The above image shows my orchid tools. The Tools of the Trade so to speak. A 2" clay pot is there for reference.





The first of these three images show my Needle Nose Pliers.
The second image is of my angle cut pliers.
The third is my "Bull of the Bench", my Linesman's pliers. These are my workhorse tools.
The reason I use substantial tools is that I am working with significant wire. Smaller tools that us older folks might prefer are not substantial enough to deal with the heavier wire.



This is the wire that I use for certain 4" pots and also 5 and 6" pots. I get it from either Lowe's or Home Depot. It is 12 gauge galvanized wire sold as a roll. I placed a typical pencil next to the wire to try to give some sense of thickness of the wire.



The other wire I use a great deal is 14 gauge galvanized wire. Same source applies. I used a photo to show you close up just how thick one is compared to the other. I use 14 gauge wire for pot sizes 4" and smaller.
Now this is very important!! For pots bigger then 6" I DO NOT make big clips because the purpose of the clip is to snuggly fit from the rim of the pot, across the media, across the rhizome of a Cattleya and to hold it snugly in place. When you make bigger clips in an attempt to secure plants snugly in a pot, the distance across the media is too great. The media offers resistance and it is next to impossible to secure the plant properly. So for larger pots I use two reasonably sized clips instead of a single large clip. 2 clips are better then 1!!!



This image shows a standard 6" plastic pot. I use the heavier 12 gauge wire and cut off a piece roughly 7-8" long Slightly longer then the pot. 6" versus 7-8".


Next I grab this wire between my thumb and forefinger, see above image, to measure just where I need to make my bend for my clip.(remember for later) I let the wire hang about 3/8" longer that the rim is deep.



Then I take the long end of the piece of wire, while holding it forcefully in my linesman's pliers. I position the pliers RIGHT where I held the wire when I measured.a few images back.
Then while firmly holding the wire and pliers in my left hand, I forceably bend the long end all the way down alongside the jaws of the pliers. This will seem difficult to do at first but PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! You'll get the hang of it.

Sorry, I had a knock at my door!
Okay to finish.



This is the hardest spot to visualize and show everyone but I flip the half finished rhizome clip in my pliers. Then while I hold the wire tightly in the pliers, I grab the wire forcibly with my fingers of my left hand and bend that 'longer leg' up and against the bottom of the pliers jaws.




In the first image above you see the results of that second bend. Now, remembering how we first measured that piece of wire we cut, as we held it between our thumb and forefinger, you are now ready to bend it in order to make a little "hook" that will fit under the rim on the outside of the pot! Oh that is so 😎!



Then this image shows you just how it should look outside of the pot just prior to "installation"!!!




In the top of these 3 images I have positioned my linesman's pliers because I just need to squeeze the bend in the wire together as it sits over the rim of the pot. As you squeeze the rhizome clip pushes down across the media and rhizome in order to hold the newly potted plant in place!
In summary, some Paphiopedilums that are really close together in terms of growths, you really do not want to force a rhizome clip down in there for fear of cutting the rhizome and causing damage. In these instances, for whatever orchid requires this treatment, I just install the clip close to the plant. So close in fact that the clip pushes down on the roots and media giving you the desired effect!
For plants like Cattleyas that typically have some distance between the bulbs along the rhizome clip, I install the clip across the rhizome.

Gosh. I hope everyone gets the general idea. You can buy rhizome clips pre-made BUT in limited sizes. I have been making my own for 45 years. A CUSTOM clip for a CUSTOM job!!
I hope that this makes sense to everyone? Remember, practice makes perfect and I hope it is not as clear as mud!!!

This is FABULOUS!
You did a great job with the photos and description,
Thank you for taking the time to show us this great trick!

Oh, that is great! I am so happy it has helped some one and a good friend to boot!!
Oh boy! That has made my day!

I've done the same using a wire coat hanger, rather than buy a roll of wire I'll never use up. I just looked at the clips on line to get the configuration.

Ohh, you wrote it up!! This looks terrific!
Thanks Bill, this looks like something I can follow! I have a few just repotted Orchids which would benefit from a clip like that!

Excellent description, Bill. Thanks for sharing this.

It makes a lot of sense that you'd want to use the larger gauge wire due to its rigidity (and hence require the larger tools). Interesting to note that you call one of your tools "angle cut pliers" - I've always known them as sidecutters.

My name for the tools come from my Dad.
He worked for the phone company AT&T/Verizon for some 35 years or so. He always referred to the big guys as Linesman's pliers and the other one as angle pliers. I would imagine that he named them that because in his opinion, they cut on an angle or with angled cutting blades.
I remember seeing all three on his tool pouch that hung from his tool belt. That kind of stuff really sticks with a boy of 9 or 10.

It's interesting how things like that stick in one's mind. With my grandfather, it was always his Ford truck (he was a big Ford fan). He had added heaps of after-market gauges and bits and pieces to it; there were probably two or three times as many gauges on the dash as the original would have had!

I've just done a bit of a Google and it looks like your father's name for it seems to be another shorthand for them (I can find a number of references and listings to "Heavy Duty Side Angle Cut Pliers"), similar to how I know them as "sidecutters". Makes perfect sense that he'd shorten the name that way.

Interesting!
Anyways, I hope that any tutorial helps orchid growers and it is clear enough. It got at little tricky and I could have used another pair of hands. But then I came up with the idea of white paper against newspaper to make the white paper stand out and then simple instructions on that white paper could help me in the same way extra hands could.

Great instructions, thanks!

Welcome.

Thank you for such detailed instructions! You broke down each step -- with pictures!!!-- so it is easy for a rank beginner (me ) to follow.

Bill, this entry is going in my "keep forever" file.

Thank you!

Sunny

Oh, I am so glad that you could follow. It was difficult to explain. If we were sitting together it would take 30 seconds because you could see it unfold but with text and images, I was afraid that most people wouldnt understand.

At the University greenhouse, we rarely have clips for plastic pots, so have to get ingenious. One of our favorite tricks is poking two small holes in opposite sides of the pot near the top of the potting media level. Then taking a small florist type wire that's about a half inch longer than the diameter of the pot. Then bend a small 'L' on one end of the wire before feeding it through and capturing the roots or rhizome before going out the other hole. Pull it tight and bend the wire against the pot. Voila!