My observation on this is that electrical wire is softer and more pliable than the wire spooled for fly tying use. That might be because it's not coated. I can strip insulation and pull out a piece of wire and it lays flat and the rest of the wire stays where it's at. Uncoil a spool of fly tying wire and it keeps unspooling and becomes a tangled mess. The electrical wire lasts as long as the fly it's tyed on, which for me lasts usually one trip to the creek. Jim