Scale or a Wire Stripper: Which should I buy first?

After this weeks trip to the scrap yard I think it is time for me to spend a few bucks and buy something to help me move forward and hopefully make a little more $$. I have pretty much every tool I need thanks to my day job, but I know I need a scale at some point and I think a quality wire wire stipper could possibly help me out. I'm still at least a few weeks away from being ready to ship any kind of ewaste, so I am leaning towards the stripper. However my yard pays $1.20 for coated wire w/ ends, so I'm not sure if I should really be stripping anything below 10 gauge anyway. I have done a ton of reading on here to try to make the decision myself but there seems to be a lot of valid arguments in both directions.



I should probably also mention that I am okay with spending a couple hundred bucks to get something good. If I was only looking to drop $50 or so I wouldn't ask.

I would get a scale first. If you're going to get into escrap then you really need a good scale. The one I use for that goes to 220 pounds and weighs in 1/100's. For me, weighing in 1/100's makes it a lot easier for buying scrap.

You mention having a day job, so do I. While both are worthy tools, I find that I use my wire stripper much more than I use my scale. If you are buying from others than your situation will of course be different.

Good luck.

I would go with one of these, Easy to pay for. Even comes with warranty, and that's almost unheard of.

Patented Manual Wire Cable Stripper Stripping Machine Tool Scrap Copper | eBay

Originally Posted by BroJer

are you using one of these, Mec? Is one I have not seen and looks promising for the investment. BroJer

No, but someone on here just bought one awhile back. That's how I remembered it.

What are you planning on doing more of. I moved from scrap metal to buying ewaste from local scrappers and found out really quickly i needed a scale. The only wire i have been getting is powercords with printers and towers and computer wire. Most of it goes into a 35 gallon pail as #2 insulated. Nothing worth my time to strip when i have 25-50 towers waiting to be broken down. Get the scale and a bunch of solid totes to fill up ewaste with.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am going to order the wire stripper this week. I have about 200lbs of wire right now, so hopefully the stripper works out and I will use the cash I make with it to buy the scale. It looks like there is already a ton of info on scales in past threads, so I will base that purchase on your old posts. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by quaz

I would get a scale if I was you.
Your local yard pays decent money for wire.
You cant ship ewaste at all without a scale, but you can still sell wire without a stripper.

Ive seen decent wire strippers and scales under $100. I think you can get both for not much money. You wont need a scale over 75 pounds if you arnt buying scrap locally. I think a decent scale is about $30 and a decent wire stripper would be around $70. that would be enough to get going on both fronts. I would go for the scale first. I use a scale for almost everything i do. I only use a wire stripper about twice a year.