Heavy cable... what do I have here?

I stopped by a trash pile to pick up some garden hose to build a tankless water heater flush kit. In the pile was a few big coils of electric cabling. Most of it is stiff, 3-wire, pvc coated stuff that I'm guessing might be 8ga cable. The only printing I've found on the sheath so far reads:
trw crescent wire and cable thof 23 standard pvc 1976
It might well be worth more as cable than as scrap but I've never seen cable without more identification on it. Anyone have an idea what this is and what it might be worth? Or how to find out?

One coil is much more flexible and smaller ga and that sheath is somewhat dry rotted. That's likely recycle material.

Hmmm.....pics would help here. Even uploading them and sending a link to the pic.

I couldn't seem to get the pic upload to work so here's a link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Jd...chA9TAFSG9uM6j

There's not much to show in the picture. The printing on the cable is exactly as I wrote it in the first post. I nipped an end off and I'll go by Lowes to compare it with the cable there to get an idea of gauge. It's just 3 wire, Black, white and red, there's no ground.

It looks like some kind of industrial grade cable used for high amp applications. Each of those wires is used to carry one phase of current on a three-phase power supply. Probably went to a motor or something like that. Often, the cable is aluminum or nickel, but it can be copper. The insulation can also sometimes be pretty difficult to remove, but if it is copper in there, definitely worth it. But, like I said, that is just what it looks like to me based on what you said, what I can see, and my previous experience. Someone else here may have a different statement about what you've got there. Hope this helps!

Thanks, I cut a couple of inches off and looking at the fresh cut end it's clearly copper all the way through. It's stranded wire, not solid, if that makes a difference. I haven't gotten to Lowes or somewhere to match it up yet.

Solid thick individual wires, thicker than a pencil lead, are #1 grade Copper.
Transformer type Welders are a great source of this. Old school tech, heavy & underpowered compaired to modern welders. Often they sell cheap at auctions because the seller paid good money for it once, but businsess wouldn't even think of buying one these days.
Same with ' Isolation transformers' a simple 240-240 v AC transformer ( or 110-110 depending on where you are, and the 240 volt ones here often have a 110 V AC output as well, handy sometimes)



Electrical wire made of many strands is called "Mill berry' . Since it's just had the protective ruber removed, there's near to no oxide on it. That makes it worth more, or #1 grade.
Old Welding cables are a great source of this.

How easy is it to strip the insulation off that wire? If it's hard it's probably best to sell as 'Insulated Copper wire'
There's different price grades depending on the Copper return.
If it's easy to strip, you could get a extra 50% in $ return for your extra effort. It's extra ca$h money in your pocket.
You can get a feed & put fuel in your vehicle on the way home, maybe buy some socks or flowers & still not touch the $ you would have got if you sold it as 'Insulated wire'.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

Solid thick individual wires, thicker than a pencil lead, are #1 grade Copper.
Transformer type Welders are a great source of this. Old school tech, heavy & underpowered compaired to modern welders. Often they sell cheap at auctions because the seller paid good money for it once, but businsess wouldn't even think of buying one these days.
Same with ' Isolation transformers' a simple 240-240 v AC transformer ( or 110-110 depending on where you are, and the 240 volt ones here often have a 110 V AC output as well, handy sometimes)

Electrical wire made of many strands is called "Mill berry' . Since it's just had the protective ruber removed, there's near to no oxide on it. That makes it worth more, or #1 grade.
Old Welding cables are a great source of this.

How easy is it to strip the insulation off that wire? If it's hard it's probably best to sell as 'Insulated Copper wire'
There's different price grades depending on the Copper return.
If it's easy to strip, you could get a extra 50% in $ return for your extra effort. It's extra ca$h money in your pocket.
You can get a feed & put fuel in your vehicle on the way home, maybe buy some socks or flowers & still not touch the $ you would have got if you sold it as 'Insulated wire'.

Thanks, I doubt I'll take the time to strip the wire as I can't keep up with other things already. I'm thinking the PVC coated wire is still quite usable and comparing it with what they sell at Lowes, it's #6 ga wire. Somebody must be able to use this as wire instead of scrapping it! I need to talk to an electrician who might be able to tell me who could use it.