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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:28 pm 

Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2019 6:04 am
Posts: 44
Location: Casper, WY
Hello all.

I'm going to be starting to get into scraping in my off hours from work to supplement my wages at work. I am doing this to help make more money to pay bills since my wife is disabled.

Boardsort has 2 different grades of Copper ... #1 & #2.

The question I have is what's the difference between the 2 grades? I'm looking to learn so I can sort it accurately to maximize my profit as I'll be delivering it perhaps once or twice a year once I can accumulate enough for the trip.

I know there's only a 10¢/lb difference in price but every penny I can get from properly and accurately sorting the product goes towards my wife's medical bills.

Thank you all for helping out with information.


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:57 pm 
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The easiest way to look at copper is to consider it all stop at #2 and #1 requires either work or a fresh day one piece.
#1 is absolutely clean. No brass, no zinc. No grease or oils. No solder. No plastic in the connector cuts.
Even plumbing pipe you buy at the hardware store may not be #1 because it’s often coated with a really thin polymer to protect it during shipping. (Scratch it. If a clear or semi clear layer can be disrupted it’s #2).

#1 is 100% clean pure copper.

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:07 pm 

Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2019 6:04 am
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Location: Casper, WY
lostinlodos wrote:
The easiest way to look at copper is to consider it all stop at #2 and #1 requires either work or a fresh day one piece.
#1 is absolutely clean. No brass, no zinc. No grease or oils. No solder. No plastic in the connector cuts.
Even plumbing pipe you buy at the hardware store may not be #1 because it’s often coated with a really thin polymer to protect it during shipping. (Scratch it. If a clear or semi clear layer can be disrupted it’s #2).

#1 is 100% clean pure copper.

That's kinda what I was thinking as well. Would stripping wires be considered #1 if it's nice and shiney?


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:46 pm 
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Often. If the wire is copper.

Before you go through the trouble though filet an end and make sure it’s copper and not copper plate

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 5:53 pm 
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An added comment is that it's very important to learn "the deal" at all the scrapyards close enough to where you live or pick up scrap that you'd consider driving to them, find out how their prices shake out relative to one another and learn what the service is like, is it a organized yard? Does it feel unsafe? Do they pay a premium for really clean material with borderline a-hole stringency or does it have a loose feel.

And every yard, or even weighmaster might have a different definition of the line between #1&#2, with wire a common one is any strand as thick as a pencil lead can go into #1 if it's quote "bare and bright" shiny untarnished, anything thinner, dirty or with a little solder or tin is #2, another colloquialism is any wire thick enough to hold it's shape ridgidly is #1

To strip or not to strip, I never strip anything that would be #2 copper, except for welding or battery cable scraps, (less than 6 inches or burnt, anything longer gets saved for projects) to give a rule of thumb your looking at conductor bundles of hair wire the thickness of a AAA battery.

#1, for me #1 BB copper wire is at best $1.90
And the wire it came out of, as #1 insulated is $1.25, so you almost definitely get more value stripped, but sit down and try to strip 10lbs of BB out of Romex and see how long it takes and how your hands feel after, then ask yourself if that 1-2 hours is worth the like $4 gained, I say nay, and if I have a whole housefull of #1 insulated, I'm probably sell it like that

If you have access to better price spreads in your locality you may be more incentivized to strip wire

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 6:19 pm 
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That’s a good point. Every yard and every weigh master is slightly different. I found that one yard I use will buy all stripped wire that qualifies as BB as #1 no matter how thin. That works good for me because I don’t strip wire but I will crack any ferrite transformers I come across. The strands are so small hair looks thick. But I use a y nipper to take the top off and run a a few twists around my drill bit head shaft and then just squeeze the trigger and wait.

If you intend to strip continually as I used to I’d highly suggest getting a drill powered stripper house. They run $50- a few hundred but it is well worth it.
Make sure you get one with multiple wheel sizes vs ones that are just adjustable.
TNT and a Dragon are two of the best reviewed makers.

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 12:15 am 

Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2014 3:42 pm
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Location: Troy, NY
Yeah, it's always a good idea to call around or even bring a sample piece to a yard.
For the most part, what these guys are saying is true: copper with any kind of tarnish or stripped wire with a slight tinge will be #2 all day.
But sometimes, you never know who will classify what as what.
Until pretty recently, there was a yard here (Albany, NY) that bought the middle sections of #2 pipe as #1; that is to say, clearly #2 pipe with the ends cut off, just a straight piece of copper pipe.
While only a 10-20 cent difference, it was still worth it to slice the ends off. This has recently ended, but still worth it to shop around, especially if there a number of yards close to you.
Not sure it's worth it to ship copper pipe to boardsort unless you live in a scrap desert and there's no yards within 50 miles haha, but hey, to each their own.
You can, however, get a surprising amount of stripped wire into a flat rate box if you are crafty.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:54 am 

Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2019 6:04 am
Posts: 44
Location: Casper, WY
Thank you to everyone who has chimed in on this. It's very helpful.

I only really have 2 yards here and they are side by side but they are clear out on the other side of town. I'm thinking about going to them this weekend and see if they have a printout out of what they accept and get a general pricing since I know that fluctuates sometimes daily.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:43 am 

Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2014 3:42 pm
Posts: 227
Location: Troy, NY
On a side note Edge: what's it like in Wyoming?
I'll be honest, I've looked at land there (Around Chyenne) and I'm always threatening to move out there for solitude.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:07 am 

Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2019 6:04 am
Posts: 44
Location: Casper, WY
Thearchivebooks wrote:
On a side note Edge: what's it like in Wyoming?
I'll be honest, I've looked at land there (Around Chyenne) and I'm always threatening to move out there for solitude.

I like it because it's mostly quiet. I live in the most populated county in the State, Natrona, which is NOT where Cheyenne is located. So don't let anyone from Cheyenne tell you any differently lol. When you look at Wyoming license plates the very first number is the county number. And the lower the number the more populated it is. Cheyenne plates are county 2. I live in Casper and we have county 1 hehe.

If your planning on visiting Casper just let me know and we can meet up.

That offer goes to you too @Lost. :)


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