old utility pole wire??

[gosioux1]

a friend of mine, while plowing a field of his pulled up a old cable, it was about one inch in diameter with what we counted was 54 small copper wires inside of a lead coating the lead coating was about a quarter of an inch thick around the copper, so all in all I would say there is about a 1/2 inch of lead and a 1/2 inch of copper, I helped him cut the wire into 20 foot sections, my question is what would the best way to seperate the lead from the copper, or should he just sell it as whole? we are thinking there is about one mile to about a mile and a half of the wire. so there is alot of it. he said he remembered when the electric company buried it (back in the early 50's) they went across their families land. any ideas what to do with it? since we have already a few hours into cutting it up already. or what the price would bring?

 

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[davest]

if you got a dremel tool with cut off wheels you could make two cuts down either side of the wire, that would seperate the lead and leave the copper intact. You might want to cut it in shorter lengths. I got .17 for lead last week, 3.40 or something like that for #1 copper.

 

[pronghorn]

if you got a dremel tool with cut off wheels you could make two cuts down either side of the wire, that would seperate the lead and leave the copper intact. You might want to cut it in shorter lengths. I got .17 for lead last week, 3.40 or something like that for #1 copper.

How many dremel cut off wheels would it take to cut a mile of lead?

I think you should take a few feet to the scrap man and get an estimate on what
it is worth the way it is. Then melt the lead off the same amount and see what
it is then worth. Take 20 feet, then you can multiply the amounts by the number
of 20 foot sections. Take it to more than one scrap buyer if you can.

If it isn't worth much the way it is you will have to figure out some kind of way to melt
the lead off the copper. Or some kind of rolling cut off wheel you could run it
through, like a large can opener, to split it then peel the copper out of the lead.
I have seen a home made cutter like this that was used to cut the beads out of
old tires so they can be ground for recycling.

I am curious as to how deep this cable was buried, how you dug it,
what exactly was it for and what area of the country you are in.
Also was this cable buried alot, that is, is there more of this buried around
to other properties, did they do this all over?

 

[pronghorn]

Another thing, if you do sell it the way it is, find out if you will get more if
it is cut in smaller lengths, I know that prepared iron, under 3 feet is worth
more than unprepared.

 

[olepossum]

just take a chisel about 4 inches wide and start cutting the lead it will take a few xtra minutes but it is worth the time. clean copper is #1 and it is worth more if it is clean of all debris and hit it with a magnet to make sure it doesnt have a steel wire down the center for strength. cut it to 3 foot lengths repeat clean the copper it will be worth the time and money i do this for a living .you can sell the lead to some one who makes thier own bullets or round ball for black powder guns or sell it to the junk yard also but take the time to clean it

 

[pronghorn]

just take a chisel about 4 inches wide and start cutting the lead it will take a few xtra minutes but it is worth the time. clean copper is #1 and it is worth more if it is clean of all debris and hit it with a magnet to make sure it doesnt have a steel wire down the center for strength. cut it to 3 foot lengths repeat clean the copper it will be worth the time and money i do this for a living .you can sell the lead to some one who makes thier own bullets or round ball for black powder guns or sell it to the junk yard also but take the time to clean it

1 mile (5280 feet) of wire, 3 strikes per foot with a 4 inch wide chisel= 15840 stikes if
you only have to strike once, I am guessing a minimum of 3 strikes per cut - that is over
47,000 swings of the hammer. Then if the lead is heat formed around the copper it
is going to come apart with a bit of difficulty. Lets say you can do 20 feet an hour,
that's 264 hours of hammering and pulling and tugging and bending and lifting.

And if it is a mile and a half you can figure around 70,000 swings and 400 hours
(10 weeks at a standard 40 hour per week job),
but you should be in great shape financially and physically when you
are done after lifting all that lead and lifting it again and again.

gosioux1 Keep us informed how this goes, one way or another, are you in UND
country? Wish I could see this wire, I think I could make a motorized stripper.

 

[davest]

instead of a dremel, use a 4 inch grinder with a diamond blade. that'll go thru lead like a hot diamond blade.

 

[Dosamigos]

Take a piece to the scrapyard and see what it's worth. Sounds like number 2 in my neck of the woods.
.20 difference if it is number 2. If it's not, ask them for suggestions.
I've read the horror stories of scrapyards but just ask, nobody is out anything by asking. Try a couple yards if you have a choice. Could be a key indicator for who you want to deal with.

 

[gosioux1]

first off yes I am in UND country, and I am thinking he may have figured a way to do it, at least that is what he is planning on doing, I haven't seen his setup yet, but he is melting the lead off and it is dripping into a heavy canister, each slug weighs 28 pounds, he said when he called the scrap yard they are paying .44 a pound for lead ( a lot better than .17) the copper is something like 2.80 a pound and I thought he said he was getting about 13 pounds per 20 foot section. the other thing to top it all is that some of the wire that he has drug back to the farmstead has a tin wrapping around it. honestly I probably won't even find out about it for a while. he said it is going to be a good winter project. so until then he is mostly worried about getting his crops in. but anyways thanks for the ideas, some were good ( got me thinking) and some were funny! when you broke down how many strokes it would take, I about had a stroke myself. thanks again everyone!

 

[pronghorn]

Hey gosioux1, I am in your area, sorta, SW ND.
I am curious if you know if this stuff was used alot and if there may be any buried
in my area, I can always use a winter project that involves heating if you know what
I mean.

 

[pronghorn]

Sounds like direct burial phone wire, not electric cable/wire.

Good luck with it

Hey SWR, can you tell me anything about direct burial phone wire or where I
could learn more about it, if there is some in my area I would like to find out
if it is a salvageable resource. Thank you

 

[pronghorn]

Okay, after thinking about this for a while I think I know why this was used.
You are in the Red River Valley which floods pretty much every year.
Running underground phone lines could be a problem in a wet year, you can't
bury it deep because the ground is so soggy that the trench caves in right behind the
machine. So if you use lead wrapped phone line and bury it in a soggy field only
a foot or so deep, hopefully the lead will not allow it to surface.

Just thinking out loud here for my own enjoyment, I have a bad cold and I'm not
working, perhaps the cold medicine is having an effect.

 

[markmopar]

a friend suggested laying the wire between a couple 2x4's and use the boards as a guide surface for a circular saw to cut a groove down the line. then spread it open and remove the copper