Richard Casady wrote:
How come stainless cable is more than six times as costly as
galvanized, yet nobody uses the galvanized. Stainless the same size
has about 80% of the breaking strength. Galvanized is what they guy
power poles with.

Casady

OK, while we are at it lets clarify what we are talking about when we
say "Galvanized Wire." Most (all?) of it is 7-strand. It comes in a
variety of dimensions and grades. It is important to understand that
not all "galvanized" wire is the same.

Just look at 1/4" for example:
Common = 1,900 lbs
Siemens Martin = 3, 150 lbs
HS = 4,750 lbs
EHS = 6,650 lbs

It also comes with three levels of galvanizing:
Class A: Minimum amount of zinc coating.
Class B: Twice the amount of zinc coating as “A.”
Class C: Three times the amount of zinc coating as “A.”

Then there are various fittings. The "bullets" form Preformed Line
Products would seem to me to make good connectors.



I copied this from
http://www.anixter.it/AXECOM/AXEDocLib.nsf/(UnID)/8DBC60E3F238E8CF80256F2500690530/$file/WCTHContentsInstallation.pdf


Size Grade Wt/1,000 ft Breaking Strength
3?16 Common 73 1,150
3?16 Utility 2.2M 73 2,400
1?4 Common 121 1,900
1?4 Siemens Martin 121 3,150
1?4 High Strength 121 4,750
1?4 Ex. High Strength 121 6,650
5?16 Common 205 3,200
5?16 Siemens Martin 205 5,350
5?16 Utilities Grade 6M 225 6,000
5?16 High Strength 205 8,000
5?16 Ex. High Strength 205 11,200
3?8 Common 273 4,250
3?8 Siemens Martin 273 6,950
3?8 Utility 10M 273 11,500
3?8 High Strength 273 10,800
3?8 Ex. High Strength 273 15,400
7?16 Siemens Martin 399 9,350
7?16 High Strength 399 14,500
7?16 Utility 16M 399 18,000
1?2 Siemens Martin 517 12,100
1?2 High Strength 517 18,800
1?2 Utility 25M 517 25,000