Has anyone tried this wire straitening tool?

[peterbone]

This tool is for straightening artistic wire. I mostly use aluminium wire and re-use a lot of it. It seems that this could be useful but I'm unsure how well it works and up to what gauge of wire?

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Paulpash]

Just use your wheelie bin. Simples...

 

[Silentrunning]

The principal behind this unit is very old. From the 1800s. This functionality however is questionable. That nylon won’t hold up for one thing. When this is new it will probably function adequately but due to the fact it is using friction instead of rollers to do the bending, I see a very short lifespan. The second problem I see is that this is going to work harden copper wire tremendously. Even at that low price I would pass on that tool.

 

[peterbone]

Just use your wheelie bin. Simples...

Do you mean to pull the wire against the hinge tube and drag back and forth? I've tried something similar but it always tends to cause thinner areas in the wire, not great for re-use.

 

[PABonsai]

Price of a good one, even a little two wheel thing, eliminates the point of saving pennies worth of wire.

 

[Paulpash]

Do you mean to pull the wire against the hinge tube and drag back and forth? I've tried something similar but it always tends to cause thinner areas in the wire, not great for re-use.

It's usually good for repurporsing a few times,especially on thinner gauges.

 

[Sansui]

If you need to straighten wire pieces up to 4-5mm in diameter you can follow my design and make one like this. More details at graciebonsai.com.

 

[sorce]

For wire that small 2pliers works, grab and snap out.

For larger wire....
Maybe a wood splitter would work.
*------------> <]
Tie wire tie.
Don't break your woodsplitter.

Sorce

 

[Warpig]

wheelie bin.

 

[peterbone]

If you need to straighten wire pieces up to 4-5mm in diameter you can follow my design and make one like this. More details at graciebonsai.com.

I would have that if you have tight bends in the wire then simply stretching it like that will result in the wire snapping before it straightens, especially in the case of aluminium. Also not very quick as it requires a lot of setup.

 

[River's Edge]

I'm with Sorce on this, two pliers, twist out the turns, flex in and snap straight. Works for all sizes both aluminum and copper i have used on Bonsai. Although i never try to straighten #4 copper. I usually have to cut it off after it has done its job!

 

[Sansui]

I would have that if you have tight bends in the wire then simply stretching it like that will result in the wire snapping before it straightens, especially in the case of aluminium. Also not very quick as it requires a lot of setup.

Actually not the case. Both copper and aluminum wire straightens before reaching its breaking point.

For lighter gauge wire (in lieu of using a bench vise or locking pliers to hold one end of the wire) use a piece of narrow wood or metal to wrap one end of the wire around. Then stand on the wood or metal piece and pull the wire to your desired straightness.

 

[Adair M]

Holding the ends of the wire with pliers and giving it a quick snap works really well.

 

[parhamr]

I buy annealed copper for $20-something a pound, use it once, and sell it for scrap at $2.40-ish a pound because I can’t be arsed to put in the time or effort to straighten my used wire.

 

[bonhe]

I don’t think the tool asked in this post is suitable to straight the wire for bonsai.

This Japanese tool is specially made for wire straightening. It can straight even the copper wire with 0.6 cm . It is long!

Thụ Thoại

 

[Forsoothe!]

"Artistic" wire is ~20 gauge and smaller. That's .81mm so 1mm is about 18 gauge and as big as would be "straightened" by hand, but not with those mandrels. Essentially, you pull the wire through the nylon tube mandrel with hole about as big as the wire diameter. Every kink would jam or break. We don't use artistic wire regardless of what we call ourselves. @sorce is right: grab it with a pliers at each end and jerk it straight. I guess some of us are wire jerks? Or jerk-offs? (No offense @sorce)

 

[Sansui]

I would have that if you have tight bends in the wire then simply stretching it like that will result in the wire snapping before it straightens, especially in the case of aluminium. Also not very quick as it requires a lot of setup.

Here is a method to straighten short wire pieces using a hinge.