Stockpiling Bare Bright Copper

I have one of those 5 gallon buckets that I use to put bare bright copper into. The bucket used to have chlorine tablets for pools in it. Even though I washed it, the bucket still has a bit of a chlorine smell in it. I'd like to wait until the bucket is full before I turn it in. That could be six months to perhaps a couple of years before it happens.

Is there anything wrong with waiting that long- other than running the risk that the price of copper could go down? I am thinking that the bare bright could oxidize and change color, but will keep it indoors at room temperature instead of exposing it to the elements outside.

I realize that if the copper is not bright and shiny, it will fetch perhaps 10-15 cents less per pound. I'm willing to take that chance.

Is there anything else wrong with this strategy?

You might be better off finding a better container to store it in. All kinds of containers can be found while out scrapping. As far as stock piling, if you have room why not.

Do you not scrap appliances? Do you have a wire stripper?

I ask because it shouldn't take very long to fill up a 5 gallon bucket with copper if you scavenge from appliances etc... I don't strip every wire but I do save almost all of the wire and strip only the big ones - ex. stove wire.

Same here. I strip all the wire of a certain gauge that looks as if it is worth the time. Most of the time it is THHN wire and other stuff like dryer wire, stove wire, thick extension cords, etc. I can fill a five-gallon bucket in a couple weeks if I get a fair amount of the wire. Unfortunately, I don't very often. But, I did just pick up 20 buckets that contained a polishing solution for the type of tile you see in schools. My old high school polished up this summer, and I was able to walk out with 20 buckets plus lids. A nice pickup. On that note, you should be able to find a bunch of cleaner (as in not filled with chemical smells and liquids) pretty easily. Just dumpster dive behind some businesses or hardware stores. Even Lowe's and HD might have something in the dumpster. I have found stuff there before.

I don't do much with appliances as I don't have a truck. I may snip wires off some of them, but much of the wire I get is not worth stripping. I get a lot of that small soft 30% type wire- I get about the same and sometimes more by leaving it insulated. I do like to strip ROMEX and some types of THNN/THWN wire. The stripper I have is manual and made by TNT Tooling- it is ok, but not as good as what I was expecting from looking at the Youtube videos (like MooseScrapper's) before I bought it. For instance, on some of the THNN wire there is a clear plastic coating of insulation on top of the other insulation. Sometimes that plastic is quite difficult to remove and then you have to strip the wire again to remove the other layer of insulation. Sometimes it is so hard to remove that I stop trying and sell it as insulated.