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Making Modern Concertina Wire

Introduction

Since coming to Armorama.com I have learned a lot of tricks, especially from the message boards. On some of my posts I mentioned we should put some of the questions and answers into article form. Since I thought of it I felt that I should practice what I preach and write some myself.

My modeling skills are very basic. Recently I have returned to modeling after a 15-year layoff. Many of the methods mentioned on the message boards where much easier than I thought, even for beginners. One of these methods will be discussed in my article, with more to follow in the future.

Before I go into too much detail I want to clarify what is and is not being made by this process. This is for modern concertina wire, not barbwire, razor wire, or anything else. If you’re not sure what concertina wire is just look at some Desert Storm pictures. Many of the hummers and Bradley's are carrying them. The hummers usually had them on the hood.

You won’t need a lot of materials of materials and they don’t cost much.

Window screening
Not any window screening will work. It must be the plastic, non-woven type. If you do get the woven type it will fall apart when you cut it. I got the smallest role they had at Home Depot for just over $5.00. The role is 3 feet long and I forget how wide but you have enough material to make more roles of wire than I can count. There were 2 colors to choose from, black and gray. Black was my choice for 2 reasons. One, the wire itself is black, and two, it stands out much better when cutting.

A light colored cutting surface
Poster board works great because of its size and it’s cheap. I tried to use some better cutting surfaces but the darker colors made it too hard to see the wire (as you may be figuring out by now, you will be dealing with small thin lines that aren’t real easy to see). Also, you will be cutting 3-foot strips and you won’t have to move the material as much with such a large cutting surface.

A good sharp #11 blade in an X-acto knife
I know a lot of articles say, “use a sharp blade”, but you really should listen this time. Inside the plastic exterior of the screening there is some stringy material that a dull blade won’t always go through. Most importantly it makes you’re cutting more accurate. A dull blade will try to push or move the material, but a sharp one will cut right through.

Paint for weathering
Just use your normal tried and true material and methods for this. There is generally a little rust on the wire and the tips may have a little silver coming through. Since weathering is always different from person to person I will leave it at that. That’s it, nothing that will set you back too far.

Copyright ©2002 - Text and Photos by Andrew Johnson (drewgimpy). All Rights Reserved.