How can i make large barbed wire

[dfairchild19]

How is this stuff made? I am looking into making some of this stuff for personal use and have no idea how to go about it right off.

Im not worried about the logs or the brackets welded on the ends. Just interested in how to go about twisting the tubing around itself.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[zapster]

Tractor Supply Company.

...zap!

[dfairchild19]

care to elaborate?

[Broccoli1]

Weld the 2 pieces of Rod together and then just twist it.

I did some a while back but can't find the Photos.



Same concept as Twisting 1 piece

http://www.metalcraftusa.com/twisters.html

[zapster]

You need wire winding machines to accomplish what you want and trying to do it by hand is not an option..
Frustration and a few stitches may result..

Best off to just buy some and call it a day.

...zap!

[WyoRoy]

Take the tubing, two sections, and place them in your vise jaws, take the other ends and chuck 'em in a Milwaukee, or whatever you have, drill and hit the switch. The rowels only need to be on one wire...so use some tape to hold them in position until the tubing 'captures' them.

[prop-doctor]

one wire has the barbs twisted on it at set spacing
then other wire is bare and twisted with other
but more info is needed how big is BIG

[Broccoli1]

Gonna be a beech with TUBING, I figger it is solid rod.

I twisted 4 pieces of 1/4" rod with a Socket and a ratchet, not that hard really.

be a lot easier with something with more leverage

[dfairchild19]

i was thinking some thin wall (about 1/16) 1" tubing with the barbs being about 1/2" diameter....

[Bluewelders]

If the bricks and posts are standard size.
Are those barbs 3-4 inches across ?

[dfairchild19]

If you are referring to the length that the barbs stick out then I would imagine that would be about right. I don't like how far they protrude so I would shorten them to not much more than a stub so that the future kids and the pups don't try using them as kabobs for their eyes and noggins. I would like to make them in 6 or 7 foot lengths as well.

[chopnhack]

Future kids and pups? No barbs then... Looks like you are on a hill, what are you concerned with keeping out?

[dfairchild19]

This is for looks and not for function. The barbs will be shortened to nothing more than rounded off stubs to serve no purpose except looks. This is meant to be decorative railing.

[Broccoli1]

Originally Posted by dfairchild19

i was thinking some thin wall (about 1/16) 1" tubing with the barbs being about 1/2" diameter....

Very specialized tooling to "twist" tubing. Good luck.

Just bending tubing requires a Tubing bender with a die set.

[Oldiron2]

Start off with two annealed, heavy gauge copper wires (maybe copper tubing would work, if you're very careful). Twist them together until you have the full length, then seperate the wires slightly at the correct intervals using an awl, and stick in some precurved coils/pieces of thick PVC wire/rod. Retighten splits if necessary using pliers. Maybe some dark nylon or other plastic would be better; need to see what's available that can be heat- (or otherwise) set into the shape you need.

Another benefit of copper includes being able to color it as wanted using chemicals.

[rlitman]

You could probably do this with 1/2" L copper pipe. You just need to fully anneal it over it's length before trying. The plus side to that is that if you anneal the pipe with a torch, you'll end up with a nice blackened patina right from the start.
Just start at one end of the pipe with the torch, heat it until its barely red, then slowly work your way over the length of the pipe to the other end.

[jba]

Pencil rod in 20' lengths or longer, and then cut as needed. A pipe threader should have plenty of power for this. That stuff looks great by the way.

Jeff

[CosmicRambler]

Can't tell exactly what it is made from in terms of materials and you don't say.

The attached pix shows something very similar. The second wire down is basically the same.

I would start with round wrought iron of the preferred diameter and do it basically like the old blacksmith that invented the stuff did. Take two pieces of the desired length, clamp both in something solid, string it out tight with the ability to turn it on the opposite end. Might need at least two peeps.

The blacksmith made the first stuff by tying two wires to a post and turning the strung out wire with his grinding wheel.

Same general idea here. Only periodically heat in the right spot probably close to a red heat, twist for the right affect and add the barbs as you go. Working your way to the opposite end. My guess how it was done. Any blacksmith should be able to duplicate it if you don't want too. Barbs could be pre-made and slid on as required. Would be how I would attempt to duplicate it.

[Dualie]

what you need is a bar twister.

[DSW]

Originally Posted by Dualie

what you need is a bar twister.

