Copper Wire

I have over a ton of copper wire, (yes over 2000 lbs) , size 500 down to 26 Ga. and some still bare copper wire/flat on spools. most of the 500 is in 20 to 40 foot long, the #6 and #8 is on spools or loose 50' or more. Right now it is in one very big pile in my shed, I need to scrap it. tired of tripping over it for the last 15 years of piling it up. some of the big stuff I was thinking of using my truck to pull the cover off and flowing the cut with a razor knife as the tuck pulls on the cover? I will not be adding to my pile anymore. so buying something to strip wire will not work for me. I am into steel / alum now, I own a mig / stick welder and CNC plasma cutting table, 5x9' upto a 1" thick, I cut parts and look nice art things now. painting and powder coat small things too. And I have a full time job too. So only weekends I play.



So I think the in the sun and scrap clean copper wire will work, Do I cut it up or can I just roll it up and and scrap it. ?? and I know the bare stuff on wood spools will need to come off the spools.

Originally Posted by navy80to04

I have over a ton of copper wire, (yes over 2000 lbs) , size 500 down to 26 Ga. and some still bare copper wire/flat...I will not be adding to my pile anymore. so buying something to strip wire will not work for me. I am into steel / alum now,

I can't imagine avoiding wire in favor of steel and aluminum. You can do all of them together, you know. Oh well, more for the rest of us.

Only you can determine if it's worth it to strip it, or not. Try some and see.


My thoughts on the wire stripper: With that huge pile of insulated, it would 100% be worth it to buy a stripper. The difference between insulated and non-insulated prices is big enough that you should be able to cover the cost of a really good stripper with less than a hundred pounds of your wire. Even if you throw the darn thing away when you're done, you would still come out way ahead. Heck, sell the thing when you're done to recoup some of your investment.