How to sort your copper wire to maximize your profits!

[@okeyakersiii1448]

I new to scrapping and have say I have learned a great deal from your videos. Love watching the different things commonly found on trash day that you show how to break down. Thank you for sharing.

[@TinManScrapper]

Thank you for watching. Glad that you find them helpful. Stay well.

[@justmike57]

Great job on informing the people on how to get the highest dollar for your scrap wire.

[@tattoo329413]

Thank you so much for this video. I just recently got into scrapping and I got buckets full of extension cords, cords from vacuum cleaners, air conditioners, chargers, cat5 etc and I never knew how to separate them to make Max profit but now I understand.

[@TinManScrapper]

Glad you found it informative. Depending on your scrapyard you may even make it easier. If wire has outer coating over a few other coated wires (like vacuum, microwave, chords) it is 40% copper recovery. If like lamp lights where only one coating of plastic over the wire, more valuable at 60% copper recovery. Just did a video on scrapping update, that explains it more.

[@TinManScrapper]

Video called scrapping, stripping, and sorting....another example of sorting wire. Thanks again and stay well.

[@tattoo329413]

@@TinManScrapper I'll check that one out too. I've watched a bunch of videos over the past couple weeks and I will say yours is informative and right to the point. Keep them coming because I'll be watching 😁

[@bouwwillemse7638]

Clearly explained. Thanks for the info!

[@sebastiansegade]

Thanks for your videos helps a lot on my scrapping endeavors

[@TinManScrapper]

Glad you find them useful. I appreciate your kind words and support. Stay well.

[@davidbrown9390]

Here’s my 2cents.... those appliance cords could be sold for 5-8times the amount of scrap value if you 1: sell them on your local OfferUp app or 2: go to your local used appliance shop. They’ll buy them too! The power bars I believe have brass in them. If you crack’em with a hammer the brass should almost fall out.

[@TinManScrapper]

Interesting, I should check out the app. As for the power bars, yes nice brass connectors inside. Stay well.

[@seamusmcelroy8352]

well explaned tin man not many others do it as good as you keep up the great work and look foward to next vid cheers from uk ireland

[@TinManScrapper]

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks again and all the best!

[@TinManScrapper]

Hey Seamus, hope you are well!

[@seamusmcelroy8352]

​@@TinManScrapper ye keeping busy thanks for asking take care and keep well

[@brendadavisscrapitydoda1284]

Great video , Lots of great info my friend.

[@TinManScrapper]

Thank you for the kind words. Take care

[@brendadavisscrapitydoda1284]

@@TinManScrapper you too my friend

[@andyweins]

Awesome video man, nice a thorough but still easy to understand!

[@TinManScrapper]

Thank you for the kind words and for watching. Stay well and Happy New Year to you.

[@ScrapRushUK]

Hi Tin man, new sub in the uk here. Nice video, very informative.

[@TinManScrapper]

Thank you. I appreciate the kind words and support. Stay well and happy New Year

[@benhumphregys3087]

Great video thanks for the help

[@missylongbottom2064]

Double check the coaxial wire, sometimes that center wire is steel even though it looks copper, check it with a magnet. Also on occasion the wire mesh is copper. Also romex so easy to strip that there's no reason not to

[@MrRussian187]

if you use neodymium magnet to coax cable it sticks too

[@joe89chev]

What about wire from vehicles? I have a few wire harness that I stripped all the loom tape and connectors off. What category dose that fall under?

[@ScrapFatherScrapSon]

Is it worth it to take off the sheath from cat 5/cat 6 wire?

[@BushDogScrapper]

I'd leave the cat 5/6 as is unless you don't have alot of it you will make better money for it whole at a lower price due to the wheight of the insulation over the thickness and wheight of it stripped down to 60%. I have almost a 1000 feet of cat 5e cable I found in the ditch close to home I'll take it in as is. Hope that helps bro ♻🌎👍

[@ScrapFatherScrapSon]

@@BushDogScrapper I left it as is because I had 114 pounds of it

[@MyFloridaLife11]

I have a question. I went to my scrap yard this week and was asking them about insulated copper wire and the difference is in 40 and 60 and 80% they informed me that they buy all ICW at $0.75 per pound but if the number two wire is stripped they pay $3.20 a pound. would this change your mind on stripping number two copper wire before turning it in?

