hello, i'm just wondering whether it is necessary to use the actual bonsai wire. can i just use wire from a hardware store?? i also just found out that there is only one bonsai nursery in Australia :( (which is where i live). if i cant use wire from the hardware store i can just order for bonsai wire online - which size?
Bonsai wire consists of annealed copper or aluminum. The annealment process allows the wire to be plyable, enabling you to shape branches exactly how you want them. Im not sure how well another wire from the store might work, never tried it. Many people recommend Dallas Bonsai or Bonsaimonk. I have ordered pots from Bonsaimonk but I usually grt my wire from a seller on ebay named Joe Bonsai. The size of the wire varies from branch to branch depending on it's thickness. If you have several trees you may want to but a variety pack.
It's been a while since I tinkered with Bonsai. Our college in Portland had the opportunity to have a Bonsai master, teach a class on that. I'd imagine that if someone didn't find thick annealed wire, that a thinner regular wire would be as pliable as the treated thicker wire.
Totally by chance, I just bought some regular copper and aluminum wire to try. It is the cheap/only stuff the hardware store had. Ive never used proper bonsai wire, but I found the cheap copper was much springier than I would like. The aluminum wire did not bend evenly at all. So, from this I guess that Bonsai Wire is just high quality, consistent metal wire. If its all you can get for now then get some, try it, and if its not working then stop before you wreck the tree.
It's not just 'high quality', it's been 'annealed' (the copper, anyway), which means heated to a spec. temp. and then allowed to cool. It's then very pliable, though the more it's used the harder it starts to become again, but at least it gives you a chance to not wreck your tree when working. You can order some from bonsai dealers online.
Here is a link to a simple, effective way to anneal your own bonsai wire. Joe http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/copperwi.htm
Seems simple enough, but where can one get plain 2mm-3mm copper wire? The only spools of plain wire I ever see are about 1mm. What about using galvanized or brass wire? I see that around a bit, but I don't know its normal application.
ABC Metals at #3 road and Bridgeport in Richmond has lots of copper wire of various thicknesses. They will sell to you by weight. Joe
Go to the hardware store. Or, the electrical supply store. It comes on spools in various sizes. Probably a lot cheaper than the prepackaged size. If the less expensive is already slightly too pliable, maybe you don't want treated. I'd anneal myself if I was going to do it.
ok.. here is some good info. I tried to anneal my own wire. It worked great. I got some wire from an electrician for free. Yesterday I bought some bonsai wire too. I stripped the plasitis off of the wire, cut it into a shorter piece, coiled it up and set it directly on a electric stove burner. I turned the burner on full and left the wire there for 10 mins or so, then turned the burner off and let it all cool down. I compared the wire the the Bonsai wire I bought and they feel exactly the same. The only diffs are that the wire I anneal myself was free and had a black film that needed to be wiped off (no problem). I used #8 wire because that is all that the electrician had, but apparently #10 is the biggest wire you can by that has a solid copper core. Any bigger and you get the stranded wire. Give it a try! Just keep the kids away from the stove. Michael
An inexpensive way to find copper wire for bonsai is to look for plastic covered electical wire leftover on construction sites or sold at flea markets and garage sales.Ive gotten partial rolls of single strand in a variety of gauges. I just cut a few feet off the roll with a wire cutter and put one end in a wood vise, then use a box cutter or penknife to "strip" the plastic by pulling-sliding the cutter/knife along the wire.Its soft and easily worked right off the roll for Bonsai needs..
Annealing Aluminium or copper wires from hardware stores (if they are not pliable) is very easy. Make them in to small coils Heat them till they are red hot & then quench them immediately in to water. This makes them soft.
You can get electrical wire in 12 and 14 gauge in the U.S.These are standard house sizes. Nandan is quite correct.Its astonishing how quickly copper becomes hard to work,I have had it harden when I had to adjust the wire on a a branch or trunk. Also you'll want to reuse the metal sometimes and that too requires annealing. I use a small Berns-O-Matic type propane torch.You can also pay the high prices for brown tinted aluminum wire from the bonsai biggies with the huge prices.
The hardware or electric supply stores also sell uncoated bare copper wire if you want to anneal your own (which I'd prefer to do). That way you would not have to strip the coating. It's quite inexpensive. We bought the thick copper to stuff through hollow core ropes to make bendable perch ropes for our cockatiels.
Just to put my 2 cents in I've found (on smaller Bonsai) the wire will cut in to the trunk and branches. I've used simple Yarn with alot of success.Just to name a out of the box alternative.
The wire won't cut into the branches if it's done properly and monitored over time (and snipped off when it does start to look tight). Yarn may be fine for pulling down branches, but it won't help to bend them.
PlantJunkie, You may be surprised to know that I have used your method to bend very thick trunks which would be impossible to achieve with the use of the thickest wire. I have used strong yarn, plastic ropes and even thick copper wires. One end is attached to the trunk and the other to a hook with threads so that the tension can be adjusted by turning the nut screwed into the threads. Thus a series of these contraptions can be very effective in training trunks of larger girths. So with a little imagination you can do what others believe is undoable.
