Wire for a tin can . . . source???

[dixieflyer]

I just purchased a repro tin can to use for a cup/mucket to replace my old one. I got to thinking about where to source the wire I would use to make the bail after I punch two holes in the side of the can. I always enjoyed carrying my old tin can for years, loved the back story of going to scrounge the trash pits for it after my cup got busted, etc.

However, I got to thinking about a back story to justify the wire. Honestly, I had never really considered it before. Where would a soldier have procured a piece of small diameter wire then? I used to work on a 19th c. farm, and for the life of me, I can't recall a single instance of ever using any wire, or really having anything around the site that had wire on it. (Think about it. We live in a "wire heavy world" when it comes to farms now, but all fencing then was with wood rails & posts in one form or another.) I then tried to think of a source within a brigade or division camp. I still can't come up with a readily available, common source of wire for a bail.

Ideas? Thoughts? Am I overlooking something painfully obvious?

[Silas]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

- . .-.. . --. .-. .- .--. .... .-- .. .-. . .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. -... . .- ... --- ..- .-. -.-. . .-.-.-

Copy the above. Then follow this link and paste it into the appropriate place .

[4VADRUMMER]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

Really cool response Silas! I was thinking the same thing.

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

How about a strand from a lightning rod grounding cable?

[dixieflyer]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

Silas, I had thought about that, it had certainly crossed my mind. I wonder if the modern, black rubberized spray paint I saw in the local big box would pass for vulcanized rubber insulation?

So, in essence, the steel/iron wire bails we sometimes use might not be so correct since period telegraph wire was copper. I know I could srcounge pretty well back in my day, but being the Doubting Thomas that I am, I'm wondering just how much access would your average infantry/artillery soldier have to this wire. Certainly at times there would be a preponderance on the road from repairs, but then again, like many things, it is time/theater/scenarios specific.

Just thinking out loud. Thanks Silas!

[Tincup]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

Most tinplate articles had a wire turned into the rim to both reinforce the perimeter and to provice a smooth surface that would not cut you while handling it or drinking from it. Just say you found a tin plate that had a wire rim and was rusted out and you stripped the wire from it using some black smiths tools.
James C. Currens
7th Kentucky

[Abrams]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

"Baling wire came into existence in the early 1800s but was not in wide use until the invention of the hay baler by Charles Withington in 1872. Withington's baler was a horse-drawn machine that compressed the mowed hay into square blocks. When the blocks were ejected to the back of the machine, they were hand tied with baling wire."

Read more: The History of Baling Wire | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5760069_hi...#ixzz1ardYkg8F

So while not as common as in the later 1800's, it was in use in the early 1800's. I cannot find any more info at the moment, and am at work.

[dixieflyer]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

Thanks for all of the ideas, thoughts, and suggestions friends. As Silas pointed out, telegraph wire is so obvious, but I was thinking in terms of iron/steel since that is what I've used in the past, and I see others use. It just occurred to me that iron/steel wire was not a common thing in our world of study, and I thought particularly so in the world of the 19th c. camp, etc.

I think when I get my new tin can, I'll raid the wire stash of my extended family for some 16 ga. wire and call it telegraph wire.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

"Baling wire came into existence in the early 1800s but was not in wide use until the invention of the hay baler by Charles Withington in 1872. Withington's baler was a horse-drawn machine that compressed the mowed hay into square blocks. When the blocks were ejected to the back of the machine, they were hand tied with baling wire."

Read more: The History of Baling Wire | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5760069_hi...#ixzz1ardYkg8F

So while not as common as in the later 1800's, it was in use in the early 1800's. I cannot find any more info at the moment, and am at work.

Ron is probably getting tired of me saying this, after last weekend, but down in Alabama... wire for cotton bales was a newer thing, not necessarily common, but possible:

http://books.google.com/books?id=peNFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA113

Wire fences in the north had had a brief flurry of interest in the late 1850s, but interest waned when they just didn't perform as promised. They certainly weren't as common as wood fences and probably not even as common as hedges, but that's another possibility.

http://books.google.com/books?id=9oM7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA37

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[P. M. Cunningham, Tinner]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

So, in essence, the steel/iron wire bails we sometimes use might not be so correct since period telegraph wire was copper.

Wisconsin Vets boiler has a 10 gauge black annealed wire that was more than likely a field modification to the piece. Although their coffee cooler doesn't have the wire on the repros, the original did have a 20 gauge wire looped and tied on the artifact. I was never sure if the wire dated to the piece or if it was a later addition, which is why we never put the wire on the repros. Never have seen copper wire on tin artifacts, definite instances of iron wire though.

Pat Cunningham

[dixieflyer]

Re: Wire for a tin can . . . source???

Pat, I've never seen copper wire on an original artifact either. I haven't seen a lot, but I've seen a few. I wasn't thinking in terms of copper when I made the initial post and Silas responded about the telegraph wire. I know there are examples out there with iron bails, and some had to be field modified . . . . but where did they get the wire?

Hank, I had thought of the cotton bales. Funny, we had a baler at the plant where I used to work making paper plates, The waste board from the process was baled for recycling and resembled a cotton bale not only in look, but in weight and size. Some pretty heavy gauge wire held those things together. I wonder what gauge wire they used for cotton bales back in the day?