[ARC5] [possibly OT] Wire Redux

[Michael Tauson]

When I was a small person in the 50s, one of my neighbors had been a
radioman/gunner in SBDs then moved to SB2Cs or TBMs, I'm not sure
which, before getting shot down and landing in a wheelchair.  Anyway,
he had some interesting habits when it came to wiring that I've not
heard of since.

He used a lot of cloth over rubber wire in building various projects.
After he'd solder one end, he'd serve the cloth cover with heavy
thread then coat the serving in varnish.  Once it was stable, he'd
move to the other end, and, after measuring and cutting the wire,
would measure back a pinky's width and serve & coat that end before
trimming the insulation and soldering.  The wiring was immaculate with
no loose or frayed ends on the covering.

His cable lacing was just as interesting.  He had an interesting take
on double lacing that wasn't quite the way I learned it.  First off,
he'd serve one end like he did the individual wires but with two
lengths of waxed cord that looked like carpet thread but maybe bigger.
 He'd then lace the cable with one of them and tie off temporarily
when he reached the end.  Then he'd lace with the second thread going
under the first one's wraps before making a wrap which went over the
first one.  (He told me that going under the first one helped him snug
the second up next to it while making the second wrap over the first
was just as good as under and easier.)  He'd then serve the other end
like the beginning.  Branches from the main cable were handled more or
less conventionally but with the same double wrap and end serving when
they got down to three or four wires.

One other thing that I found of interest was in how he wound some of
the heavier transformers, chokes, solenoids and relay coils.  If he
didn't have DCC or DSC wire of the right size, he'd use enameled, SCC
or SSC magnet wire over which he'd wrap something that looked like
crepe paper.  He'd unroll a length of wire, wrap the paper around it
then apply varnish (I think).  After it was dry, he'd wrap it onto the
core of whatever he was winding then start over again.  In a few
cases, he'd put Kraft paper between layers that was left alone or
treated in any of several ways.  (He did this with the double cotton &
silk covered wire as well.)  The only place I remember seeing him use
fish paper was between the primary & secondary windings of
transformers.

There were a few other things I remember that made his work
interesting and so very beautiful but those are the ones that come to
mind right off.

Anyway, has anyone else seen anything like this at a homemade level or
was this gentleman unique?

Best regards,

Michael, WH7HG