Copper wire seperation/grades???

Hey Everyone. Kind of new to scrapping copper wire. I've spent a fair amount of time on you-tube and the net re-searching stripping machines, and other tips for copper wire. I work on cars and have been scraping aluminum parts for years and saving wiring harnesses from doors, engines, etc.. mostly smaller gauge wires. I made my own bench mount wire stripper using a block of wood w/ holes drilled in it for various wire sizes, 24 gauge to over 4 gauge. there are drywall screws w/ sharpened tips sticking into the holes which are adjustable for the thickness of insulation, works extremely well. and easy to use.

My Question is How should I be seperating the wires?? I have alot of the smaller gauge 16-18 gauge wires, and some larger diameter wires..should these be seperated?? does it matter if the copper is tarnished, or corroded?? seen a trick of soaking the wires in Cola to clean them, is this worth while, or a waste of time???

Also, is there an easy way to determin aluminum wire vs coated copper, especially the smaller stuff....very hard to tell.


Any help is greatly appreciated. THANKS!!