I was thinking the same thing. Mine are all out on loan right now so I don't have picts available. I made them up out of old adjustable flat jaw pipe wrenches I've picked up cheap at yard sales. Weld on a 2nd handle and you are all set. I've also seen ones that were hand made to fit a specific bar size. Usually they are very similar to an old style hand tap wrench where you have to tighten the 2 bolts to clamp the two halves together. Take a chunk of flat stock and either weld on two spacer plates to make up the notch for the rods or grind/mill the notch. Bolt this to another flat plate to sandwhich the rod stock and attach handles to each side.

[Tool Maker]

Ive made similar twisted stuff in the lath buy drilling a couple of holes in a piece of plate and chucking it in the lathe feed the rod through the head stock and then the holes in the plate, then through the tool post. Clamp the tool post down real tight and turn the lathe on slow slow. grease the rod so it can twist against itself because it is going to. I don't know how you could put on the barbs. Mac

[CosmicRambler]

Might not be all that complicated.

If you look at the completed project, get a round piece of wrought iron, prebend it in a gentle spiral around say a piece of pipe about something in the form that it appears. If that can happen as individual pieces then two pieces will fit together without much further force required.

It might work out that you can bend it completely around some particular diameter pipe a couple of times similar to a spring and then pull that out fully into a spiral of the right specifications. Probably how any type of factory higher rate of production is done.

Can mess around trying with some smaller common springs to see the effects as a concept.

[fredschrom]

If you look here it a high dollar machine to do just what your looking to do:
http://www.ercolina-usa.com/eraform.htm

click on the spiral function.

You can make a poor mans version of this with a I beam and some gussets. Power could be a simple as a 3/4-1 socket breaker bar and a long cheater bar for leverage. More exotic would would be hydraulic with a chain, remember you don't need rpm's you need torque. Your picture has the long pieces with four complete twists from end to end.

The barbs I would do on my lathe. Using a piece hi strengthen round bar like a drill bit, run between both the chuck and the tail piece. Use the threading feature, my guess the coursest setting. Need some kind of a fixture to feed and hold the wire, which means I would probably make a fixture for the round rod to fit into and a couple of short pieces of drill rod drilled into the face to hold the ( wire ) when starting. The fixture would need to mount to my toolholder and tension and guide the wire.

My quess is unless you have some of the tools like a lathe, or some spare I beam or square channel lying around its going to cost you more to set up tooling than just get somebody to do the twisting. My initial guess is $50-65 a hour and three pieces are going to be 1-2 hours at a shop.

If you went in with the barbs built it wouldn't take long to twist the round rod.

Grunt way to make your barbs is take a 5/8-3/4 inch plate. Drill and weld ( bottom side ) a rod the diameter of the wire your wanting to wrap around, oh say 2-2 1/2 inches tall. Drill two more holes and mount two more 1 inch( maybe less) rods side by side about 3 -4 inches away from the pivot rod. Rods need to be spaced so they are just slightly larger than the wire your bending, just so it will fit though and hold the (wire).

Mount in a vise, get your rosebud out and twist to your hearts content. I see 16 ea twists on your pic, so even using the grunt method your only looking a couple of hours, and a couple of more for the fixture.

When your bending them bend long and don't get wrapped up on the barbs being long, just bend, then cut them after, I would use my die grinder to trim them.

[CosmicRambler]

I tried messing around with some 1/4" rods out of an old bed mattress that had been burnt. It all ready had sort of a wavy form. It you twisted it just right can start to cause it to lay into itself in a barb wire pattern. This stuff is pretty beat up, might work better if it was not so damaged. But I could start to get instant barb wire with just a vice and some vice grips. Already pre-aged.

Maybe a vice and a steel bar with two holes drilled into it. Doesn't take that much force to do it. Old mattress as a source of free materials. Burning optional.

Any who an idea to play about with. The stuff is pretty strong once you get two pieces wound about each other.Probably a bunch of methods to attempt. I don't have any immediate need for more wire, just wanted to see if having the right preformed pattern in the individual wires helped, it does, got to go cut the grass.

[Showdog75]

Originally Posted by zapster

You need wire winding machines to accomplish what you want and trying to do it by hand is not an option..
Frustration and a few stitches may result..

Best off to just buy some and call it a day.

...zap!

For a man as talented as you are where is your "can do spirit" ? Lol