Materials and welding choice for firm wire on a rod

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Hey guys and girls,   I have a quick question. The purpose of my project is to make a DIY lawn mulcher. How it works is there are four bars, each with wires welded to them, the wires mesh with each other from bar to bar which effectively will rip up any leaves and break any twigs that are left in the yard. My question is what materials are cheap and available. The only wires that I've really found are galvanized (don't want to weld that). What kind of welding should I do?   (The only weld I have right now is one I built myself through some transformers.)     Does this type of welding need consumables? Any tips for welding the wires? What thickness of wire should I use? I was thinking about using 12 or 8 gauge wire. Right now I'm leaning towards 8. I'm planning on building a mold that will hold precut lengths of wire in place, and take a precut bar, then I can simply weld down the line for a quick sturdy weld (hopefully!) After that there is another mold which gives the alternate pattern, this lets the wires mesh next to each other, therefore cutting any leaves.Issues: The metal can't break or bend when it hits a stick. I'd would still like to give it a slight bend so it grasps the leaves, but it's totally up to what you guys think.(Currently I have the design with a metal bar. Originally it was pvc pipe because it was cheaper, but quality is important and I couldn't think of any better way to make this contraption than welding metal to metal.)*An alternative is if I had flexible wire that was welded in the same fashion, at high rpm it'll be straight.Last edited by bwag174; 06-04-2015 at 07:15 PM.