Page 144 - Barbara Merry - The Splicing Handbook

be strong but not necessarily flexible, because they stay in one position.

Any wire used on a boat, whether it’s aircraft cable or wire rope, needs to
resist corrosion. Stainless steel wire is an alloy of steel, chromium, and nickel.
Type 316 is the most resistant to corrosion (followed by 305, then 302/304) and
is used in high-corrosive atmospheres such as the Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean, where salt spray is highly potent. Galvanized wire, known as plough
steel in Europe, is made of carbon steel that has been dipped in a hot bath of zinc
and is stronger than stainless steel wire. Country of origin makes a difference in
the quality of any metal. Some U.S. suppliers no longer sell wire products
manufactured offshore.

Wire Identification

A typical identification for wire might look like this: ⅛-inch (3 mm) 7 × 19 316
stainless.
Three parameters are indicated:

1. The diameter of the wire, usually in inches, e.g., ⅛ inch (3 mm), 5/32 inch (4
mm), and 3/16 inch (5 mm). Boat wire is available in sizes from 3/32 inch (2
mm) to 7/16 inch (11 mm) and beyond.
2. Two numbers referring to the wire’s construction (e.g., 7 × 19)—see below.

3. The type of material, e.g., 316 stainless steel.

No matter the construction—1 × 19, 7 × 7, or 7 × 19—the more strands a
bundle has, the more flexible the rope. So, for instance, 1 × 19 wire rope, a
common choice for standing rigging because it’s stiff, is a one-strand cable made
of 19 wires twisted together. Viewed from the end, the arrangement of the wires
looks like a flower; one wire forms the center, six wires surround that, and
twelve wires form the outer circle.

Standing rigging is often constructed of 1 × 19 stainless wire rope. (Loos)
Wire terminology is subtle. Riggers and manufacturers often use terms
interchangeably and differently. For example, 1 × 19 wire rope differs from 7 ×
19 flexible wire, which is commonly used for halyards and contains seven

strands, or bundles, of 19 wires each. Each bundle is constructed like the 1 × 19
wire rope described above. One bundle forms the center of 7 × 19 wire and is
surrounded by six identically constructed bundles.