Any advice on how to SOFTEN the Insulation on wire?

With the real thick stuff, I usually anchor it between two solid points about waist high. I use a razor blade knife, hold it towards me and walk backwards. We demoed a restaurant a while back and pulled over 700lbs of this stuff out of the ground. It wasn't solid core, but was very large ,diameter braided wire. The largest was about the size of my thumb and the smallest was the size of my pinkie finger. We anchored it between two scissor lifts and backed them up to pull it tight. We were able to do 100ft at a time at about 5-10min each. The trick is to pull it really tight, have a sharp blade, and pull towards you.

Originally Posted by scrappinlife

With the real thick stuff, I usually anchor it between two solid points about waist high. I use a razor blade knife, hold it towards me and walk backwards. We demoed a restaurant a while back and pulled over 700lbs of this stuff out of the ground. It wasn't solid core, but was very large ,diameter braided wire. The largest was about the size of my thumb and the smallest was the size of my pinkie finger. We anchored it between two scissor lifts and backed them up to pull it tight. We were able to do 100ft at a time at about 5-10min each. The trick is to pull it really tight, have a sharp blade, and pull towards you.

That might work with soft insulation, but this stuff he has (and I have about a half bucket) the insulation is VERY hard. In its current state it is like trying to strip concrete insulation off of the wire.