In
scenic and
property construction there are a variety of purposes that wire is used for. There are two main types of wire used in
theatre. The first of these is Stovepipe wire. The second is piano wire.
Stovepipe wire is made of soft iron. Generally this type of wire is black in color. It is approximately one-sixteenth of an inch (1.59 mm) in diameter. The main reason it is used is because it is quite flexible. The main drawback is that it has very little tensile strength. The primary use of stovepipe in technical theater is to tie or wire things together. This type of wire should never be used to fly scenery. This is because of the tensile weakness. It just is not strong enough to support any kind of load, and since a broken fly wire would likely mean that scenery would come crashing down onto the stage or even out into the audience, using this type of wire for anything besides tying objects together could be a deadly mistake.
Baling wire is a slightly thicker form of stovepipe wire. Stovepipe wire is also often known as soft-iron wire. Sometimes this type of wire is manufactured with a galvanized finish. This is done to help prevent the wire from rusting.
Piano wire is made of spring steel. This is the type of wire that is most commonly used to fly scenery. The reason for this is that piano wire has remarkable tensile strength, especially when you compare it to its diameter. The downside is that special care must be taken not to make sharp bends in this type of wire. The reason for this is that kinking reduces the wire’s strength tremendously.
Source:
Gillette, J. Michael. Theatrical Design and Production. 4th ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 1999.