Have a great invention to help with gardening? Are you the self-reliant type that prefers Building It Yourself vs. buying it? Share and discuss your ideas and projects with other members.
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March 8, 2012 | #46 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: oak grove mo
Posts: 406
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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 8, 2012 | #47 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 75
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Quote:
When handling it, make sure you have work gloves and are wearing clothes you don't mind getting covered with rust! |
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March 9, 2012 | #48 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Littlerock, CA
Posts: 218
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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.
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March 9, 2012 | #49 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: long island
Posts: 327
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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 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5
Posts: 931
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And an up-to-date tetanus shot!
j |
March 9, 2012 | #51 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: north central B.C.
Posts: 2,310
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Raindrops, very important - safety glasses!
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March 9, 2012 | #52 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Littlerock, CA
Posts: 218
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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. |
March 9, 2012 | #53 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 75
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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?
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March 9, 2012 | #54 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Cranberry Country, SE MA - zone 6?
Posts: 353
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Good bolt cutters make the job a LOT easier.
__________________
I never met a fish I didn't like. |
March 9, 2012 | #55 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: long island
Posts: 327
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Thank you for the help all it is much appreciated!
Melissa |
March 9, 2012 | #56 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2008
Location: zone 5 Colorado
Posts: 942
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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 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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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.
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