worth stripping wire?

After reading how so many people on here strip their wire I decided to try it and see if it was worth it. I started out with 20 pounds of 4 wire range cords (8 gauge stranded). 2 hours later I had 10.8 pounds of copper and a big pile of plastic. My yard buys the cords at 55% copper. Works out to 54% copper yield. I think for me SO cord is going to keep going in the insulated barrell.

Do you mind my asking roughly how many cords that worked out to?

About 6 and 1/2 6 foot cords.

ya thanks to indian joe I am looking at the value of stripping wire in a whole new light.

Another variable to consider is the more you strip wire, the faster you get at it.

Also, if your yard only has two prices for insulated it makes a difference. Mine only has insulated and communication.

Mike, have you checked prices this week? I know all mine have gone up quite a bit. Be interested on seeing the spread between #2 insulated and #2 bare wire for you.

thanks skyline...I was thinking the same thing...I think olddude has his phone #.

I was wondering about Injun Joe too. Miked, at 0.60 a pound for #2 insulated I could justify buying it from you and having it shipped all the way to Idaho! Something's wrong with that picture.

Are you going to start a bidding war Mick? jk

my yard also only has one price for insul. wire. $1 a pound, and it's $2.70-$3.00 a pound for shiny clean copper, I strip out all solid wire, and the heavier, tightly wound stranded wire. Stuff like phone cords, extension cords, printer cables and the likes of that all go to by insul. pile. Also note that scrapping is a side business for me for right now, so I strip wire on my spare time, and isn't figured into my "working time" as it would be with most of you guys, and that makes a big difference since when it's a job, time is money. As a side note, most of you guys are pretty good with comeing up with things, If you can find two hardned rollers, a couple gears, and something to make a frame with, you can make a drill operated wire stripper for solid wire, just run the rollers close enough together that when you feed the wire through, there is no room for the insulation, this forces the wire to pinch the insul. between itself and the roller, splitting it, and since it's drill operated, it spits wire through pretty fast. Doesn't work for every piece, but for the ones it does work for, your time drops, and price goes up. use your imagination and you can see how this would work pretty simply. As for the rollers, I save a handful out of old printers that I'm going to use for mine as soon as I get a frame built. going to have a couple different sets in the same frame for diff size wire. It helps to have something to hold the drill to the frame after it is chucked like a wire or something along those lines to keep the drill from spinning once you start feeding the wire in. Just a thought from the mountain.

Oh good. This guy saved me from having to make a video. This is the one I have.

I like the roller idea. Going to have to see what I can build.