Wire - To strip or not strip? Does time matter? Do you have a lot of time? Do you want to make more money? Are there better things to do with your time?
It is not cost effective to strip most wire types a scrapper deals with. With wire spend the time sorting your wire into the scrap classifications that your scrap buyer pays for. Most scrap yards have three classifications for insulated copper wire (some have more or less than 3). My scrap yard has #1 insulated, #2 and #3, with #1 insulated wire paying the most and #3 the least amount of money. #1 insulated wire grade contain no metallic containment's, plugs, receptacles or hardware. #1 wire has a greater than 55% copper content after the insulation is removed. This is the only grade of copper insulated wire that I would spend any time stripping, I personally only strip wire if it has a greater than 70% copper return.
I would not ever strip Christmas lights, I do cut the lights and connectors off, put it in my #3 insulated wire bucket. When I have over 20+ pounds, I sell it as #3 insulated and go onto bigger and better. Time is money, education is priceless. Greytruck gave you good advise, SMF is a great resource to educate yourself, use the search feature, read about insulated wire as others have learned there's right and wrong ways, more important there's a method that will be "Right" for your needs.
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