Yes, wire around the neck of a CRT is called the yoke, it's what generates the deflection that allows the electron beam to scan across the tube. They should have varnish on them as well, but the type varies based on manufacturer. Transformers also use varnish insulated wire, as you found out.
As far as getting it off, in electronics we usually just burn it off with a torch. Acetone may work on some, Dichloromethane may work on others (paint stripper.) There's no real universal answer, it depends on that manufacturer's formula, but what you're doing now is how we do it when something needs to be soldered to that type of wire.
You may be able to find fine copper wire in other places. Old telephone lead-in cable (not handset stuff) was often small gauge uncoated copper. Some CAT5/6 cable is uncoated solid wire. Radio Shack used to sell paired solid 24GA uncoated copper wire on spools, sometimes you can find that at shows that no one wants because the copper has oxidized. The center conductor of coaxial cable is often uncoated 24GA copper.
I tried acetone with zero results and one brand of paint stripper that made my hands burn since I wasn't using gloves. No results. Sanding alone with 320 grit takes time but burning and then sanding is faster and more complete. Also, heating to the point the varnish blackens does soften the wire some which makes it easy to get nice and straight by drawing through a couple of wood blocks clamped together.
The oxidation for me is a none issue since I'm going to use liver of sulfur I made. It's super concentrated so just a couple drops to water will do it. What's fun is to put the wire stuff I've made into a cup of water and then add drops of the oxidizer until it turns as black as I like. Then rinse it off real well and buff it a bit with cloth to remove some of the oxidation and leave highlights.
One friend who collected scrap copper wire had a bundle of wire a couple feet long out of some cable he stripped. It's a silver colored wire that is solid silvery color all through but not aluminum. It's shiny and fairly tough of a small gauge. I tried liver of sulfur on it and it barely oxidized at all so I'm sure it's not silver, maybe some alloy. I'm sure it's not stainless since I'm fairly certain no one would use stainless for electrical transmission. Maybe some marine grade electrical connector? Nice stuff and I used it in wire wrap as a contrast to the bare copper I plan to oxidize and in some of the other parts of this pendant I've used copper wire with a nice varnish so it won't blacken. In the end I should have three nice colors in the pattern with highlights on the oxidized stuff. So, four colors in the pattern.
Basically for wire wrap you have your foundation wire which needs to be large enough to be stiff and support your smaller gauge wire weave.
Yes, I could go to a hobby shop and buy all the wire I need but I think it's sort of cool to strip it out of electronics and go through the hassle of processing that wire to make it usable. Sort of like jewelry from trash electronics.
Usually most copper wire is tin-plated to protect against oxides. That's one of the reasons I suggested old indoor telephone cable, those were usually just bare copper. If you want super-fine wire, those old extension cords are usually stranded bare copper made up of several very fine threads of wire.
You may have run across one of the specialty cables. Things like nichrome (heater wire/resistance wire) are alloys and not copper. There are also thermocouple wires and all kind of specialty stuff that has different properties that are useful in electronics. Stainless can be used as a stiffener in other cables, so it's possible that was present as well...
Nickle chrome alloy? That seems like a good match as it was plenty tough. Really fine wire is useless for weaving. I tested some of the finer wires and they can easily separate by hand tension while having no strength to resist being deformed once put into a weave. Also too fine to be visually appealing.
I really liked the aluminum windings but on pull test easily broke so it was a no go and also way too bendable.
The hobby type wire has silver and gold coatings for color as well as just bare wire that is "dead soft" for easy forming. I did obtain some very good bare wire from the control wires of a watering system I took out. I used most of that for a light fixture I created and wrapped. I used 1/2 inch copper tubing for the light stand and then heavy gauge copper wire for the base wire. Two strands spiraled up the stand and then weaved with the wire from the irrigation system. I then tried oxidizing it with my liver of sulfur but I had issues with the oxidation flaking off at first until I learned to thin it down as it was way too concentrated the first few tries. Now I know to just start with a couple drops in solution to get desired results.
I've seen some of that old school telephone wires under trailer houses. It is a heavier gauge and just right for weaving.
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