Twisting Wire?

[Texguy02]

Trying to use some wire twists for hangers and such, I can not for the life of me figure out how to make them so nice and neat as some I have seen on here.

So how do you guys do it? Certain tools or what?

Thanks

[shaggy1081]

I take a piece of wire bent in half and attach the ends into a small drill while looping to wire around a nail and run it up until it gets tight while holing back pressure if you let pressure off your wire will not turn out straight hope this helps

[Lincoya]

I do it almost like shaggy does except I reverse the wire. I put a very small Allen (hex) wrench in a drill. I double the wire and put the loose ends in a pair of Visegrips. Put the loop over the Allen wrench. Turn the drill on and twist. Like shaggy said, keep the pressure tight.

Gene

[nedyarb]

Drill works great!!!! I use a wire twisting tool my grandfather gave me 15 years ago to start the lop, then put the lop in the drill and the loose ends in a press, and lik stated pull up on the drill or the wire will kink.

[Travis]

I am a glutton for punishment and still do most of mine by hand. A finishing nail and vice grips.

[Texguy02]

Awesome, new tricks to get me in trouble. Haha I like it.

I had been doing mine by hand but they look nothing like the above picture. I guess I am still a newbie at this.

Thanks for the tips guys, I will try them out soon.

[RayburnGuy]

I like to use a barrel twist on my line ties and hook hangers. In tests I've done the barrel twist was stronger than the standard twist. In the test I did a simple twist was glued into a block of wood and then weights were hung from it. After hanging for a few hours the 15 lb. weight would pull the simple twist out of the epoxied joint. This was repeated three times with the same results each time. I did the same test with the barrel twist and ended up with over 35 lbs. of weight and it hung there for several days. When it did finally fail it was the wood that failed and not the epoxied joint. The epoxied barrel twist still had wood glued to it proving , to me at least, that the barrel twist is a much stronger connection. The way I form a barrel twist is to loop the wire around a small nail and squeeze the loop tight with a pair of needlenose pliers. After getting a tightly formed loop I twist the two wires together with a pair of vice grips, or any other pliers, just as you were doing a simple twist, but only doing this for one half turn. This centers the loop on the wire. The vice grips are then removed and the long wire is bent at a 90 degree angle to the short wire. That wire is then wrapped around the straight wire with a pair of pliers while the short wire is held tight with a pair of pliers. Below is a picture of the barrel twist to make it easier to understand.

A lot of people use the simple twist and don't have problems with it. I tend to err on the side of caution so I use the barrel twist.

Ben

Edited November 3, 2011 by RayburnGuy

[Travis]

Whle I twist I pull at the same time. First few twists are of course loose and not clean looking as in the second picture. Just keep going. You can easily twist until you snap the wire by hand so don't worry and just keep twisting until you get what you are looking for. Over time the finish nail will bend if that is an indication about the amount of pull. I can sit and make a lot while watching television (precut lenghts), that way it doesn't classify as me being out in the shop again.

[Tony Maxwell]

Are you all using SS Wire??? What size???

[littleriver]

I use a version of these

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_13244_13244?cm_ite=15646&cm_pla=Hand%20Tools%3EPliers&cm_cat=Google&cm_ven=Aggregates

I believe harbor freight has a version as well. They have been around a long time. I first used a pair in the Air Force 24 years ago. Army uses them to safety wire things on their equipment too. Probably every military branch uses these on their equipment. More expensive versions are available but the cheapies will do the job very well. You have a great deal of control with them.

I have a nail hammered near edge of my work bench with head removed whose only job is to twist wire. I keep it covered when not in use.

Vic

[RayburnGuy]

Are you all using SS Wire??? What size???

I'm using a .032" soft temper stainless wire for bass lures. I think everyone pretty much uses stainless wire due to it's corrosion resistance, although I seem to remember some people using a brass, or copper wire.

Ben

[BobP]

I use .040" dia SOFT TEMPER stainless "safety wire" instead of hard temper stainless. A pair of wire bending pliers (available at hobby shops like Michaels) helps a lot in getting round bends in your wire. But with soft temper stainless, you can just bend it around a drill bit clamped in a vise and use some Vise Grip pliers to twist the wire into a neat screw eye. The soft wire will snug up to the drill bit much better than hard temper wire - and IMO it performs better on bass crankbaits. If you prefer the barrel twist like Ben, you can hand twist #12 180lb test Malin SS Hard Wire leader with your fingers. It has a .029" diameter.

I know the barrel twist is stronger but have never had either style screw eye come out of a bait, so I just go with the easier/faster/smaller diameter "twist'em together" style.

[BobP]

Yes, brass was used on some classic balsa crankbaits from the 60's and 70's. Copper is still occasionally used - I have a D-bait made with copper wire. But soft temper stainless has all the advantages of brass and copper and none of the corrosion. It is slightly stiffer than brass or copper in the same diameter, but still soft enough that it allows you to easily tune a crankbait without cracking the lip or the finish on the nose of the crank.

[Tony Maxwell]

Next question, where do you get soft tempered SS wire???

[Big Bass Man]

Next question, where do you get soft tempered SS wire???

Here is where I buy mine http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/ss-lure-making-wire/311666.aspx

I use the same technique as some of the others, wrap around nail & drill.

[jwfflipper]

I use a modified appl peeler. remove the cutter and get a adapter from any hardware store and a couple of 90 degree hooks in the size you want your line tie and rear hook hanger and epoxy it in one end and screw the other end onto your peeler. Not that hard to do. If I knew how to up load pics I would show it. I use fiftyone thousandths soft stainless fromharbor freight. I have a pair of safety pliers and don't use them as the are to slow compared to the peeler.

Jeff

[Frank]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#stainless-steel-wire/=esd5w0

There are more choices where I get mine try these guys. You can get soft or spring temper. Frank

[brucestacklebox]

Boggs TackleMaker