I have some large equipment on a friend’s farm that I cover
with plastic tarpaulins, usually held down with sisal cord. But this year a heavy windstorm broke many of
the cords, so I spent yesterday replacing them with baling wire, and in the
process, realized I have spent most of my life working with baling wire. In fact, one of the first jobs I can remember
in my life was straightening baling wire for my grandfather, who had talked the
local dairy into saving it for him, and used it for every purpose from fastening
broken objects together and holding up mufflers and exhaust pipes to tearing
down spider webs and making bizarre constructions to unclog drains. I studied
under him!
Baling wire is made of steel that is high enough in carbon
to be strong, but has been annealed so that it is easy to bend. It comes in many sizes, and many lengths, and
although sometimes plated, it is usually black in color and lightly oiled. In
an urban area it is best known as re-bar or tie wire, and a major use is to tie
together reinforcing bars while concrete is
poured over them. This photo shows a
small quantity purchased from Home Depot. It is still used to hold bales together in
agricultural areas, although it has generally been replaced with plastic
cord. I don’t bale hay, and don’t
pour concrete that often, but I can’t imagine living without it. I have a lot of sophisticated tools and
adhesives, but bailing wire is the most flexible of them all. And even though it is possible to purchase fancy
devices to twist it together and otherwise form it, all you need to use it is a
pair of pliers (lineman pliers are a luxury), or if such a thing is not
available, you can often get by with your bare hands.
It has been around in for a couple of
hundred years, although it first became plentiful in the late 19th
century with the invention of the hay-baler.
The photograph below shows part of the
clutch lever on a large 100 year old track-laying tractor that I have owned for
40 years. It was clearly starting to
crack at the point where the pivot hole for the rod leading to the clutch was
drilled, and the natural solution by the original owner was to fasten a large
nail to the lever with, of course, baling wire.
The tractor was a basket case when I acquired it, and I dutifully
restored it, but no-way was I about to weld the crack on the lever and remove
this typical farm- type repair.
In fact, baling wire
was so prevalent on farms that produced or used large amounts of hay, that in
many cases it became somewhat of a hazard because of its ability to poke holes
in things (including human flesh), and if wadded up and discarded in quantity,
to form indestructible tangles (you’ve heard the term haywired?). But the good news, was (and is) its easy
availability to solve endless problems.
In fact, I remember encountering a saying when a kid, that it was
possible to repair anything with baling wire and spit.
In my book, anything that performs as many functions in an
unchanged form for 200 years and is cheap and easily available is a wonderful
product.
Finally, the right team won the Rose Bowl. Happy New Year.
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