* Wire to be made into barbed wire is usually galvanized (coated with zinc) to protect it from corrosion.

* The wire must be perfectly clean and dry to be properly galvanized.

* First it is cleaned in a bath of hot, dilute hydrochloric acid, then rinsed with hot water. It then passes through a solution of hot zinc chloride or ammonium chloride to prevent rust from forming as it is dried. After drying, the wire passes through a bath of molten zinc. Excess zinc is wiped off and the coated wire is allowed to cool. (Some-times the wire is coated with aluminum instead in a similar way.) Wire can also be coated with zinc by a process known as electrogalvanizing.

* The wire is given a negative electric charge and passed through a solution of zinc sulfate or some other zinc salt. The positive zinc ions are attracted to the negative wire and form a coating.