Buying insulated copper wire from scrap yard?

Originally Posted by CopperMiner

I tried that once during a winter several years ago when the copper price was sky high. It was from an independent yard and they required me to buy all their inventory at once. I've got some good stuff, but tons of crappy stuff too: tin-plated wires, sh*tty hard to remove insulation, small granulator fodder, you name it. Lots of stuff sellers didn't wanted to waste their time on. If you remove the insulation from the gross weight and calculate your labour time versus the bare bright prices, the margin is indeed low.

Pretty cool you had the opportunity to do this.... i was wondering last nite about this. i was wondering about how much of the actual wire would be bare bright considering some wire i stripped in the past was shorted / burnt out. you know how it turns brown or green and is all slimy, sticky, ect. i stop stripping it if i find that. i just sell it as #1 ins wire. But considering that electricians remove alot of wire, i would think a descent amount of replaced wire would be shorted out like that. Idk just a thought.