I have been working on a lot of building projects, with not
much time for anything else these last few years.  As part of these projects, I ended up with a
lot of short scraps of electrical wire, as well as longer runs of old wire that
were removed.
Usually when you strip the
insulation off of wire you only need to take off an inch or less to make a
connection.
What if you wanted to strip
off many feet--what would be the best way to go about this? To recycle the wire, and get the best return
on the scrap value, it helps to strip the insulation off the wire. Scrap companies pay about a $1 per pound more
for copper without the insulation than they do if the insulation is left on.
I have heard of people putting the wire in a
fire to burn off the insulation but that didn't sound very environmentally-friendly to me.
Getting the individual conductors out of the larger cable wasn't very difficult
as they are made to be peeled back. Getting the copper out of the insulation is
another story.
I needed a quick, easy
and cheap way to cut the insulation off the wires. I came up with a very simple but effective
design. It is made of two pieces of wood,
some screws and a razor blade. I think
the pictures do a good job of explaining the build but basically I screwed two
pieces of wood together, drilled a hole where they met, and then put a razor
blade between
them such that it stuck into the hole a little. You push the wire in one side to start and
then pull it through. As it goes through the blade cuts a long incision in the
insulation that allows you to peel it off.
I ended up with about 15 lb. of wire scraps from doing
this. I was able work on this as I was
watching TV and relaxing in the evenings. The extra money I will make on the
scrap is probably not worth the time, to be honest, but the satisfaction of
getting the full value for my scrap made me feel better.
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Re: Scrap Metal Wire Stripper
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