Forums > Technical Discussion > question about galvanized steel wire

Posted: 11th Feb 2003
Braided wire or a single piece?

Either way it shouldn't be a problem. Lots of people use braided wire for toys.

Posted: 11th Feb 2003
I've been using solid 18 ga. galvanized steel wire instead of screws to hold wick on tube-core poi and staff and found it to be *far* more reliable than the more common wood screws. I never use it for anything that I would consider structural, though.

If you want to be more secure (or extra safe) you could (perhaps even should) go with something of a larger guage and/or go with stainless steel wire.

-p.

Posted: 23rd Feb 2003
The wire should be okay as long as it isn't quenched (cooled down rapidly) in any kind of fluid. This will cause it to become brittle and maybe break. I use stainless steel wire rope for my poi, it seems to take the punishment.
Also, I've always worried about the zinc dioxides that are given off by the galvanising, this stuff is not good for you at all!!!

I hope this helps.

For those of you who dig Quotes: be true, be real, be a cool cat and your fire shall burn bright through all of your experiences in life and in death

Posted: 24th Feb 2003
The zinc will burn off a real bad gas if it gets hot enough to melt.It wont kill you but if you breath enough of it you will get sick as a dog.I am not sure what temp it has to reach before the zinc starts to melt but if i were making a fire tool with it i would check that fact 1st.
or even better just buy good quality
stainless cable and not worry about it at all.the good quality stainless has a high load rating prob even higher than the galvanized.I use 5/16 marine quality cable for my poi it has a strees rating of 900 lbs that is almost twice the normal for cable that size.and you can get it at any marine shop.

I just got the neatest new toy it is a high temp thermometer you point it at something it tells you the temp the highest reading i got from a poi wick standing still with 100% colemans fuel was 525 degrees that might help you with the melt down point of the zinc

I have been cursed with the imagination to envision it all

Posted: 24th Feb 2003
hey Riz did that measurement come off of a steel surface on the wick? was it a bolt, or wire?

-Such a price the gods exact for song: to become what we sing
-Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
-When the center of the storm does not move, you are in its path.

Posted: 24th Feb 2003
and i just found something that said 364 C was enought to melt zinc...tho i'm not sure that the vaporization is exactly the same, i'd say it's a safe bet at 525. but hey, why not throw some more metal vapors into the cancer cocktail?

-Such a price the gods exact for song: to become what we sing
-Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
-When the center of the storm does not move, you are in its path.

Posted: 24th Feb 2003
arashi
None of my wicks have any steel in them .
my reading came from the kevlar itself.
I have one of my old style wicks with a cable through it I wil spark it up tomorrow night and get a reading off the metal

I have been cursed with the imagination to envision it all

Posted: 3rd Mar 2003
Galvy, it is nasty stuff. I worked of chainmaille alot. That stuff is nasty. Any heat will make fumes, and they cause cancer. I'de go with some 5xxx series alum. or Si bronze. Stainless, when hot aint stainless nomore, its turns a blue-black color, and aint strong anymore. Go to a welding supply shop, thats where I get all my wire at (or go to www.Mcmaster.com )

Posted: 3rd Mar 2003
Galvy, it is nasty stuff. I worked of chainmaille alot. That stuff is nasty. Any heat will make fumes, and they cause cancer. I'de go with some 5xxx series alum. or Si bronze. Stainless, when hot aint stainless nomore, its turns a blue-black color, and aint strong anymore. Go to a welding supply shop, thats where I get all my wire at (or go to www.Mcmaster.com )

Posted: 3rd Mar 2003
I don't mean to try to shoot anyone down or seem condescending but here goes.

Would I be mistaken in believing that metals melt before they start evaporating?I could have swore that was the natural order so in that case shouldn't you be more worried about your poi going for a ride.

Also being in the construction trade that deals with metals almost more than any other,I have used lesser metals like black iron and galvanized steel for materials that will achieve temperature's between 800 and 1600 degrees Fahrenheit.Also the galvanized fumes you are referring to I believe are called silicon fumes, which are mucho bad for you.However,the only time I have ever encountered these fumes is from welding galvanized metal,wherein the metals get around 1000 degrees.

Don't get me wrong if you have the resources and the money to get things in stainless steel or titanium than by all means you should, being they are much more resilient than anything else.However,being that I have a set of chains that are all galvanized from handles to eyebolts I think you should worry more about the toxic,cancerous fumes being emitted by the burning gas on your wicks.

Disclaimer:As a self confessed over-worrier you should actually just build a set of poi that you are comfortable with.If you don't feel right about your chains than you should do what you must so you will.