tie wire

[bloke]

This is what hardware stores call the gauge of soft uncoated or black steel wire that I like to use to hold tuba parts together when I have to use wire. I didn't know that it was called tie wire. It's used in construction for holding rebar together before pouring concrete over it. Of course, I knew about that, but I didn't know the formal name.

If anyone else happens to be ignorant as I was, I hope this helps you find some slightly thicker soft wire for holding things together before soldering.

It should also be noted that if you're using this gauge, you need to be pretty careful, because it can dent, which is why I usually use smaller gauge if I can.

[gocsick]

I've got a spool in my garage.. tag say "soft black annealed 16 gauge tie wire" Don't know of a PROPER name

Being an non-expert I found that aircraft stainless lock wire in smaller gauge (0.020") works really well. It is thin enough that if I over tightened it it would snap before denting anything. It is more expensive and a pair of safety wire pliers is helpful. I have a few spools in the toolbox from my aircraft mechanic days.

[bloke]

That's fine but I use the same type of wire as tie wire in a smaller gauge, because it's a good bit cheaper than stainless steel. After all, I'm throwing it all away after I'm done with it...

Thanks for the information though. Others may choose to use it.

The smaller gauge being gentler on brass is why I nearly always use something smaller than what I linked above, but sometimes something larger is called for.

[MiBrassFS]

Funny you should mention this. I just finally used up the supply I had and restocked. The last stuff was on a spool. This time it came in a nifty hang card blister pack dispenser. I don’t use much of it, so 50 ft. should last me a while.

“Tie wire.”

[bloke]

Funny you should mention this. I just finally used up the supply I had and restocked. The last stuff was on a spool. This time it came in a nifty hang card blister pack dispenser. I don’t use much of it, so 50 ft. should last me a while.

“Tie wire.”

I use it fairly often when doing some of these young scholar repairs on all these torn up tubas.

The typical donut shaped and sized spool is about 350 ft. I believe I've had this spool approximately since forever. It was time to replace it, because I think there's only about thirty feet left on it, and I didn't know what to call it in order to find a place to buy it. I don't particularly like buying stuff like this from Wisconsin, as they're not going to have particularly competitive prices on common supplies such as this. I called Ace Hardware (basically a hardware "convenience" store, as I'm sure most here understand) and asked if they had any soft steel wire that was approximately or slightly under a 16th of an inch diameter. It was a young person. They came back to the phone and reported that they only had "doo-dah" and "oh-duh-doo-dah-dey" wire. I'm pretty sure I pissed them off when I said, "What you mean is you don't know what I'm looking for and you don't know where it is." If I pissed them off, good on me. ... I think it might have been that 30 something year old daughter of the owner who I talked to.

The thing is that the Wisconsin supplier (that marks it way up) calls it "soft wire" (so that we can't use a search engine and find "tie wire" and realize that it's way cheaper and locally available.

This is one those things that I probably won't buy on eBay, because it weighs a good bit and postage would negate any really incredible bargain price. These spools are usually about 13 bucks. I doubt that Home Depot and Lowe's are any cheaper than Ace or the old patched wooden floor hardware store in our county seat's town square, and the big-boxes are forty minutes minimum away from blokeplace.

"tie wire" ... Yeah, to hold together fugged-up tubas before getting them completely stuck back together.

[gocsick]

https://www.acehardware.com/departments ... re/5027558

According to the website they have it in stock at the ACE near @bloke 's

[bloke]

https://www.acehardware.com/departments ... re/5027558

According to the website they have it in stock at the ACE near @bloke 's

Yep. That's where the young lady told me they didn't have anything, but that's before I knew to call it tie wire.

This is why most of us try to buy most things online these days. It's cheaper, the stores either don't have it or they don't know that they have it, and their service personnel or nearly useless - other than scanning our item and waiting for us to jab a piece of plastic into a slot.

It's also why a whole bunch of us are trying to grow our own food.

[MiBrassFS]

The thing is that the Wisconsin supplier (that marks it way up) calls it "soft wire" (so that we can't use a search engine and find "tie wire" and realize that it's way cheaper and locally available.

The other one does that sort of thing, too. Some years back, I bought one item from them that was from HF. Only marked up 3x. They didn’t have the smarts to remove the original price tag and markings. Still, they make and supply stuff that we can’t get elsewhere, so I’m still a bit conflicted when buying some stuff. But, not that conflicted after that HF item…

[arpthark]

Thanks for the tip on this. Once I tried to use some spare (galvanized) wire I had on hand to tie down a part, and I got a nice face full of zinc fumes once it reached a certain temperature...

I use bike spokes as makeshift clips, but I need something a little less heavy-duty for odd-shaped parts or when my other clips don't work.

[bloke]

It's gone up in the past few months, but even the higher priced hardware stores have contact cement way cheaper than the band instrument suppliers, and you don't have to pay for hazardous material shipping. Just grab it, pay for it with your credit card, and walk out.

[iiipopes]

That is the same wire I used, with a similar tool, to re-mount the cam sprockets, timing chain, and tensioners on the 1967 Jaguar E-Type I used to own after I had to replace a head gasket after my gas tank got sugared. Yes, I rebuilt an XKE 4.2 straight 6, with the factory manual. Fortunately, all that was needed was the intake triple carburetor rebuild, the head & gasket, while I was at it check and re-set as necessary the valve lash, and bolt the exhaust back on. Fortunately, nothing got into the crankcase so all that was fine. When I was done, it ran so smoothly I could balance a nickel edgewise on the cylindar head at idle. Since my ear is/was good, instead of a flow meter, I actually tuned the carburetors by putting my ear to each intake trumpet and adjusting the carburetors accordingly to match the pitch and loudness of the intake pulses, then double-checked the mixtures by putting my hands near the exhaust and made the fine mixture adjustments based on the even rhythm, sound character, and temperature of the exhaust pulses. The only specialized tools I used besides the Whitworth sockets were the tuning kit that you put purpose-made aluminum tubes into the top of the carburettors and dripped the proper oil to lubricate the carburettor pistons (remember, these are Skinner-Union, or SU carburetors) into them until they all three were in unison as you blipped the throttles and watched them go up and down.

[bloke]

I have to imagine that the uses for this wire are nearly endless.

Mrs bloke brought me a big fat donut of it just this afternoon, so I am restocked.