copper question for those who are buying wire

Last year, I started buying wire from a few local electricians. I am hooked up with someone to get dealer pricing and can even do brokerage with 5K pounds of bare bright. I thought I had an awesome understanding of things until this week.

One of the electricians put a painter in contact with me. This guy collects throughout the year and strips everything, even extension cords and power cords. The 1st night, I went over to get a feel for what he had and had to explain that stranded wire (hair wire) would go as #2 and not Bare Bright. So I go back tonight and he has it separated. He did keep the larger stranded (probably 8 or 10 gauge and larger) separate from the other stranded. I bought the stranded hair wire, and the smaller gauge stranded as #2. I feel as thou the 12 and 14 gauge stranded should go as Bare Bright. Had it not been stripped, it would have been brought at the same price and 12 and 14 gauge solid. What do the rest of you do?

In regards to the stripped hair wire, most places would buy that as #2. What if it was run thru a chopping line and a turbo mill, would it still be #2 or something different?

These are just my first 2 questions to come up concerning stripped wire. I'm sure 1 or 2 more will come up.

Answers are going to be hard to come by. Depends on how your buyer defines bare bright, one and two. I have in the past and do now hammer fine wire together to ball it up. Specifics of that process means you need a mill with a VFD and a specially made screen.

According to the ISRI guidelines, bare bright wire size is subject to agreement between buyer and seller. So...it really depends on what your buyer says according to his buyer. I believe the biggest things with this is that the copper is basically just copper...no coatings, etc,...they can pay a higher price because they have a more known quantity and less work to get the copper content they want at the refinery. I'm not sure if there is any difference in dumping bare bright hair wire versus let's say 12 gauge. I know with aluminum I have heard the extremely thin stuff can basically burn off and vaporize before it hits the molten pool. Not sure if that is the case, but seems possible. I'm guessing the biggest thing with bare bright and smaller wires is that it is harder to detect contamination visually.

My buyer confirmed the 12 and 14 Guage stranded is bare bright. Trying to get pricing on the hair wire stuff.

hey mthomasdev, could you please detail how you buy from the electricians; I am trying to get into the same deal with local electricians but they have not messaged me back yet. I figure I should ask rather than "reinventing the wheel". Thanks

its like any other scrap. are you a customer, or providing a service?

you need to be better than thier current solution. are your prices better, are you more convenient, do they just like you?

its usually a mix of all of the above

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Originally Posted by bataletocompany

hey mthomasdev, could you please detail how you buy from the electricians; I am trying to get into the same deal with local electricians but they have not messaged me back yet. I figure I should ask rather than "reinventing the wheel". Thanks

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I'm currently only dealing with 2 electricians. One found me on the internet, the other is a friend from high school. At some point, I need to find some more to buy from.
In order to land clients like this, you need to provide them with one or both of the following:
1. Higher prices than the yards
2. Convenance.

I do both. I offer to pick up at their place or offer them to drop off after hours. I also sort Their stuff so they get the maximum value.
You need to be able to secure dealer or broker pricing.
You also need to look into equipment to add value to the material. Start looking at strippers and if volumes warrant a small granulators.

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Originally Posted by mthomasdev

Last year, I started buying wire from a few local electricians. I am hooked up with someone to get dealer pricing and can even do brokerage with 5K pounds of bare bright. I thought I had an awesome understanding of things until this week.

One of the electricians put a painter in contact with me. This guy collects throughout the year and strips everything, even extension cords and power cords. The 1st night, I went over to get a feel for what he had and had to explain that stranded wire (hair wire) would go as #2 and not Bare Bright. So I go back tonight and he has it separated. He did keep the larger stranded (probably 8 or 10 gauge and larger) separate from the other stranded. I bought the stranded hair wire, and the smaller gauge stranded as #2. I feel as thou the 12 and 14 gauge stranded should go as Bare Bright. Had it not been stripped, it would have been brought at the same price and 12 and 14 gauge solid. What do the rest of you do?

In regards to the stripped hair wire, most places would buy that as #2. What if it was run thru a chopping line and a turbo mill, would it still be #2 or something different?

These are just my first 2 questions to come up concerning stripped wire. I'm sure 1 or 2 more will come up.

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my yard says its bare bright if its not like the stuff from these is what they call hair wire .https://www.google.com/search?q=time...eQ_Xv8Z-eNdQM: