to peel or not to peel

[Contradiction]

I found some wire strewn across the road near work. It was laying in the middle of the intersection, so risking life and limb, I pulled over and threw it in the car.

It looks shiny like aluminum. It has a flexible, thin sheath on the outside of 3 regular insulated wires on the inside.

Should I peel off the exterior sheath? I would use a box cutter I guess because the insulation is not wrapped tightly around the inside wires.

Am I even using the right terminology in this post?

Probably have about 15 pounds of wire right now.

[Recyclersteve]

At first I thought you meant a downed power line still attached to a telephone pole. I just about blew a gasket when I read that!

To answer your question- I would take the outer sheath off, but it might not be worth stripping the three insulated wires. Often times you will get as much or more turning them in as insulated wiring. General rule of thumb- if it is a hassle, don't waste your time. If you just want to do it one time to learn more about the process, that is up to you. But for a lot of wire, the time spent pays you perhaps $1-2 an hour, way below even minimum wage.

Keep a computer file (like a Word document) to track your findings. Anything that you find on a fairly regular basis (i.e., certain types of insulated wire), you should probably compare the price you get for insulated wire vs. what you get (and how much less it weighs) for stripped (aka bare bright) copper. One that I find very easy to (partially) strip is Romex. Go to Google Images to see what it looks like. The outside is very soft and easy to remove. Inside you typically have three wires, and one has already been stripped! So I just pull that one out to sell as bare bright. The other two insulated wires may or may not be stripped depending on how hard the job is.

[Contradiction]

Thanks for looking out for me. I promise not to pick up a live wire.

I don't really have the best tool for stripping the wires and it's just aluminum so the value can't be that high. I will just remove the outer sheath and take it to the recycler when I get a bigger pile of steel/copper/aluminum.

I checked out Romex as you recommended. The outer sheath on the the stuff I have is thinner and easier to remove.

[messymessy]

I would guess that you will get about $.50 a pound stripped and about $.15 a pound insulated. In my mind, it is not worth stripping by hand.

[Dr. Cadmium]

It reads like you have double insulated aluminum wire, aka "dirty aluminum wire." I sold some intact a couple of weeks ago for $0.12/lb.

If you don't have a tool for stripping it, sell it intact. As the others mentioned, it's not worth developing a process to strip it unless you routinely come across large amounts of it.

Stripping off the outer layer is easier than stripping the three inner cables. Single-insulated aluminum wire fetches a price in between double insulated and clean.

Double insulated: $0.10 to $0.15/lb
Single insulated: $0.18 to $0.25/lb
Clean Al wire: $0.40 to $0.65/lb

[Contradiction]

It reads like you have double insulated aluminum wire, aka "dirty aluminum wire." I sold some intact a couple of weeks ago for $0.12/lb.

If you don't have a tool for stripping it, sell it intact. As the others mentioned, it's not worth developing a process to strip it unless you routinely come across large amounts of it.

Stripping off the outer layer is easier than stripping the three inner cables. Single-insulated aluminum wire fetches a price in between double insulated and clean.

Double insulated: $0.10 to $0.15/lb
Single insulated: $0.18 to $0.25/lb
Clean Al wire: $0.40 to $0.65/lb

The outer layer was easy to remove with a box cutter. Now I'm just waiting until I get enough scrap to make a trip to the recycler. Thanks for your advice and for the price estimates. That's helpful.