wire: to strip or not to strip.

I strip all of my wire, don’t care what size it is and just stock pile it for a rainy day. I don’t consider it in my monthly trip to the yard. Someday it will hit $4-$5 per lb. or more. When I started scrapping I was getting .90¢ per pound for bare bright and now it is a little over $3. It may take a while to get there... but when it does, oh the payday.

Bossandy

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Originally Posted by Whm1

I found a real good stripper for low volume or on the go stripping on fleeBay. Copper Scrap Wire Stripping Hand Tool Pocket Stripper SR1 | eBay

Wow, long link

I strip solid wire 16ga. And up. Stranded, I strip 12ga and up. I want to save up for a powered one, but this one works good.

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Looks like something I was thinking about making myself out of wood after watching a few Utube videos for ideas. What a neat tool.
I stripped a bunch of wire last month and thought oh yea! #1 bright baby! only to be disappointed to still get #2 price because it wasn't thick enough ;( One guy told me to take the little bitty transformers and motors and just wrap the copper wire around it to make it weigh more, sounds like a good idea but if they somehow found out he'd look like a cheater and the yard wouldn't like it.
I unwind everything and throw it all together in one bin, it's all #2 anyways unless I can score some thicker gauge I guess.
The tips and info are great,You guys rock!

I apoligize if this is a dumb question, but I was told that copper wire bigger than a pencil lead is worth more per pound than smaller diameter wire. I'm in the process of scrapping out a bunch of junk vehicles, semis & tractors we've accumulated over the years and want to scrap/part them out to get the best bang for my buck. Thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by Dieseldozer

I apoligize if this is a dumb question, but I was told that copper wire bigger than a pencil lead is worth more per pound than smaller diameter wire. I'm in the process of scrapping out a bunch of junk vehicles, semis & tractors we've accumulated over the years and want to scrap/part them out to get the best bang for my buck. Thanks in advance.

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Many yards will classify solid copper wire larger than a #2 pencil lead as #1 copper. It will usually be about 0.10 more per pound than #2 copper wire.

Must be at 1/2 inch thick and above gets strip, other than that, no stripping. It's a waste of time.m

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Originally Posted by Mick

Many yards will classify solid copper wire larger than a #2 pencil lead as #1 copper. It will usually be about 0.10 more per pound than #2 copper wire.

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OK, thanks for the info. I plan on stripping it all in my spare time and just storing it for a rainy day.

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Originally Posted by Dieseldozer

OK, thanks for the info. I plan on stripping it all in my spare time and just storing it for a rainy day.

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That's what I do. Got about 500 pounds stripped and another 5-600 pounds waiting.

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Originally Posted by TheRecycler

Must be at 1/2 inch thick and above gets strip, other than that, no stripping. It's a waste of time.m

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oh darn !

looks like i been wastin my time with everything 31/64 ths and below again......

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...ps469e303f.jpg

I've been wondering if it was worth stripping wire or not so today I decided to find out. My yard pays $1.10 for insulated, $2.60 for copper. I took two standard two prong power cords, one from a fan and one from a tv and this is what I came up with...

First cord insulated weighs 0.13 lbs = $0.14
After stripping copper weighs 0.02 lbs = $0.05

Second cord insulated weighs 0.15 lbs = $0.17
After stripping copper weighs 0.06 lbs = $0.16

Wow that's not good. I've been wasting time and losing money stripping wire.