# Frame wire



## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

Danant or Mann Lake both work. Have used both. Why hunt around for it?


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## Cape Bee (May 8, 2015)

Hi
Because I am not on the American continent.
Need a local equivalent.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Another option, if you are so inclined, is to use fishing line rather than wire. 40# test line works pretty well, and the price is right. It's durable and will not rust if exposed to moisture. I've been using it for years and it has been working great. It holds the comb in place for me just as well as wire when extracting.

Some have claimed that their bees chew through the fishing line, but as many years as I've been using it I've never experienced that happening.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Most commonly used is a tin plated, mild temper, carbon steel wire about .014" dia. 

Stainless steel wire is about three times the price! If you wish to heat embed the wire in unwired foundation, I think the monofilament fishing line will not do. You *can *use the monofiliament fishing line and allow the bees to build foundationless comb that will incorporate the line. Hive must be level from side to side.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

crofter said:


> If you wish to heat embed the wire in unwired foundation, I think the monofilament fishing line will not do.


That's true. 
But you can use a wheel spur embedder to embed fishing line into wax foundation the same way you would with wire. "Foundationless" frames with fishing line is not the only option.


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## sjj (Jan 2, 2007)

Stitching Wire/Round/28 Gauge/Tinned. 
I want to try this. I don't know how it is tempered. 

Wire gauge:
German Wire Gauge 0.4 mm
Wire Gauge 28


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

sjj said:


> Stitching Wire/Round/28 Gauge/Tinned.
> I want to try this. I don't know how it is tempered.
> 
> Wire gauge:
> ...


That would certainly fit the job. It would have a fairly soft temper for fastening ends and I see there are many sources that supply it. Also available in zinc electro galvanized. Watch the gauge sizes as they may vary from country to country. Anything close to 0.4 mm will be good.


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

Cape Bee sorry about that. We get so many ? that some type I can get a little short with them. See 99% of the time I read offf my pad and it doesn't show locations.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Back when I did wire, I never had a lot of luck with the galvanized and only liked the stainless. I don't remember all the details. I bought it from Glorybee. I would wire, crimp and embed with an electric embedder.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

We use the wire from Dadant and have had no problems with it. It is listed as 7000 ft of 26 gauge wire that weighs 5 lbs in their on line catalog.

Crazy Roland


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## Cape Bee (May 8, 2015)

Thanks for all the feedback
Really appreciate it


James


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## souficoufi (Dec 10, 2016)

Bonjour
j'utilise le fil 0,4 mm = 5/32 pouces.


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## robirot (Mar 26, 2017)

If you wire, use 0.5 mm stainless, much better and more durable then 0.4 mm. Stainless because it didn't rust.

I need to rewire the 0.5 mm mostly every 4 Foundation ~8 years. 0.4 mm needs to be rewirde often mostly after the 2nd-3rd foundation ~4-6 years.

But now i go stainless welding rod, much less workd, only supers wired.


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## tpope (Mar 1, 2015)

I was given a 25 pound spool of Monel wire in .014 inch diameter. It works extremely well.


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

You might try a welding supply house. Look for wire for a mig welder . With no flex on the wire.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

My-smokepole said:


> You might try a welding supply house. Look for wire for a mig welder . With no flex on the wire.


The thinnest steel mig wire will be .023 . A lttle thicker than regular frame wire but it may work. An 11# spool will be plenty.


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## Cape Bee (May 8, 2015)

Thanks


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

JWPalmer said:


> The thinnest steel mig wire will be .023 . A lttle thicker than regular frame wire but it may work. An 11# spool will be plenty.


Those dimensions are correct and that amounts to approx 4 times as much material as the standard frame wire, then factor in that stainless is at least 3 times the cost per pound compared to bright tin plated steel of the same diameter; I did a bit of searching around for source and price and dismissed the stainless idea very quickly.

That spool of monel that tpope found was a real prize!


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## sjj (Jan 2, 2007)

Stainless steel frame wire stretches very willingly. Even when embedding the wax foundation electrically (heating effect).


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

Mig wire is hard, so as to allow it to be pushed through to the gun without crumpling into a "birds nest". Could be hard to secure the ends (stronger than annealed though).
Bill


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## Cape Bee (May 8, 2015)

I tried a few welding suppliers here. Can't get mig wire thin enough.


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## hankstump (Jul 30, 2014)

one member in our club uses old bicycle spokes, 3 of them per frame, from the top of the frame to the bottom of the frame. Usually free from a bike shop that cut them out of a wheel for rebuilding. Most often stainless.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Excellent idea. Good scrounge too if he is getting them for free.


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## sjj (Jan 2, 2007)

On the opposite extreme: iron round wire 0.35mm, which is No. 30, can probably be used as a frame wire. Easier to cut out.


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