What is the Difference Between Copper #1 and #2 Copper?

Simple but important question when scrapping copper! If you want to make the most money recycling scrap copper it needs to be sorted by grade, and it can be difficult to know how to tell copper #1 from copper #2. So here is a quick how-to guide to help.
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[@thebadgeofshame3994]

Get an ultrasonic cleaner to turn all corroded copper back to bare bright in minutes with just water. The machine will pay for itself real quick. Just make sure you get a large enough one, I went with the 30L Ultrasonic cleaner and have never brought in anything but #1 and bare bright since. It's like a crockpot that makes money, set it forget it walk away and come back to beautiful red gold.

[@Jedi_Scowen]

Because of your comment I did look into it. It's a good idea but it would probably take about a decade for me to break even. I'm just a hobby scrapper though.

[@Adamz678]

@@Jedi_Scowen Boiling vinegar works great and fast. Burns your eyes though lol

[@connermiller7291]

@@Adamz678goggles seem fine. Just like makin’ moonshine!

[@rem10921]

Does it cleaner copper from motors?

[@jimcatanzaro7808]

No vinegar

[@MrBotwood]

Man, your knowledge is astounding...... even little old me, can understand it! Another very informative and enjoyable video. Thanks my friend!

[@froggers-0369]

Cheers, you explained it all in a good and helpful way mate

[@robertmann7277]

Thanks for the primer, you made it as clear as mud ( LOL), it exposed how subjective the game is

[@dr.a006]

Nice summary and explanation. I might add, different scrapyards can vary how they classify. When in doubt, ask them and have them show you their bins so you can see. I learned a lot that way too. Even the two yards in my town are a little different with prices and categories. For example, my yard A calls the insulated solid core 12 gauge wire AND the multi-stranded 12 gauge wire “spaghetti wire”, going off the percentage, all goes in the same bin, same price. My yard B calls insulated 12 ga. solid core #1 and the multi strand 12 ga. #2, with a big price difference. Therefore I take all insulated household electric wire to yard A. However if you strip both those types? Solid core is bare bright (or #1) and stranded #2 copper, both yards do that. Why?? I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ I just want the best price wherever I go.😄

[@DortyDennis.]

Great video teaching me the differences which i have been wondering about. Thank You!

[@zlatanmorrison8182]

Excellent and very informative, 'bare bright' was the term I had in my head I must confess. You should do more of these short but sweet info vids Thub:)

[@thubprint]

Thanks! I’m thinking about it, short form vids may be a good fit for this kind of stuff. It doesn’t count as my “weekly” upload though so I have to fit them in around other projects

[@TheApartmentScrapper]

@@thubprintdo it! The more Thub the better.

[@ToddandAmandaWilliams-bm8mi]

I get confused on the wire itself we have almost 1000 pounds saved up threwoutt past 4 months some of the fine stripped wire is what i getmixed up wiyh so i appreciate your video thank you

[@TrehanCreekOutdoors]

I think I got it. Everything that isn't #1 is #2! Thanks for clearing that up with your video.

[@benhumphregys3087]

Thank you thub please post more videos I think I’m your biggest fan

[@thebadgeofshame3994]

Great video. Short, sweet, too the point.

[@blackwidowfarms]

Thanks for the info! in BC (at least in Kamloops) the dirty #1 copper wire is still #1... if it's shiny and clean it's barebright. All pipe seems to be #2 copper even if it's clean... I think the only way to get #1 on pipe is if it's basically brand new with end caps on (but this might differ from place to place)

[@tricoloredpastas]

This is also entirely dependent on your local yard. My yard treats even the angel hair as bare bright, as long as the bin doesn't have any contaminants in it.

[@classifiedsnake3947]

Same here👍

[@vincedibona4687]

Heck, at my yard, it depends on who is working sometimes! One guy sees shiny, he gives bare bright prices, even for “hair”. Another sees slightly old copper and gives #2 prices. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@bobbylewis1708]

Love all your videos brother

[@codyswilley]

Im glad i dont go to your scrap yard. The ones i go to call number one if its free of paint, solder, or anything else #1. If its thin like you said its #2. If its a solid strand no matter what it looks like its #1 theres clean 1 dirty 1. Clean 2 and dirty 2. And you have to have at least 100lbs to get bare bright price. Which is why i strip all of my wire i get. I save all my copper wire up and at the end of the year i haul it in. They know at my scrapyard when it gets close to the end of the year im coming lol. Keep up the great vids

[@kristilarez4049]

Thanks for this video appreciate it I was so curious about the little fine angel hair that looks silver but look copper at the end

[@shaystern2453]

good explanation. now what about zinc?

[@STAMOS711]

great video. always wonder what the difference was... Thanks

[@spotonstupid]

You should do a video showing recovery to bars from each type using the same original weight. Say i kg or pound of each type pre-cleaned stripped or anything to final cast weight. Would be cool to see just how much loss there is on the finest wire compared to the number 1 and comparing that to the number 1 and number 2 pipe/painted/dirty.

[@rixismetals]

Great video , have fun scrapping everyone and keep doing the thing 😉

[@simodo11]

Again ,so well explained

[@daleh645]

All this #1 and #2 talk makes me have to go to the bathroom! 🤣🤣🤣

[@dumpsterahoy9236]

Thanks For the Video❤

[@maritimescrapper]

Awesome video my friend!

[@stargate905]

Great channel. I'm new to copper recycling . quick question. What Category of copper is Ingots . Melted bars. Will the give you #1 or #2 ? or bright?

