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My family owns and runs a metal scrap yard. We see copper and aluminum wire all the time. And not old insulated wire (though we see that too) but nice shiny wire of all thicknesses. My question: is there something special about "bonsai wire"? Or could I use any nice copper or aluminum wire?

Thank you,

Valerie

It is special. It is glowed once more after putting it on a roll. This makes the wire more pliable. After you bend it once, it get's tougher and therefore it is easy to put on a branch, and then holds. But you could heat it up yourself in a small fire and the you can use it. There are some websites, dunno where I read it though

Thats quite interesting leatherback, i never really knew why it was more pliable. Im going to look into heating normal wire, since bonsai wire is so expensive.

well its called anealing( not sure thats spelled correctly)both copper and aluminum wire are put through this process.it is not as simple as putting it in a fire tho...copper needs to be heated to 700 degees F and held there for a period of time. it is also incased in a mixure of gasses to halt the oxidation process .aluminum wire is not that expensive and has worked well for me.it is easly removed,straightened and reused .copper has to be cut off in most instances

I understand now after using some wire that was "heated" (aka put through a fire, I didn't do it a customer did and then sold it at a higher price. Putting copper in fires to burn off the insulation is illegal here). It works okay, but the bonsai wire is better because it bends easier and it won't hurt the tree. Even copper wire that is burned is not easy enough to bend, and it can hurt the tree but cutting into and/or removing some of the bark. I'm going to invest in some real bonsai wire for the sake of my trees, it might cost more but my scrap yard wire isn't doing the job. It's hard to get the small twists without injuring the bark. And removing the wire is just as difficult.

Thank you,

Valerie