[@TinManScrapper]

unfortunately some wire (appliance wires like microwaves) lose a lot of weight when you remove the coating and you lose money selling as #2 and time. Here we get $1.82lb for 40% appliance wire, so good price and no work. I do strip wire like romex

[@stevenhiggins9985]

I hit a dumpster the other night thought I had $1000000 in Copper it was copper coated aluminum - gut punch.

[@ScrappingwithGrandpa]

great video

[@Herts4x4]

Great information, I am just starting and figuring out what is worth stripping. I have lots if extension cords where I have stripped the outer sheathing, but I am not sure if it is worth stripping the inner braided copper I have one hand crank chinese made wheel wire stripper which works well with thicker cables but won't cope with the smaller stuff. Any recommendations?

[@TinManScrapper]

I actually have a video on that too. In my opinion no, it was not worth it. I actually go through a number of different wires and give the price of wire as is and stripped. FYI, prices were a few months back. Copper price has gone up about .75 a lb now

[@Herts4x4]

@@TinManScrapper Thanks, I posted the question, then found the second video. Very useful information. I have invested in a hand crank wheel stripper from eBay. After spending some time getting used to how deep to set the wheel, it is a game changer in terms the time spent stripping the wire, and should pay for itself relatively quickly.

[@TinManScrapper]

@@Herts4x4 good to hear. I am actually posting a video this upcoming Friday on wire strippers, some dos and don’t about if purchasing. Thanks for the question and support. Glad to see your crank is a game changer...I too have a stripper and has shaved hours of time. Stay well

[@peggyclements9245]

If I strip all the different wires, do I still have to separate them.

[@TinManScrapper]

You will if you want to maximize your profit. All the wire less than 16 gauge, like from extension chords, appliance wire, etc will be #2 copper and all wire from Romeo, and 16 gauge and thicker will be #1 or bare bright, which is usually about 40-60 cents more a pound

[@rccarswithcarl2842]

i have a big question I found a bunch of in door etenction cords what does that count for?

[@TinManScrapper]

Interior extension chords are going to go as 40% recovery if outer coating over the inner copper coating. They do vary. Cut it in half. If the copper strands have only one coating of plastic than 60% recovery. Make sure to separate, since 40% $1.33 lb. and 60% $2.13lb. At the scrapyard in London, Ont.

[@whoatethechocolate]

I found some new CAC 6 and I can't sell it. Should I try to strip it or scrap as is?

[@TinManScrapper]

I scrap as is, since not worth trying to get out the copper. I do have another video I made several years ago called “what types of wire are worth stripping? I do the experiment so you don’t have to”

[@aaronedmunds4829]

good show! I assume i keep aluminim wire separate from sheet, extruded,etc

[@TinManScrapper]

That is correct.Aluminum wire here is classified as 1S wire and going for $1.20lb.

[@adl6067]

I'll make more money, thank to your video 👍

[@TinManScrapper]

I am glad that I could help. Stay well and happy scrapping.

[@brettnavarre8712]

What about vacuum cord would that be considered extension cord or appliance cord? Thanks

[@TinManScrapper]

Vacuum chord would be 40% appliance wire since outer coating and 3 inner coated wires.

[@BROutdoorz]

I’m getting ready to sort my wire.. quick question so I don’t mess it up.. 60% copper recovery, does that also include, all the wires I pull of appliances and electronics? And should I remove all plastic connectors, zip ties,etc, so it’s just the wire? Just making sure, because I have to drive up to London,ON from Windsor,ON to sell that, since no one in Windsor (that I found) takes it. That would suck to drive for an hour and a half to get penalized 🤣🤣👍🏻

[@TinManScrapper]

If they are large connectors that have a lot of plastic I do remove, but the small brass connectors you don’t have to. Just watch electronic wire inside some electronics and appliances…cut it to see if it is copper wire, some are aluminum. The wire that has the metallic wrap around the wire is electronic wire, which is a separate category. I do remove zip ties, since I don’t want any excuse to downgrade, but depends on who is working the scales I find and amount

[@2_Cents.]

