Week 3: Gathering Materials in Modern Society

Starting off with week three, I began doing a little more research on the materials I am to be using, and -attempted- to find where I would be able to buy the materials. As this project was orientated towards crafting authentic chain mail, I first tried buying traditionally used material. However, I then noticed that there is no store (aside from the steel industry) that one could even purchase normal steel wire (14 gauge, around ¼ mile or more) and so I did a little research into what it is that makes galvanized steel the –only- available material I could attempt to find.

Galvanized steel is made through a process called “Galvanization”, a Procedure of melting down steel and adding to it Zink and other chemicals to make it resistant to corrosion. The fume made by melting Zink is linked to lung cancer (if inhaled) as well as Mesothelioma. It befuddles me on why this newly made steel is the only type of steel wire (made fore electric fence use as I have recently discovered) that one may find. Seeing as I had no interest in making a private order to the Steel Co. just to attain some steel wire, I decided to search for a store that may hold it, starting with ACO. However, they looked at me as if I crazy for look for 14 gauge striped galvanized steel wire as they only held 12 gauge (because it was thicker and the only real size one would want for making a fence) So I moved on. It wasn’t until three days of store skipping later that I managed to locate 14 gauge ¼ mile galvanized steel striped wire at Home Depot (this was the second time I went there, after the Manager told me that they did not have any striped wire the first time, And after I was looking around the second time for a different reason, I stumbled upon the wire on a shelf).

While I was there, I decided to purchase the other recommended material for the job, and they where much easier to find. They include two needle nose pliers, leather gloves, work glasses, steel cutters, as well as my own make shift attempt at the wire winding apparatus. (for the sake of time, as I do not have enough time to wind it by hand or by a crank, I cheated slightly by using a handbill which is attached to one side, and since I had no means to drill metal to make a small whole in the steel rod I used some wire clamps).