Buying scrap wire

[frugalcanuck]

Just wondering if anyone ever bought scrap copper wire. No 1 and stripped.

Im an electrician and the company I work for has a few thousand pounds of copper that we stripped. They are bringing it in this weekend and splitting the proceeds amongst the employees. Im thinking about making an offer for 500lbs of it. Copper is low right now and I eventually would like to make my own bars and this is a good way to build a stash for the future. Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this.

[Robarons]

The most I got for clean stripped #1 wire at my scrap yards was $3 a pound, which maybe good or bad depending on where you are in the country.

What I would do to be safe is call all the scrap yards and the place this stuff would have been taken to offer slightly more and offer to haul it off, pay cash, or any other perks a scrap yard cant offer.

Now is a great time to buy copper for making bars. Currently $2.20-2.50 is the current price after the drop, But I am not sure how much is 'shell shocked' as the price hasnt calmed down for them to raise their prices appropriately.

[SoFa]

If it's nice bright copper and you can pay the scrap yard price, then it sounds like a good plan.
You'll want to figure out how to store it in a way that it keeps its appearance.

[silversaddle1]

DO yourself a favor and invest that money in silver or gold instead. While copper is nice to look at, there is plenty of it to go around, hell, every building in the world has copper in it. Buy silver. There's less of it out there and it's very easy to sell should you need some cash.

[Dr. Cadmium]

Clean stripped copper wire that's not coated is bare bright, which usually goes for $0.10-$0.15 more than #1, which in turn is $0.15 more than #2. So if the yards near you are paying $2.40 for #2, expect to get $2.65-$2.70 for bare bright. Every company is different, though.

Copper takes up a lot of room, and it's vulnerable to the elements.

If you have the space, it makes more sense to stockpile #2 copper, because if it develops a patina it won't loose its value. Wire takes up more space. Of the companies I deal with routinely, none of them like to stockpile wire.

As silversaddle mentioned, there are other more practical ways to invest in metal.

My choice metal for physical investing right now would be titanium, because it's at a relatively low value compared to every other metal. That's assuming you have the space and can convince someone else to part with theirs.

[frugalcanuck]

I was planning on buying the scrap and bringing it to my local gold smith to melt down into 10lb bars. I thought I should talk to him before I buy at $2.40 /lb for #1 bare stripped wire and so I did. He told me he wouldnt do it for me because the amount he would have to charge me for him to make any profit would make it not worth the time and money. He did however give me a contact number for someone nearby that might be able to do it at a reasonable price. He then said to keep in mind that reasonable is still not cheap.

My company brought 2300lbs of No 1 and No 2 to the scrap yard on the weekend. They gave us $2.40/lb (their No 1 price) for everything. We had them seperated and then the scrappers just put them in the same pile. I was going to buy 500lbs at the scrap yard price but decided against it for the meantime untill I can find someone who will make bars for me.
I am into silver and gold as well. I was just thinking I can get nice copper at a good price and a stack of 10lb bars would make a nice base to any safe.