Wire, Wire and more wire

Got a call today from an electrician looking to sell his wire. Made some calls and got dealer pricing from a large yard. Time to sharpen my pencil.

If he has it stored like that don't worry about sharpening the guy know it is worth something but too lazy to even keep it in boxes, crates or totes. I would start at 1/2 scrap yard price and go up when he says it is worth "way more" than that price. After all you have to pick it up sort or prepare it for better price if you need to, and take it to the yard! Cool find and I think you can make a few bucks on this!

Well now...


Thats a lot of wire.


Nice score. I forget, but I hope your not stripping it by hand.


Sirscrapalot - Wire, wire, electric pole on fire! - Taunts from children of electricians? Not Children of the corn...perhaps we'll just credit anonymous.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

Well now...


Thats a lot of wire.


Nice score. I forget, but I hope your not stripping it by hand.


Sirscrapalot - Wire, wire, electric pole on fire! - Taunts from children of electricians? Not Children of the corn...perhaps we'll just credit anonymous.

The guy already has an idea on price. I gave him ball park prices on Romex, THHN and larger THHN. He made the comment that copper must be down. Prices I gave him would match or beat all yards around here.

Romex and small THHN will go right to my buyer. I may save the larger THHN and strip it. May also strip the larger aluminum.

Originally Posted by Patriot76

Congratulations. Unless you have been involved in wire deals like this in the past it will be hard to estimate its value, the amount of time involved in labor, and what your time is worth. If you have a skid steer with rake and large enough trailer this will be a quick job based on the pictures. The owner has already invested time and effort to centrally locate the wire and should be rewarded.

My projects are never in my comfort zone and always different, therefore I would not try to estimate such a project. I would work a partnership based on percentages. Negotiating the rights for picking up future wire on the job based on the land/lease agreement would be worth the effort. In good faith I would provide the weight sheets and a check after each load.

On the forum we used to guess the weight for projects like this. I am going to try to reinstate that practice, if you will entertain us with the results. My guess - 3,750 pds. of #2 and 4,100 pds. of # 1. This guess proves why I do jobs on a percentage basis and please do not use these figures to make an offer.

This was written as the previous responses were posted.

I'm giving him prices per pound. I need to load by hand. If I get it I'll let you know weights when I'm done.

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

Don't take offense you run yours your way and I run mine my way.........Unsorted mess like that one price and it's not top dollar

Something to think about when I go look at it.

Originally Posted by Patriot76

Congratulations. Unless you have been involved in wire deals like this in the past it will be hard to estimate its value, the amount of time involved in labor, and what your time is worth. If you have a skid steer with rake and large enough trailer this will be a quick job based on the pictures. The owner has already invested time and effort to centrally locate the wire and should be rewarded.

My projects are never in my comfort zone and always different, therefore I would not try to estimate such a project. I would work a partnership based on percentages. Negotiating the rights for picking up future wire on the job based on the land/lease agreement would be worth the effort. In good faith I would provide the weight sheets and a check after each load.

On the forum we used to guess the weight for projects like this. I am going to try to reinstate that practice, if you will entertain us with the results. My guess - 3,750 pds. of #2 and 4,100 pds. of # 1. This guess proves why I do jobs on a percentage basis and please do not use these figures to make an offer.

This was written as the previous responses were posted.

2600 lbs total copper

Will you be able to take all wire in one load? It is hard to figure volume in the pics.

wow thats alot of wire wish i could find that stuff in such a mass amount to. not sure if id pay for it. i thought if you pay for you metal you lose money just my thoughts. that would take a long time to strip all that lol.


i supose if you had nothing better to do you could strip it all and at least with wire you can strip it inside unlike a/c's where they are messy.

Originally Posted by hobo finds

Will you be able to take all wire in one load? It is hard to figure volume in the pics.

Haven't been there yet, but I'm thinking at least 2, maybe 3 loads with my 6x10 trailer. I can put 3 40x40 gaylords on, plus still have room on the sides.

Originally Posted by mike1

wow thats alot of wire wish i could find that stuff in such a mass amount to. not sure if id pay for it. i thought if you pay for you metal you lose money just my thoughts. that would take a long time to strip all that lol.


i supose if you had nothing better to do you could strip it all and at least with wire you can strip it inside unlike a/c's where they are messy.

The chances of getting something like this without paying are zero. As far as making money on it, you need to be able to secure better pricing. When you start moving some volume, you can talk to yard managers and regional scrap buyers and secure dealer pricing.
I won't be stripping much of it. It's better to turn it and move on, unless you have a stripper and alot of time.

Originally Posted by mthomasdev

The chances of getting something like this without paying are zero. As far as making money on it, you need to be able to secure better pricing. When you start moving some volume, you can talk to yard managers and regional scrap buyers and secure dealer pricing.
I won't be stripping much of it. It's better to turn it and move on, unless you have a stripper and alot of time.

When I purchased that Quonset that burnt to the ground and offered yard clean up, my pile of copper in that deal was all heavy number 1 with three very large transformers. I sold the wire with the insulation as is and striped out the transformers.

The insulation comprises of 30% of your gross weight.

Back in the day when you could burn wire me and a buddy did my gravel truck full plus a loaded 3 ton flat deck, at the end of the burn whetted the huge pile down with a fire hose to stop the wire from further oxidation.

All the wire from two loaded trucks fit into the gravel truck, fortunately I had a winch on the truck with a hook so that we could load the wire.

Personally I would not waste my time stripping that wire, just sell it as is, volume is going to net you a good price plus not not stuck getting rid of the waste plastic.