alternatives to dept store products.

Jake, just bare in mind mate that it isn't a rip off and your not forced to buy it. The wire offered at bunnings is there for people, that want to muck around with a single bonsai and need say 1 roll of wire. I don't even think they expect people to come back time and time again to buy it at that price point.
I work there and I have only ever bought 1 pack when I ran out and couldn't be bothered driving 35 minutes and wasting petrol to get it a few dollars cheaper. Smaller roles of bonsai wire are always high in price even from a bonsai nursery, bulk is the way to go.

this is true mitchell, i buy my wire in 500grams these days its a much better option then the little rolls

I did a lot of work with copper as an apprentice, and there's no need to wait for the copper to cool off naturally. As soon as it's hot enough, dunk it straight into water. That will soften it more than waiting for it to cool naturally. Copper also has unique properties in that it 'work hardens' as you wire (or beat with a hammer etc) and when it's in place it also 'age hardens'. If you're using wire from electric motors or generators etc, they have a 'shellac' coating on them, but that will burn off when you heat it. Not sure about electrical wiring though.

Copper melts at about 1080 deg C and needs to be heated to at least 1/2 its melting point to anneal properly (actually, should be a dull red). Have a look at this link below - it even mentions wire for Bonsai:

http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/copperwi.htm

When it's annealed properly, it will be a pink colour and can be quite 'blotchy'. If you want it a nice uniform colour, rub it down with some 'wet and dry' paper.

Well thanks to all who contributed to this item...just shows you the knowledge available on this forum.
"ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE"
CHEERS lORETTA

Well I've beat the system and I'm cheating...just cropping photos. Here is the container of copper wire Christopher gave me. Thanks for the advise on how to soften (anneal) them, looks like I'll have to do that with some of this.
cheers Loretta

Wow! Treat that lot like Gold Loretta - 'cause that's just about what it's worth! You've got a great haul there.

[quote="Tman"]Wow! Treat that lot like Gold Loretta - 'cause that's just about what it's worth! You've got a great haul there.[/quote]

Yes I will Taffy, can't believe my good fortune