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Recycling bonsai wire
http://weetrees.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18938
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Author:  darreng [ 14 Apr 2020, 23:35 ]
Post subject:  Recycling bonsai wire

I have a growing collection of removed wire. How is best to recycle it?

With aluminium foil we have to collect it up and make a big ball before putting it in the recycle bin, to ensure it gets picked up..

Author:  Gary Jones [ 15 Apr 2020, 00:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: Recycling bonsai wire

I find straightening it and then reusing it keeps it in use for a long time. :lol: :lol: :lol:

This assumes Aluminium, as copper is a so and so to reuse as it work hardens, and it's very hard to remove except by cutting off. Even with aluminium you eventually end up with off-cuts or hardened bits and these I've always thrown in the general bin.

If you've got loads of it a trip to the tip might work if they have an appropriate bin for it.

Author:  Sizzla [ 15 Apr 2020, 06:37 ]
Post subject:  Re: Recycling bonsai wire

Could always wrap it in your big ball of foil to make sure it gets sorted properly.

I think aluminium is one of the most abundant metals on earth and no one is really that concerned with cutting down usage. Which is mad when you think about the amount that must end up in land fill.

Any bits longer than an inch I save for drainage mesh staples but shorter than that it goes in the bin. I think the main issue is unlike cooper, lead and iron, aluminium is so light you'd have to save an awful lot of foil, cans and wire to get any meaningful scrap value which is probably why people aren't as interested in it.

Author:  Deltawhiskey [ 15 Apr 2020, 06:44 ]
Post subject:  Re: Recycling bonsai wire

Do not throw it away unless you have cut it off the tree. Put one end in the vice and hold the other with pliers. Push the pliers towards the vice until a bow is formed, then snap the pliers back which pulls the wire straight again. I usually untwist the wire before this step.

Delta

Author:  daryl [ 15 Apr 2020, 10:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Recycling bonsai wire

There was a discussion a while back about straightening wire viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17072&hilit=wire

This is my 2p worth

daryl wrote:
I keep little bits in a pot and use them for fixing mesh into pots. Longer bits that I think I can re-use I pull through my home made wire straightener.

A piece of wood with holes drilled through it that match the wire sizes that you use. Straighten the first couple of inches of wire roughly by hand then push it through the matching hole. Grap the wire as it comes through with a pair of pliers then, holding the wood in one hand and the pliers tightly in the other, pull it through as swiftly and assertively as you can. Hey presto - straightened wire :smallthumb:

Image

Author:  Brendan [ 16 Apr 2020, 14:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: Recycling bonsai wire

Reminds me of the old Lenny Henry Christmas special where he plays his Granny carefully unwrapping one side of a gift and sliding the present out, keeping the wrapping paper perfectly in a box-shape .

Then next Christmas she goes to the shop with the wrapping paper and says

"You got anything to fit this?"

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