[@thubprint]

See that one is less clear because it will depend what your scrapyard thinks when they see them. It would make sense to sell them as #1 but because they don’t know how much other junk got melted into them it’ll probably go in as #2, and that’s if they even want to buy them. Normal copper material is pure copper and the contaminants are mechanically separated so a yard may not want to buy a home foundry bar that is likely alloyed with bits of lead and zinc and aluminium and whatever else

[@JMurdaF]

now I could be wrong or it could be location dependent but around me your 2 wire categories are one category alone and of highest value being (Bright And Shiny). Now at a certain gauge being on the smaller side it would then go into a number category being 1 or 2. Then insulated is based on the percentage of copper compared to insulation. I'm not sure if any of this was mentioned already but at least all the different options are mentioned. There are many examples that do fall within the same parameters just a little different here and there dependent on either location or yard.

[@stevensonblake123]

Burnt /old tarnished pipe or wire is still number 1 at our yards in the maritimes Canada

[@othamaynard1620]

Why is tarnished wire number 2 but tarnished pipe number 1? How does it being tarnished effect the recovery rate?

[@masterhec0]

im pretty sure #1 copper is split between #1 and #1 bright and shiny. the dull colored #1 wire should be able to go with the #1 clean pipe for the same price.

[@dr.a006]

My yards do that too. Dull copper wire still #1, they throw it in with the clean #1 copper tubing sometimes. Bare bright is bare bright. #2 copper pretty much everything else.👍

[@sciencerulesgaming9004]

Thanks

[@KlasicRock]

Thank God I was like number 665 lol ! Thanks for the lesson

[@noel1596]

Thank u

[@jorgegabrielconteburrell8575]

What is the difference of prices for cooper and bronze ingots, comparing with #1 or #2 cooper cable?

[@82camionero]

Lucky in the UK isnt like that... at least not my scrap yard. Dry bright copper wire 1 and copper 2. Thats it.

[@tghepburn1390]

Professor, the scalemaster, we both know, at the yard we both take our non ferrous to, will often accept my small can of "angel hair" from micro-scapping, into the bare bright category. I never mix them, rather place the small can atop the larger sack of bare-bright No. 1 wire from my Stripmeister. It's an act of kindness they do - not a rule - and maybe they do for you, but let's keep it hush hush and not share on the internet.....Uh oh too late.

[@thubprint]

😂lol! Yes they do the same for me, and that’s true with brass as well. I’ll have my big bucket of clean brass and then the itty bitty handful of dirty brass I didn’t care to spend time on sitting separately and they just have them both together in the clean. Those giant bins are sold with a 5% margin of error, so if there’s a tiny bit of not-quite-perfect material among the heap it’s not gonna make a difference. I’m not about to make a video instructing people to be lazy though!

[@markmiller8971]

Is that the fire extinguisher from the burnt out garage ?

[@thubprint]

It is! Polished up pretty nice, still need to deliver it

[@CoinSilver800]

Hey Thub, If you took some of that number 2 copper wire you mentioned at the end of this video and put it in a tumbler (maybe something homemade) with a polishing compound could you turn it into number 1 passively? (the tumbler spins and polishes it while you're doing other things) Might be an idea for a video or series. Keep up the great work and videos!

[@andyprigge4754]

get back out there and have a weeny bake if you have too, I miss the dumpster diviing visits..

[@thubprint]

I do too! The weather has started being a little more considerate so I expect to go on a lot more treasure hunts really soon

[@JOEY22445]

Nothing worse than getting good thick copper only for it to be tarnished and degraded. Bleh. Thanks for the video I still question myself sometimes when it comes to separating my bins.

[@jimcatanzaro7808]

How about thnn 19 strand

[@sandymcgill1910]

can you get a better price if you melt down the thin, angel hair into an ingot?

[@turinturambar8622]

Hardly any yard anywhere will buy customer made ingots.

[@swifty2844]

Hey Thub 👍

[@thomasmills3934]

Why dont u set up a vinegar bath. Cheap and easy...

[@MarkusSchoenfelder]

Does aluminum coated copper wire go as number 2?

[@DierserMaxwell-e4x]

Yundt Rapids

[@tommymadden9746]

It seems like the minute you get into the more money material the more rules apply. like aluminum. Oh there's paint on it. oh there's a rivet on this 20 foot peice. it sucks.

[@dr.a006]

Right?? At least my yard will have different grade categories of aluminum, like dirty 50%, 75%, I think a 95%+ ?? I can’t remember, I just hope they don’t catch the ONE broken screw I couldn’t get out, otherwise it’s 99.99% aluminum that I clean for them! And I guarantee they still chop it all up together and use magnets to separate any hidden iron.

[@FC-qe1wl]

@@dr.a006 Bottom line is, they only care about their profits not you. They will always attempt to give the lowest prices. The yard I go to is always a constant argument over the grade of scrap.

[@andyprigge4754]

So what is worse heavy metal in the air or organic waste in the air. I would rather have organic waste in the air rather than heavy metals.

[@vincedibona4687]

The bane of my existence: “copper coated” aluminum wire. You have to find old TVs and microwaves to avoid that stuff. 😑

[@andyprigge4754]

Me thinks you are working full time for some guy. AKA static subscriber base.

[@ihearDeadpeople]

Here is Australia the price difference between #1 and #2 is not a lot so depending how much work it is to sort it depends on whether it's worth the extra time/ return on it... Great video bye the way a lot of people will get a lot out of it 😊

[@twistthrottleatv3504]

Thanks