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Around the corner from my house someone has starting dumping trash in the woods scumbags.

Anyway I grabbed the cable wires today and extracted approximately 100 grams from about a 12 foot cable. So about 1/4 pound at 2 hours labor. I have more cables to do later. Due to how noob I am stripping wires it was very tedious and took me a long time but was easy and watched TV while doing it.

What about a good old fire?

let your coated wire in the sun for about 15 min, strip with a sharp box cutter blade just tie one end to a fence or chain link fence draw blade at angle pull tight this works fine with # 14 wire and up watch your fingers PEACE!!

$4lb * 1/4th pound / 2hrs= .50 cents a hour

I'm a bit unsure what I'd be willing to do for 50c a hour, but stripping copper wouldn't be on that list.

schockergd wrote:$4lb * 1/4th pound / 2hrs= .50 cents a hour

I'm a bit unsure what I'd be willing to do for 50c a hour, but stripping copper wouldn't be on that list.

Well yeah I wouldn't make a 9to5 out of it. It also would have taken 1/4 the time if i knew how to use wire strippers good enough.

Also this was from one cable of course before bringing it to the scrap ill add more.

Of all the base metals copper is pretty profitable since its spike. Currently just 250 pounds of copper would net you over 1k at the scrapyard.

250 pounds could fill three five gallon buckets.

needler420 wrote:

schockergd wrote:$4lb * 1/4th pound / 2hrs= .50 cents a hour

I'm a bit unsure what I'd be willing to do for 50c a hour, but stripping copper wouldn't be on that list.

Well yeah I wouldn't make a 9to5 out of it. It also would have taken 1/4 the time if i knew how to use wire strippers good enough.

Also this was from one cable of course before bringing it to the scrap ill add more.

Of all the base metals copper is pretty profitable since its spike. Currently just 250 pounds of copper would net you over 1k at the scrapyard.

250 pounds could fill three five gallon buckets.

Scrap yards do not pay the full spot price for scrap copper. With spot at $4.00, I would expect to get $3.00 - $3.25 for #1 copper scrap, so you'd need more like 300 - 335 pounds to net $1000.

With a ryedale, I would generate the same amount of copper with no effort in a couple of minutes.

schockergd wrote:With a ryedale, I would generate the same amount of copper with no effort in a couple of minutes.

And stare at it waiting for the melt ban to lift. This is cash cash right now almost got a pound now and can strip wire really fast now.

That haul sounds good to me. I sat here watching TV most of the evening and I didn't get paid nuthin'!

needler420 wrote:

schockergd wrote:With a ryedale, I would generate the same amount of copper with no effort in a couple of minutes.

And stare at it waiting for the melt ban to lift. This is cash cash right now almost got a pound now and can strip wire really fast now.

Hey... any way that someone can earn money in this economy... my hat's off to you. AND you're recycling. Both commendable

beauanderos wrote:

needler420 wrote:

schockergd wrote:With a ryedale, I would generate the same amount of copper with no effort in a couple of minutes.

And stare at it waiting for the melt ban to lift. This is cash cash right now almost got a pound now and can strip wire really fast now.

Hey... any way that someone can earn money in this economy... my hat's off to you. AND you're recycling. Both commendable

Agreed. Less trash = ok in my book. If you really wanted to get into this rather than relying on trash heaps in the woods, perhaps call around to local construction / mom and pop handyman businesses and ask them what they do with their stuff. They may get excited that someone will remove their garbage wire, cables, etc for free. Obviously I haven't thought through this completely as this isn't the copper we deal with, but just some food for thought. Good luck.

A few years ago (2006) I got to see real scrappers in action. The factory I worked at was going out of business. It was a huge building 100 years old and loaded with equipment that served a purposes applicable to nobody else. So at the auction the scrappers decended on it. These guy look like West Virginia mountain men, but they made some sweet loot. The could cut anything apart fast and knew right away where the stainless and copper were. I saw once old guy with moles and a 2 foot beard that had a skinny blond young wife. The next day I found out why, he had bought an old vapor degreaser for a couple grand and after him and his friend spent one day tearing it apart they had a semi full of high grade stainless. I later heard the guy was a millionaire. Tearing down the ruins of what used to be the greatest county in the world is a profitable business.