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 Replies: 34 / Views: 7,757 |
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Valued Member
United States
216 Posts |
I work construction. One of the benefits is that during a tear down, I come across a lot of different kinds of metals that recyclers find valuable. These include steel (don't really care about that), aluminum and copper.
Dealing with recyclers, you learn a lot of things over the years. I've learned that recyclers will pay you more for stripped copper wire than insulated wire. While the process of stripping 16 gauge wire is tedious, and almost triple the amount per lb, ill do it.
Recently, I've started to pull copper pennies from change and what not, because I figure one day they'll all be gone. So this got me thinking. If I sell copper wire to recyclers, why not melt down copper wire into bullion and save some of it.
But here's where things get hairy. One, how to I go about melting down all this old copper wire? And two, is the copper wire used for electrical .999 percent pure, or are there other metals mixed in to help make it more conductive? I would really like some input and what not, so feel free to comment with advice and thoughts.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
548 Posts |
Erm, this is a coin forum so I'm not sure how relevant this discussion of copper wire is going to be. Are you talking about melting down copper pennies too, because I'm sure you know that's illegal. Quite apart from the fact that to make any serious money from copper you have to be buying and selling the stuff by the tonne.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1211 Posts |
The more important question is: Why?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
This probably belongs in the (non)Precious Metals forum. But the copper used in electrical wire is .999. This is the copper industries major market. Half of all copper mined goes to the wire industry.
To melt copper into bullion you would need a place and smelting equipment plus molds to form coins or bars.Since the melting point of copper is a little over 1900 degrees, you better upgrade your fire insurance for your garage or basement. Since the value of copper is $3.30 per AVDP pound, the investment and work to get and form 16 one ounce bars or rounds just to make $3.30 ........ well do the math.
As Demarco said , since it costs the Gov. about 1.6 cents to make a penny,the mint is not crazy about having to make more pennies at a loss, so it is illegal to melt pennies. I also own a construction company and see many guys collecting and stripping wire during coffee and lunch, they then sell it to the local scrapper for a couple of six packs or their weekly bottle. Unfortunately, that is probably the best you could hope for.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Copper wire does not need to be assayed.
It needs to be pure to be used for the job it is meant to do.
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Rest in Peace
 United States
1380 Posts |
Depends also on why you want the bullion. If planning to resell later, it's easier to sell if you leave it in wire form. Potential purchaser sees it in wire form, knows it's .999 pure and makes offer accordingly. Sees it as a bar of unknown purity (yeah, you tell him it's .999, but he takes that with a grain of salt) and offers less per oz or pound because of dubious purity. Same argument holds for melting coins, either copper or silver. You are converting from a known / guaranteed purity to a complete unknown in the eyes of any potential buyer, thereby lowering your ability to maximise selling amount.
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Moderator
 United States
187862 Posts |
Quote:
This probably belongs in the (non)Precious Metals forum. Yup, done.  |
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Valued Member
 United States
216 Posts |
Wow. Well thanks for all the info. I didn't think about the how changing the state would make a buyer question its integrity. Ill just sell it as it is. Thanks all.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
Your decision is sound. The weight of and space taken by copper make hoarding it unattractive. Strip your scrap copper wire, sell it and
do what you want with the proceeds. If you put the proceeds into silver or gold, that would strike me as being poetically appropriate.
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Valued Member
United States
216 Posts |
Sounds good FF. I got a 50 gallon trash can of copper wire that I've stripped from a job site recently sitting in my garage. It feels probably close to 70lbs of copper. I'll weigh it tomorrow and figure out how much it really is.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
Good for you--"Pennies from Heaven" (ha,ha)... If I had an ongoing copper source like that, I'd put the income from it straight into into PM's and build up a
"free" stack. There are better uses for the money, but I'd feel good about it because the stack would be free (at least as regards out-of-pocket cost) and the
money wouldn't be getting frittered away on ciggies, beer, food, rent and other such frivolities. Besides--PM's store a lot more easily. One ammo box can
hold an amount that's worth as much as a garage full of copper. Good luck with whatever you decide to do with it.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
Copper bullion is an oxymoron.
So by what Sel is saying, you can't even melt your pennies and draw them into wire that functioned if you went through the trouble. You would have to get them refined. They're less than bullion, so just enjoy them for what they are and forget that they are copper.
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Valued Member
United States
216 Posts |
Yeah using the proceeds to stack PMs sounds like a good thing to do. I'm sad I never thought of this til right now. But oh well, live and let learn.
I spent an hour stripping last night. Haha sounds funny. I got a decent amount done. Ill post pics up soon.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
But again ............ you spent an hour stripping last night ........... how much did you get ?
A pound ? Two ?. Now providing you can find someone to buy small amounts ............ and someone to pay you spot, which they won't .......... you just made $3.00 an hour or $6.00 an hour.
There is reason people don't do this for profit.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1247 Posts |
When I was younger, and copper was much cheaper, I used to help my dad strip copper wire from old buildings.
As I recall, 2 days work would net him around $2000.00. He would always go to the 'junk' yard with at least a ton of copper wire.
As I recall, copper back then was around .99 a pound. Today that same weight would net 6500.00.
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Valued Member
United States
216 Posts |
Quote:
But again ............ you spent an hour stripping last night ........... how much did you get ?
A pound ? Two ?. An hour of stripping netted me 7lbs of copper. I weighed the trash can and total weight is close to 38 lbs. And that's not including the copper I've already stripped and pulled out. At this rate, I'm hoping to net 80 bucks in wire, and I have a bunch of copper piping that I salvaged too, along with about 200+ feet of aluminum rain gutters. I'm hoping to get at least a couple ounces of silver from this haul. |
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Replies: 34 / Views: 7,757 |
Posted 11/01/2013 08:02 am
