[Nhcoll-l] Mammal Specimen Preparation - Wire Recommendations

[Callomon,Paul]

This will sound a bit home-made, but among the highest-quality bendable steel wire I’ve found is that used to make coat hangers. I’ve used it in many ways, and it’s a great balance of strength, whip and formability. It’s usually coated against rust, too.

PC

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170
President of the American Malacological Society for 2027

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Benjamin Hess
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 1:34 PM
To: Samantha Getty <getty031 at umn.edu>
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Mammal Specimen Preparation - Wire Recommendations


External.
Sam,

You can get coiled wire at a cheaper cost, but pre-straightened wire is a great savings of time/effort. Pulling wire is possible, but challenging with thicker wire. In the past, I had used the following as a standard in mammal preparation. Feel free to connect me if you have additional questions.

Sincerely,

Ben
·         Pre-straightened stainless steel wire (McMaster Carr - https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/127/4057/ )
·         Straight wire search - https://www.mcmaster.com/products/straight-wire/  (select
o    1-ft. Straight Length Wire (0.015 - 8908K87) --> for small shrews
o    1-ft. Straight Length Wire (0.026 - 8908K26) --> for most small rodents
o    1-ft. Straight Length Wire (0.045 - 8908K48) --> for medium mammals
o    2-ft. Straight Length Wire (0.045 - 8908K78) --> this seems to not exist now, but I used this for all longer tails. https://www.mcmaster.com/straight-wire/length~24/
o    I would recommend another thicker and longer wire for bigger items. Nickel Copper Alloy (Monel) wire is also good as it is non-conductive and non-corrosive. https://www.mcmaster.com/straight-wire/length~3-ft-/



On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM Samantha Getty <getty031 at umn.edu<mailto:getty031 at umn.edu>> wrote:
Hello all,

My name is Sam and I am the specimen preparator for the Bell Museum. We  have been struggling to find suitable (modern) wire for our mammal specimens. Our wire stash is decades old and is running low. Everything I have purchased to try is too flexible and does not pull properly. Does anyone have any recommendations on what type or brand of wire to use and where to source it?

Thank you,
Sam Getty

--
Sam Getty (she/her)

Zoological Museum Curatorial Research Associate
Bell Museum
University of Minnesota
https://www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/salvage-wildlife/
_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
society. See http://www.spnhc.org<http://www.spnhc.org/> for membership information.
Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.


--

Benjamin M. Hess | EEB Museums Registrar | EEB Museums Safety Representative to the RMC

University of Michigan | LSA Ecology & Evolutionary Biology | Research Museums Center

3600 Varsity Drive, Ann Arbor MI 48108-2228

bmhess at umich.edu<mailto:bmhess at umich.edu> | 734-764-2432


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20250916/31f10e5b/attachment.html>