Tell me something

[capesams]

Most folks like using heavy hardware on their wood....hard sst wire...beefy swivels..tripple ring's..bla..bla...an for the most part kinda poo on anything less....BUT! we all know beachmaster is one of the most sought after plug's around..right?...but yet he uses soft 304 sst wire and I havn't heard boo against it....are folk's talking hard heavy duty hardware to impress other's..when it may not be needed in the construction of one's creations???

[Tagger]

not trying to impress .. 2 seasons in a row I've had fish distort arse loop on 308L on my top water spook and another I've used .. Won't use anything less ..Straightened out mustad belly hooks, .. will only use VMC even though they tear the hell out of a plug . I had a split ring almost completly unravel on me ,, not sure what brand it was .. only triples for now on . I like the way overkill rating on krock barrel swivels .. Only cost a little more to go first class.. You ask .."Who you trying to impress ?" I ask .. "Why you such a cheap bastagde ?"

[capesams]

Have you heard any complaints about his wire that he uses??Danny p used the same stuff, any complaints there? before that there was brass wire an screw eye's...that stuff caught plenty of cows and they had braid then too..squiding line...so what's changed from then to now?

[Karl F]

braid, and tight drag.. todays world....
old timey linen line, dacron, and early mono.. limp and stretchy.. old timey loose drag.. played the fish more.. not horse the fish in....
is it the fish stressing the hardware.. or the fisherman?..
food for thought.. and I doubt cheaps, got anything to do with it..

[numbskull]

Well I use whatever I got, but I've had a swivel fail on a big Danny troller, a brass wire break on an older Gibbs bottle, and smaller swivels go on several plugs. I've never had a screw eye fail that I can recall. Go figure. By the way, the squidding line I used as a kid stretched more than mono.

[capesams]

I'm thinking the same Karl...crank her down...haul them in quick.Yes brass get's brittle when old..so may some hardware..but after all,, it's being soaked in salt........but the question still remains...is 304 soft wire just as good??..if you make plug's or not..you can always replace the hardware come winter..nothing is forever.

[OSSCA]

300 series stainless is basically the same.I work in the metalworking industry,if i were to hand you a piece of 302(18-8) and a piece of 304 unless you looked under a microscope at a cross section you wouldn't notice any difference.316 is much harder due to both a higher nickel content and processing,all wire is drawn to size from a larger diameter so if you draw .312 18-8 down to .100 it'll be hard as a rock due to the density of the drawn material.Most of the hardware store wire is drawn from wire thats within .020" of the finish diameter so the difference beetween 302,304,308 is minimal.

[ProfessorM]

When I think of soft stainless I think 303. I am also looking at these materials as far as machinability. 303 machines like butter compared to 304 with 316 a little more of PIA. Never machined any 308 but i would think it would be like 303. If you want the best go with 316. Not an expert on wire. Thanks for the info. OSSCA. Learn something every day. P.

[OSSCA]

316 IMO is the best choice

[Charleston]

The use of 316 is bt far better but the way I see it: You will loose the plug long before 304 or 308 let you down!

[capesams]

I think we all agree 316 is the longest lasting,,best wire...But it's a bitch to work with if using plyer's by hand....now back to the annealed wire...there has to be something between soft and rock hard 316,,,where's the middle ground here??

[ProfessorM]

I would have to say 308 gets my vote. Very easy to work with using plyers.

[wheresmy50]

Originally Posted by capesams

I think we all agree 316 is the longest lasting,,best wire...But it's a bitch to work with if using plyer's by hand....now back to the annealed wire...there has to be something between soft and rock hard 316,,,where's the middle ground here??

I don't think you can temper 316, so cold worked would be as hard as 316 gets. I'm no metalurgist, but the annealed wire has to cold work to some extent just by twisting it. Maybe someone could shed some light on that.

You know . . . you could just use titanium.

[ProfessorM]

second rate FF. LOL

[jkswimmer]

Looking at the web site posted above the only difference between 304 and 316 stainless is alloying materials which give 316 better corosion resistance. I use 316L welding wire and find ok. All I use is a nail in a vice and a pair off pliers.

[Rockfish9]

Poking around through some "oldie but goodie" conversations here.. this one may be of particular interst to some of the newer builders... good, civil and informative... post like this are lacking these days...

[ruhroh]

Good info here, 5 years later.

[Charleston]

I've had plug testers report that fish have split the wood. Never lost a fish on 304L wire. It's easy and almost a pleasure to tail wrap.

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Charleston

I've had plug testers report that fish have split the wood. Never lost a fish on 304L wire. It's easy and almost a pleasure to tail wrap.

Me either... a friend took a bunch of my plugs to Mexico last year and fed them to the roosterfish and other assorted rock and reef dwellers.. the wire( 304L) held fine.. the plugs.. DESTROYED.

[johnny ducketts]

My plugs suck, I never catch anything of size, but yet there beefed up like I'm fishing for dinosaurs. Maybe I'm just ignorant