What is this copper worth?

[kinggrant]

I have been stripping lan wires for a couple days now. I still have much more to go. So far this is what I have stripped. I am told that its category one copper. I have no experience in selling copper. I called the place that I am going to sell it to and they said they take off 1.25 a lb for unstripped wires. I have allot of time so stripping is not a problem. By the way is stripping wires in a closed room toxic? I put a spoon in the middle of the picture to give you a reference. I am not expecting a exact estimate. Just trying to see if its worth my time.

I have about 16,000ft of category one copper. Not shown in the pictures.

 

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[HangnMoss]

That's better than a number #1 rating - which is usually clean (stripped), but not shiny (like an old penny).

From the pictures, that looks like it would qualify for a "bare bright" rating which should pull in about $3 a pound.

Unless you meant it's category 1 cable (which technically didn't exist because it was in use before the category system existed). In that case it's just phone/voice cable. You mentioned LAN cable, so it would have to be category 3 or better, and thus my assumption on gage and number of conductors in the rest of this reply.

As to whether it's worth it, that's totally up to you. Eight 24-gage wires don't weigh much per foot, but adds up quickly. Depending on the insulation, you can expect between 45 and 55% recovery on communications cable. So every 10 pounds of unstripped wire will yield about five lbs. of copper.

As for stripping, the insulation is typically pvc jacket and polyethylene insulation on each conductor. A long as you're not burning or chemically dissolving it indoors, no worries. If you're manually stripping, you'll be fine. I handle it daily, and have for years *twitch* and don't seem to have any side effects *twitch*. If it was dangerous, every building would be required to post notices, because they're all full of it.

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[kinggrant]

I do not own a scale, you said you have worked with it for a while. Could you give me a estimate on how many lbs it is? You said 45-55% recovery. A box of this stuff new is 180 so I should expect at least $75 a box? THATS GRATE!! All profit, picked it up for free on craigslist.

 

[fish on!]

That won't be graded as #1 or #2 copper. It will be graded as light copper which pays significantly less than #1 or #2. Not trying to be a downer, I just don't want to see you waste your time stripping it before you know what it's worth. I think you should take what you have stripped already to a scrap yard and turn it in. Compare the amount of money you get out of it to the amount of time it took you to strip it.

The easiest way (and probably illegal) to remove the insulation is to get a 55 gallon drum and light a fire in it and toss the cable in there. Let it burn for an hour or so. Put it out with a hose. You will have clean copper with no insulation on it. I've scrapped many different things in my day and any time I have had copper that is like thin whisps of hair like you have their it is graded as light copper regardless of the scrap yard I take it to.

 

[baspinall]

I run cable for a living. I usually save my scrap. I do not strip it, to much work to do 24 ga. 4 pair. When I have a half a pick up bed I usually get around 300.00ish.