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PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:41 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2014 2:02 pm
Posts: 41
I've never sold brass or copper to boardsort. However, I plan to take a trip there before long and am contemplating taking my copper and brass since they are paying more than my local yards. With that being said, I'm curious if they will accept my scrap as the same as my local yard.
So, if I have a brass fitting that's attached to a steel pipe and it can't be removed, if it's cut off flush will It get denied as brass for still having the steel threaded pipe inside?
#2 Is stripped wire (bare bright wire) considered copper 1. Or does it matter if it's solid strand or braided for 1 vs. 2?
#3 what downgrades copper 1 to 2? Just corrosion And solder? I have some that had a black insulation on it and it has made the pipe a blackish color but don't have any corrosion or anything.

Thanks in advance.


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:37 pm 

Joined: Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:00 am
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If you have the means to cut the steel pipe flush leaving only the threads inside, then you also have the capability to split the brass valve or copper fitting end. Once the "nut" or valve end is split, a couple taps with a hammer to partially flatten it, then rotate 90 degrees and beat it back down will either break out a chunk of brass, allowing removal of the steel, or you can use a heavy flat screwdriver to pry the brass apart enough to remove the steel. I generally use a reciprocating saw "sawzall" to split larger brass threads and simply pound the smaller ones until they break at the threads.


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:09 am 
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Steel inside brass will nearly always downgrade it considerably.
You have two methods to ‘finish’ the job noted above.
Here’s a 3rd: I use a blowtorch myself in a carbon steel vice to heat the brass.
Stick the non-Brass section in the vice and torque it tight. Heat the threaded area for a minute or two, depending on your gas choice, and then wack hard vertically! Upward. Brass is much softer and heats faster than steels. The soft and now hot brass pops off easily enough.
Just use correct safety equipment.

#1 is any single material with zero adulterants. No paint. No oil. No plastic including coatings. No other metals or minerals.

#2 tends to be a catch all not junk and not pure category for most companies. Thin, non-metallic paint. Plastic coatings on copper. Oils or strip paper on metals. Organics. Some companies that don’t sort roofing copper will take fairly tarred up copper as #2. Solder puts stuff here as well.

#3 and #4 are different ways of sorting shred. #3 is basically garbage that contains enough of the target material to be worth sorting after shredding. #4 is a category that you won’t find at a “local” yard. It’s a top level sorting. A penny stamped in a rail tie is #4 steel. Dental brackets (after silver removal) will be #4 silver. Such material is still shredded but is sorted and sold as material + material. Clean car engines for a poor example are aluminium plus iron.

The most common source of 4 in metals is burnt wire. The cost of separation is too costly at any level so it’s shredded and used as feed for low end decorative bronze.

The best example of classes I can give is construction wood.
#1 is any board with no metals no paint, no chemicals and no knots. Easily reused or shaved. Can be used for mulch or chips. Makes clean fuel. Etc. Grade A from a lumber yard.

2 is slightly problematic wood. It can have staples, but not nails. Could have surface damage. Dirt and organic staining. May have knots. No chemicals. No paint. Staples are easily removed. Knots can be cut out. As can organic stains.
Easily chipped with staples removed. It’s Grade B at a lumber yard when resold.

#3 is generally wood that was actually used, Or discarded, in construction. It takes extensive manual work to recover. Paint and stain must be removed. Nails must be pulled or cut out. No chemicals. No rot. Wood is cleaned and chipped.

#4 is junk. Still no chemicals. Something so time consuming to recover it’s not worth trying. This material is often shredded and burned for fuel and metal recovery. The waste is often collected and sold for carbon stock to steel companies.


I held off till now on your question on corrosion to fit in with chemicals in my wood example. There are different chemical treatments for wood. Some eliminate the recycling aspects. Like water resistant treatments. Which until recently had asphestos in the chemicals used. Some treatments are safe to burn. And are presorted for that use. The carbon waste then sold to iron and steel companies.

It’s important to sort oxidation from corrosion. The former a type of the latter.
Rust rarely has much of an impact. Rusty cars, rusty nails, rebar. All recycled in great quantities.
On the other side of the spectrum is induced (or introduced) corrosion. Be it gases, like floronated steels. Or mineral breakage. Potassium corrosion is common in fireworks, ammunition, and explosives sourced scrap.
There’s a whole sub industry in the scrap world that recycles such damaged, and often dangerous, material.

No steel buyer will turn down a car door for rust spots or holes. If there’s more corrosion than not it will downgrade a level (or two) but it’s still of value.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:52 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2014 2:02 pm
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Thank you for the detailed information! Appreciate all you do!


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 10:47 pm 
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Btw fully stripped bare copper wire is #1. Which is why wire strippers are a big DIY/At home, industry. From TNT Tooling manual strippers to Zilla electric strippers. And everything in between.
braided vs strait doesn’t make a difference.

One thing you find very quickly stripping wire is a surprising amount of consumer wire isn’t pure copper. It’s often copper plate if copper at all. Tin and aluminium wire makes up the majority of low cost electrical transport and signalling wire. Nickel is found in higher grade ruggedised, heavy duty cabling. And that is actually a nickel alloy. Not pure nickel.

Copper wire is becoming so uncommon you’ll find at the consumer level that electrical with pure copper cables is often boldly advertised as such.

The best tool you can get in an attempt to strip wire is a nice high end filet knife to nip ends off at a cross angle. Slicing through the plastic and metal to see if it’s copper, or coated.

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:58 pm 

Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2020 3:50 pm
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Just a note: Bare Bright Is a category of its own, just for copper wire. It needs to be bare and bright and the individual strand should be no smaller than 16 gauge wire.


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