While I enjoy knowing something will be recycled, is the time invested in small scale stripping wire equal or greater, cash value, than loading a scrap run of avg

[@TinManScrapper]

Good question. I guess it depends on the time you have and the money situation. I don’t strip it all because of difficulty and time. I also give the bulk of my money made to charity. For some people, they want the money and if not a bulk load, making the extra couple bucks from stripping the wire might be necessary.

[@stevenhiggins9985]

Ps. My scrap yard pays me more at times Because I Separate my wire as such also makes it easier for them to do their job.

[@artaxerxes2363]

I find it easy to separate them into one wire , two wire and three wire with the ground. And then i will separate them further if need be.

[@TinManScrapper]

Yeah, it depends on the scrapper I guess. Thanks for the comment. Stay well and happy scrapping

[@Z-Ack]

What about magnet wire, motor wire/ transformer wire? Like coated/ varnished wire, different gauge coated wire.. like is it worth burning off the varnish ? Talking about copper and not any copper clad or aluminum with copper cladding..

[@TinManScrapper]

Magnet wire would probably be coaxial cable, transformer and motor wire is #2 copper.

[@rogerthomas5236]

Can you put tin coated or aluminum insulated wire in with copper insulated wire or separate being low grade wire

[@TinManScrapper]

I think it depends on the scrapyard, price and quantity of your wire. Technically no you can’t but for low grade mixed wire at my yard I only get like .20 lb., so I do. However, I don’t have a lot of aluminum wire. If it is bigger than 16 gauge (pencil lead thick) keep separate and sell as aluminum wire. Better price. I know thicker gauge aluminum wire is around 0.93 lb.

[@rogerthomas5236]

@@TinManScrapper thanks sir videos are great

[@TinManScrapper]

@@rogerthomas5236 thank you for the support and kind words. Stay well.

[@SaturdayNightSlamMaster1980]

As a scrap metal purchaser, I can confirm, if you have everything together, I’m downgrading it. Costs labour to sort.🤷‍♂️

[@TinManScrapper]

Yup, and so would I. Thanks for the support and stay well.

[@mr-toyota]

If I strip the coating and just bring in buckets of solid copper wire, all standard wiring such as 10-14 gauge, is this a good way to do it? Should it be sorted more than that?

[@deborahlingenfelter2001]

Mane, i made $16. Mainly on those orange extention cords & a bunch of house wire... Gotta wait til the 27th. Dat my beer money. Tryna save up so i can buy another escort on backpage

[@charliedaugherty6369]

I recycle wire will my dad collected it since I was a little boy I'm now 67 hundreds and hundreds of pounds of wire all types what should I do with it just pilot in a big one big pile and let somebody have it or sell it like it is cuz it's everywhere

[@TinManScrapper]

I think it depends on the type of wire. if you have lots of romex or thicker copper wire from houses I would take the time to strip and enjoy the cash out with #1 or bare bright price. If it is 40% or 60% appliance wire from appliances I would either separate if there is a lot of 60% or if mostly 40% appliance wire just put it all in one bucket and sell as such

[@MrRussian187]

there is one more category rca cables - they are not copper tho...

[@TinManScrapper]

Yup, but I bring it in to the scrap yard for a little coin, the yard is not too picky since worth very little.

[@E-BikingAdventures]

That 2 batch that you called low grade has a higher copper content than the appliance cords you claim to get $1 per pound for, wich I seriouly doubt if your getting $2.60 for #1 barebright copper. Coax is steal with a copper coating. Copper is not strong enough to be used as pin connector and you claim to be stripping coax? You don't know what your talking about even when it's right in front if your own eyes.

[@donnierobertson3088]

Ok

[@MrRussian187]

coax cable is not copper its copper plated steel wire not worth anything here lucky if you yard takes it

[@TinManScrapper]

yeah, it’s not worth much but my yard does take

[@bimmerbent]

yes, classified as scrap iron shreddable

[@rolex907]

American scrappers prolly better