![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Craft wire is expensive. 10 feet of bare copper wire, 16 gauge, can be bought for 6.95. 69.5 cents a foot. 18 gauge is 34.9 cents a foot. And 20 gauge is 49.5 cents a foot.
I just went to Home Depot and bought 5 feet of #4 THHN wire, containing 6 strands of 18 gauge copper wire and 13 strands of 16 gauge copper wire. I paid 59 cents a foot for it.
I also bought 5 feet of #8 THHN wire, containing 19 strands of 20 gauge copper wire. I paid 48 cents a foot for it.
In total, I ended up with:
65 feet of 16 gauge wire.
30 feet of 18 gauge wire.
95 feet of 20 gauge wire.
A grand total of 190 feet of wire. With tax, it came to $5.62
Averaged out, that's 2.95 cents a foot. Just less than three cents per foot.
It may not sound like much, but think about how much it would have cost me had I bought it from a traditional crafting supply shop at the rates I first mentioned:
65 feet of 16 gauge wire would have cost me $45.18.
30 feet of 18 gauge wire would have cost me $10.47
95 feet of 20 gauge wire would have cost me $47.02
$5.62 versus $102.67? Hmm... maybe not so minor a victory after all... :)
The same source where I got the heads up on this wire has stats for other varieties of THHN too. In case anyone else is interested in buying copper wire cheaper than crafting sources supply it, here they are:
I just went to Home Depot and bought 5 feet of #4 THHN wire, containing 6 strands of 18 gauge copper wire and 13 strands of 16 gauge copper wire. I paid 59 cents a foot for it.
I also bought 5 feet of #8 THHN wire, containing 19 strands of 20 gauge copper wire. I paid 48 cents a foot for it.
In total, I ended up with:
65 feet of 16 gauge wire.
30 feet of 18 gauge wire.
95 feet of 20 gauge wire.
A grand total of 190 feet of wire. With tax, it came to $5.62
Averaged out, that's 2.95 cents a foot. Just less than three cents per foot.
It may not sound like much, but think about how much it would have cost me had I bought it from a traditional crafting supply shop at the rates I first mentioned:
65 feet of 16 gauge wire would have cost me $45.18.
30 feet of 18 gauge wire would have cost me $10.47
95 feet of 20 gauge wire would have cost me $47.02
$5.62 versus $102.67? Hmm... maybe not so minor a victory after all... :)
The same source where I got the heads up on this wire has stats for other varieties of THHN too. In case anyone else is interested in buying copper wire cheaper than crafting sources supply it, here they are:
