Scrapping Kinda Sucks

My son (with my help of cashing in a favor ) got into the IBEW electrical union as an apprentice about 9 months ago. Its a 4 year program to become a Journeymen and he is a few months short of 1 year completed. He works 4 days and is paid to go to school 1 day a week at the unions training/teaching center.
Anyway I am embarrassed to say how much scrap copper he has saved & cashed in over the last 9 months.
You could say I have some free time at work now and then so he bought a wire stripper for $35 off of Amazon that you run with a drill to strip wire. I stripped a bunch of wire for him. But 99.9% of his money came from a Fortune 500 company that everyone has heard of . They wanted their data center removed and wired for office space . The company my son and 3 electricians works for had the contract to remove a data center and rewire it for office space . They were removing 1" copper wire and every Friday they would make a scrap yard run at lunch time and split the money 4 ways. They did not have the time to strip the wire because it had a thick hard plastic sheathing so they got #2 price. The electricians did not want to be bothered with the 12, 14 & 16 wire so they gave it all to my son , it was individual wire pulled out of conduit and that is the wire I striped for my son with the stripper he bought. My son worked that job for 5 or 6 months ( he still works with the same company , but at a different job) and made some serious scrap money .On top of the data center scrap , they were tossing out a set of Fluke meters used for testing something data related. The guys he worked with told him to take it and put the set on Ebay , he did and got $3000 or $3500 ( I dont remember which) for the set.
I can only imagine how much the other guys made scrapping the 1" copper before my son was sent to that job.
Now that that job is finished he "only" gets about a 5 gallon bucket of scrap wire every 3 or 4 weeks that I strip for him. At $4.30 per lb for #1 copper in SW PA a 5 gal bucket about 3/4 full (not packed in just tossed in) pays around $160-$175.
 
Last edited:
Dom 332 said:
My son (with my help of cashing in a favor ) got into the IBEW electrical union as an apprentice about 9 months ago. Its a 4 year program to become a Journeymen and he is a few months short of 1 year completed.
Anyway I am embarrassed to say how much scrap copper he has saved & cashed in over the last 9 months.
You could say I have some free time at work now and then so he bought a wire stripper for $35 off of Amazon that you run with a drill to strip wire. I stripped a bunch of wire for him. But the bulk of his money came from a Fortune 500 company that everyone has heard of . They wanted their data center removed and wired for office space . The company my son and 3 electricians works for had the contract to remove a data center and rewire it for office space . They were removing 1" copper wire and every Friday they would make a scrap yard run at lunch time and split the money 4 ways. They did not have the time to strip the wire because it had a thick hard plastic sheathing so they got #2 price. The electricians did not want to be bothered with the 12, 14 & 16 wire so they gave it all to my son , it was individual wire pulled out of conduit and that is the wire I striped for my son with the stripper he bought. My son worked that job for 5 or 6 months ( he still works with the same company , but at a different job) and made some serious scrap money .On top of the data center scrap , they were tossing out a set of Fluke meters used for testing something data related. The guys he worked with told him to take them and put the set on Ebay , he did and got $3000 or $3500 ( I dont remember which) for the set.
I can only imagine how much the other guys made scrapping the 1" copper before my son was sent to that job.
Now that that job is finished he "only" gets about a 5 gallon bucket of scrap wire every 3 or 4 weeks that I strip for him. At $4.30 per lb for #1 copper in SW PA a 5 gal bucket about 3/4 full (not packed in just tossed in) pays around $160-$175.
Click to expand...
I can relate back in 08 the company i worked for closed we had to turn the building back to the way it started as we pulled all the wires and other scraps between 6 guys we all walked away with over 3k just from scrap
 
Mixed up said:
I can relate back in 08 the company i worked for closed we had to turn the building back to the way it started as we pulled all the wires and other scraps between 6 guys we all walked away with over 3k just from scrap
Click to expand...
that was a nice bonus
.
 
Last edited:
I bought 5 wheels this morning for $60.
142 pounds = $184.60 at $1.30/lb.
Nice $124 profit.
Best part, these have no tires on them to cut off. :)

I scored a brand new corded Milwaukee sawzall off MP for only $100.
My 12v Milwaukee 'hacksaw' didn't have the oomph to cut through tires.
 
Dom 332 said:
My son (with my help of cashing in a favor ) got into the IBEW electrical union as an apprentice about 9 months ago. Its a 4 year program to become a Journeymen and he is a few months short of 1 year completed. He works 4 days and is paid to go to school 1 day a week at the unions training/teaching center.
Anyway I am embarrassed to say how much scrap copper he has saved & cashed in over the last 9 months.
You could say I have some free time at work now and then so he bought a wire stripper for $35 off of Amazon that you run with a drill to strip wire. I stripped a bunch of wire for him. But 99.9% of his money came from a Fortune 500 company that everyone has heard of . They wanted their data center removed and wired for office space . The company my son and 3 electricians works for had the contract to remove a data center and rewire it for office space . They were removing 1" copper wire and every Friday they would make a scrap yard run at lunch time and split the money 4 ways. They did not have the time to strip the wire because it had a thick hard plastic sheathing so they got #2 price. The electricians did not want to be bothered with the 12, 14 & 16 wire so they gave it all to my son , it was individual wire pulled out of conduit and that is the wire I striped for my son with the stripper he bought. My son worked that job for 5 or 6 months ( he still works with the same company , but at a different job) and made some serious scrap money .On top of the data center scrap , they were tossing out a set of Fluke meters used for testing something data related. The guys he worked with told him to take it and put the set on Ebay , he did and got $3000 or $3500 ( I dont remember which) for the set.
I can only imagine how much the other guys made scrapping the 1" copper before my son was sent to that job.
Now that that job is finished he "only" gets about a 5 gallon bucket of scrap wire every 3 or 4 weeks that I strip for him. At $4.30 per lb for #1 copper in SW PA a 5 gal bucket about 3/4 full (not packed in just tossed in) pays around $160-$175.
Click to expand...

Nice and good of you to help him out :)

Got a cheap Vevor striper(copy of popular $$$) off Amazon awhile back, still in the box But i don't get much worth stripping. And when i do i wanna make sure I'm gonna take in it shortly after. Or maybe I'll try sealing some in a tote, to see if it stays bright. Most the copper pipe i got is gonna be #2 cause of corrosion, tho i seen a way to clean it up. Tho again until i have enough to bother with that.

I've saved up a decent amount of not worth stripping wire but still in comparison to the scrap YTers i watch, it's nothing really LOL Most of what i find/get is steel.
 
AutomaticWeapon said:
I bought 5 wheels this morning for $60.
142 pounds = $184.60 at $1.30/lb.
Nice $124 profit.
Best part, these have no tires on them to cut off. :)

I scored a brand new corded Milwaukee sawzall off MP for only $100.
My 12v Milwaukee 'hacksaw' didn't have the oomph to cut through tires.
Click to expand...

No tire disposal is a bonus itself!

Picked up a tote of working tools, from a free MP garage clean out ad last fall. One of them was a HF keyless sawzall. I have my 18v Makita and then a old corded allen key HF that I used for cutting up like 100+ tires n all the other odd vehicle jobs(man I'd of killed for these batt tools when younger, even the cheaper air tools weren't worth it). I'm taking the keyless & an angle grinder to a buddies, that I've stopped at when scrapping in his area to cut stuff up before. He let me use his but I already planned to bring blades and cut-off wheels to not use his consumable. Might as well toss some junk in a small tote cause figured I'd be there often enough. Well before that area was over scrapped and now higher fuel cost. Tho things could change for both in a month or so, who knows ;)

Just glad i have the power tools I do have, even using them it's hell on my hands.
 
AutomaticWeapon said:
I bought 5 wheels this morning for $60.
142 pounds = $184.60 at $1.30/lb.
Nice $124 profit.
Best part, these have no tires on them to cut off. :)

I scored a brand new corded Milwaukee sawzall off MP for only $100.
My 12v Milwaukee 'hacksaw' didn't have the oomph to cut through tires.
Click to expand...
I just got done doing 20 tires found the cut off wheels work the best but I was cutting thru the rim to cut the bead then the side wall is the easy part the tread is the hard part but as I was at the recycling place for the tires I seen a guy that had the tires cut all the way around the bead and he must have just pry the bead off the rim at that time .
Next time I will give that a try if I have to
 
Mixed up said:
I just got done doing 20 tires found the cut off wheels work the best but I was cutting thru the rim to cut the bead then the side wall is the easy part the tread is the hard part but as I was at the recycling place for the tires I seen a guy that had the tires cut all the way around the bead and he must have just pry the bead off the rim at that time .
Next time I will give that a try if I have to
Click to expand...

When i cut up over 100 junk tires, used a sawzall for the tread and bolt cutters for the beads. BUT as you already know, on a wheel the grinder works best for beads n cutting right into the rim.

 
If you have a trick on tire removal post it up I sure as hell would like something easier
 
BOOT said:
Nice and good of you to help him out :)

Got a cheap Vevor striper(copy of popular $$$) off Amazon awhile back, still in the box But i don't get much worth stripping. And when i do i wanna make sure I'm gonna take in it shortly after. Or maybe I'll try sealing some in a tote, to see if it stays bright. Most the copper pipe i got is gonna be #2 cause of corrosion, tho i seen a way to clean it up. Tho again until i have enough to bother with that.

I've saved up a decent amount of not worth stripping wire but still in comparison to the scrap YTers i watch, it's nothing really LOL Most of what i find/get is steel.
Click to expand...
copper wire here does not to be bright to get #1 , it just to be free or insulation and other stuff.
I know this because I burned a little bit (1/2 lb at most) that was laying around at camp for a few years after construction in a fire and set it aside from the bright stuff and expected to get #2 for it, but the scrap yard guy said it was still #1.
I burned it and dunked it in a bucket of water soon as I pulled it from the fire and that cleaned it up a bit.
 
BOOT said:
Also BULK disk off amazon/ebay are the way to go. Just split a 105 pack with a buddy for $15 each :)
Click to expand...
My son had those they are thin compared to the better ones from Lowe's that i went thru but it depends on your cut off arbor on your tool if it will spin in the arbor I ended up stacking a used one on a new one to do the last 2 tires
 
I tried getting a tire machine on MP last weekend for 100$ but it went fast .
I did see one on northern tool for 400 has potential if you want to make money on face book it could pay for itself
 
@Mixed up & @BOOT
How much are you getting at scrap yard for the average OEM aluminum car wheel ?
 
Dom 332 said:
@Mixed up & @BOOT
How much are you getting at scrap yard for the average OEM aluminum car wheel ?
Click to expand...
Not asked but i bet it's lower than others LOL Flint town yo!

I'm gonna build some rails/sides for my box and make a longer trip to a better priced yard. When i have enough higher priced scrap, to be more than worth the extra fuel.
 
Mixed up said:
I go to one yard and they have me on file so I don't need to do all the rectal scanning and they seam fair and give a recipe with a break down of your scrap with price and weight
Click to expand...

You should look into a lift gate or Vevor powered crane, if you plan to hobby scrap while retired.

[edit] quoted the wrong message thx to it messing up my post the first time. Meant to quote the one where you mention went to the yard with magnet
Mixed up said:
Yesterday loaded the car hauler full 3 boat outdrives and a old snowmobile trailer and section of antenna tower just cleaning the yard up.
I'm going to the yard that has a magnet my back is not up to the unload we shall see
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
BOOT said:
You should look into a lift gate or Vevor powered crane, if you plan to hobby scrap while retired.
Click to expand...
The yard with the magnet was not open Friday so I ended up unload my self but lucky for me the grapple guy was on standby he got the heavy stuff
 
Mixed up said:
The yard with the magnet was not open Friday so I ended up unload my self but lucky for me the grapple guy was on standby he got the heavy stuff
Click to expand...
Only time i seen the local yard use a grapple, was years ago. When i took cars on a trailer, to this one yard that i think is closed now. They use to swing it into the ground and knock the tires off for yah too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top