Problem making CRW cages - Page 4

augiedog55 · March 8, 2012

No that won't work inless you have very small hands and or grow very small tomatoes or both.... lol... 2 x 4 in ch square it to small. If you are buying rolls of wire get the concrete reinforcement wire. it approx. a 6 in ch square. You can doing anything you need in to do in a 6" square.
also for every 1 ft of diameter you want your cage you will need 3 ft of flat wire. so if you want a 2 ft diam.( 24") cage you'll need aprrox.6 ft of wire off the roll.

Pyrrho · March 8, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by raindrops27

Is this what I am supposed to buy to make these cages?

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

Thanks guys, I have never made them before. So, I really do not know if this is what I would use.

You should be able to find rolls of CRW in the concrete/building supplies section of HD or Lowes. My local Lowes has it on the floor, but HD has it stacked way up on a shelf where you'd have to ask someone to get it.

When handling it, make sure you have work gloves and are wearing clothes you don't mind getting covered with rust!

kevinrs · March 9, 2012

and the gloves aren't to keep your hands clean, the stuff is rolled up under tension, if you put your hands on it and move it and the coils shift, you can get pinched bad. Don't worry much about it being rusty, it will rust all over as soon as it's outside and wet. They do not galvanize it or anything to prevent the rust as it's intended to be embedded in concrete.

raindrops27 · March 9, 2012

Oh, glad to know about the rust.

At break, I ran down to my local HD and found a 150ft roll of the stuff, but left it right there as it looked all nasty, old and rusted over. It looked real bad. It was $107 I assume that is a good price. Will pick it up on the weekend

So let me get this right, work gloves, a wire cutter, old dusty clothes, bandages, and a first aid kit. Wish me luck guys.

Melissa

janezee · March 9, 2012

And an up-to-date tetanus shot!

j

salix · March 9, 2012

Raindrops, very important - safety glasses!

kevinrs · March 9, 2012

Oh, a real good big heavy duty wire cutter, with a hard sharp blade and lots of leverage. I got a harbor freight set of lineman's pliers that I thought would do it, didn't work, the good ones at home depot etc probably will work better. I ended up cutting with a dremel with a cutoff wheel, but that's slow and tedious and when the wire bounces as you finish cutting it tends to shatter the cutoff wheel. If I was doing it again, I might go as far as something like http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardw...atalogId=10053

And a couple of cheap spring clamps or something to keep the roll from trying to come undone all at once, clamp them on the wire just beyond where you are cutting, then release the end(when you start there are bent over wire ends keeping it rolled.) It won't unroll completely if you just let it, but the roll will suddenly get double the diameter, and it will be more trouble getting your cut piece unwrapped from the rest of the roll. With clamps in place, only the part you are cutting unrolls, and when it's cut, you can just spread it a little to get it loose, then it's still nearly the circle you want.

With some leather work gloves, a good set of cutters, large pliers if you are using the wire bent over to hold the circle shape, something to hold the wire you aren't cutting off in it's tight rolled form, and maybe some safety glasses (mainly in case a flake of rust flies toward your eye when you cut the wire), it should be fine.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=10839 is the thread that's got pictures of the roll of wire and the process. I used the pliers to make the bend he used the nutdriver for, and in some cases to squeeze the bend closed. There's another thread around here somewhere too.

Pyrrho · March 9, 2012

I used the $15 bolt cutters. You could go bigger for more money, and who knows when you might need to bust up a padlock?

tomakers · March 9, 2012

Good bolt cutters make the job a LOT easier.

raindrops27 · March 9, 2012

Thank you for the help all it is much appreciated!

Melissa

guruofgardens · March 9, 2012

When we make the tomato cages, we make 'tines' by cutting the bottom 2 squares so the cages can be set in the ground easily - every other square.

Messy now, but we've had ours over 10 years. Good luck with them.

March 9, 2012

When we built cages, we skipped the crw and used field fence. Even the openings on the bottom are accessible, and the stuff doesnt rust. We have been using for five years and they seem good as new.

March 8, 2012	#46
augiedog55 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: oak grove mo Posts: 406	No that won't work inless you have very small hands and or grow very small tomatoes or both.... lol... 2 x 4 in ch square it to small. If you are buying rolls of wire get the concrete reinforcement wire. it approx. a 6 in ch square. You can doing anything you need in to do in a 6" square. also for every 1 ft of diameter you want your cage you will need 3 ft of flat wire. so if you want a 2 ft diam.( 24") cage you'll need aprrox.6 ft of wire off the roll. Last edited by augiedog55; March 8, 2012 at 11:48 AM.

March 9, 2012	#54
tomakers Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Cranberry Country, SE MA - zone 6? Posts: 353	Good bolt cutters make the job a LOT easier. __________________ I never met a fish I didn't like.

March 9, 2012	#48
kevinrs Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Littlerock, CA Posts: 218	and the gloves aren't to keep your hands clean, the stuff is rolled up under tension, if you put your hands on it and move it and the coils shift, you can get pinched bad. Don't worry much about it being rusty, it will rust all over as soon as it's outside and wet. They do not galvanize it or anything to prevent the rust as it's intended to be embedded in concrete.

March 9, 2012	#49
raindrops27 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: long island Posts: 327	Oh, glad to know about the rust. At break, I ran down to my local HD and found a 150ft roll of the stuff, but left it right there as it looked all nasty, old and rusted over. It looked real bad. It was $107 I assume that is a good price. Will pick it up on the weekend So let me get this right, work gloves, a wire cutter, old dusty clothes, bandages, and a first aid kit. Wish me luck guys. Melissa

March 9, 2012	#50
janezee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5 Posts: 931	And an up-to-date tetanus shot! j

March 9, 2012	#51
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Raindrops, very important - safety glasses!

March 9, 2012	#53
Pyrrho Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 75	I used the $15 bolt cutters. You could go bigger for more money, and who knows when you might need to bust up a padlock?

March 9, 2012	#56
guruofgardens Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: zone 5 Colorado Posts: 942	When we make the tomato cages, we make 'tines' by cutting the bottom 2 squares so the cages can be set in the ground easily - every other square. Messy now, but we've had ours over 10 years. Good luck with them.

March 9, 2012	#57
eltex Guest Posts: n/a	When we built cages, we skipped the crw and used field fence. Even the openings on the bottom are accessible, and the stuff doesnt rust. We have been using for five years and they seem good as new.