Wire stripping machine: the fastest way to strip scrap wire

Bluedog International / October 22nd, 2019

If you’re getting into the scrap metal business you will quickly learn that stripping copper cable is like gold!   So what is the best method to strip scrap wire to meet your scrap metal business goals?  Should you burn it or use a utility knife to strip it by hand? Should you invest in a manual wire stripping machine or spend a few bucks and get an Industrial wire stripping machine?

In this article,  we will explore various methods for stripping scrap copper cable and explain why a wire stripping machine is the best tool.

1.  Burning Scrap wire with an open fire

Technology Level:  Asking for trouble
Likely Result:  Illegal as per Federal Clean Air Act and could  result in fines of
$25,000 USD plus max five-year jail sentence!  Extremely hazardous to your health and the environment.
Scrap copper value:  Not good.  Scrapyards commonly penalize burnt copper and give you a lower rate for its blemishes.
Scrap wire copper quantity: Low

Burning scrap wire is one of the easiest ways to recover the copper from the insulation.    With that being said, there are huge risks in doing so, and we highly suggest you consider much safer and cleaner methods to strip scrap cable.

It’s true that heat is used to strip copper wire in a commercial setting.  However,  there are big differences between burning copper wire over an open flame,  as what an amateur might do vs. how an advanced factory which uses industrial incinerators with appropriate ventilation procedures.

Burning insulated copper wire in an open flame releases toxins that can damage your nervous system, respiratory system,  cardiovascular system, not to mention increasing your risk of cancer!  So, why take that risk?

As for the Environment, burning copper wire releases carcinogens and toxins into the air and into the ground around the burn site, including “dioxins, furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, particulate matter, heavy metals (such as lead, arsenic, selenium, and cadmium) and other pollutants.”  Again,  why take that risk?

Fines for not following the Clean Air Act are steep.  You could face penalties in the tens of thousands of dollars or even jail time.  Worse yet,  If someone catches you burning insulated wire, the EPA gives out $10,000 rewards.

If you’re caught and convicted, you could receive a $25,000 fine and a five-year jail sentence.  In conclusion:  Burning scrap wire is dangerous and not worth it!

And lastly, Most scrap yard will only give you half the dollar value for burnt wire of what its worth as is with the insulation still on!

Bottom line: you would be much better off using a wire stripping machine to strip your scrap copper rather than burning!

2.  Stripping of the insulation with a Utility knife

Technology Level:  Old School
Likely Results: Sore hands,  Knife cuts, WSIB Claims, and Stitches
Scrap copper value:  Good
Scrap wire stripping experience:  Painful, due to sore hands and huge amount of time required to strip wire.  Eventually,  you will wind up selling your scrap wire for #1 or #2 insulated after you realize the hard work involved!

Just about everyone getting into the scrap wire business starts out with a utility knife!  When stripping large volumes of scrap wire, its difficult to completely avoid accidents.  Most beginners will earn a few battle scars along the way resulting in having to keep a first aid kit near-by.

You might even have to visit the hospital if the knife slips and gouges your hand.  This could result in stitches or if your really not careful,  losing a finger!

Sadly, most folks usually wind up selling a lot of UN-stripped wire for low prices when they realize how time-consuming the utility knife method is.   Instead of using their time to make contacts, find new sources of material, and grow their businesses, utility knife scrapers remain stuck in the old school way of scrapping.

Furthermore,  there are much simpler ways of stripping copper cable!

Getting a motorized cable stripping machine can pay for itself in no time and you won’t have to worry about slicing up your hands!

3.  Stripping Wire using a Low tech manual Wire Stripper

Technology Level:  Low
Likely Results:         Long time finicky setup,  sore hands from pulling wire, frustration after you realize there are faster and easier ways to strip wire!
Scrap copper value:     Good
Scrap wire stripping experience:   Challenging – A stepping stone to buy a motorized machine!

People in the scrap business by nature, are quite innovative and entrepreneurial.  They are take pride in being shrewd and know how to make a buck. Quickly they realize that burning wire and or stripping it with a utility knife will keep their business from growing so people start thinking of different ways to improve productivity.    When your first starting out,  budget is tight and the first type of machine a budding scrapper metal guy will consider is a  manual wire stripper.

Manual wire stripping tools are normally mountable on a table or workbench and they have adjustable wheels to support the wire and 1 pin style blade to put a slit into the insulation.  Truth be told, they really aren’t much better than using a Utility Knife.  If you have large amounts of wire, you will eventually find it tedious to set up one of these little machines because of the constant toying with it to strip various wire sizes.

After using it for a few hours your hands will soon get tired of having to pull the wire through the tiny feed wheels.  Especially if your wire is larger than a 1/2″ in diameter.

With these wire stripping tools, it’s like having a constant tug of war until the insulation starts to give and the Pin blade cuts a slit into the wire.  Another factor is to firmly mount these units to the edge of your workbench otherwise it will slip when you try to pull the wire through the rollers with too much tension!

With the amount of constant adjustment you will have to do to operate these little manual wire strippers, we highly suggest going with a Drill Power Multi Feed wire stripping machine such as the BWS-38-MF-DA.

4.  Using a Single Blade – manual drill powered wire stripping machine

Technology Level:  A little better than using a utility knife
Likely Results:   Constant manual adjustments for blade height, wire commonly slips out from under blade,  Lots of headaches,  burnt out drills,  worn out feed wheels.
Scrap copper value:       Good
Stripping Experience:  Not very reliable.  We would recommend going with a Multi-Feed Drill powered manual stripping machine.   There is a reason Single Blade manual wire strippers are price so low!

When it comes to stripping scrap copper cable,  using a single blade manual wire stripper or single blade drill powered machine is truthfully one step above using a utility knife.  Yes, it will strip scrap wire, but it may not be the most efficient method.  In fact, you probably are going to get tired of the wire slipping out from under the blade which is one of the most common complaints about these units.

If you have any wire kinks, single blade manual wire strippers require constant lowering and raising of the blade assembly to strip wire.

We would only recommend one of these units if you have a really low supply of scrap copper wire.

If you are going to process scrap wire on an ongoing basis,  get a Motorized Multi Feed machine.   It will be way easier for processing scrap wire, and you won’t have any hassles having to adjust a small unit or worry about attaching a drill or burning it out.

These lightweight units can not take the grueling punishment larger machines can.   We get phone calls from our customers complaining about how they bought a small single blade unit from one of our competitors and they usually switch into the motorized multi-feed machines in no time.

BTW- Hand crank mode on manual wire strippers is tedious and will tire your arm out.  Always consider a drill powered or hand crank.

Many of those little wire stripping machines never pay for themselves because without a doubt you will be fumbling around trying to get them to work right.   These machines are also priced accordingly.  So, you will get what you pay for.

5.  Stripping Scrap wire using a Multi-Feed drill powered manual wire stripping machine

Technology Level:  Medium
Likely Results:    Self Adjusting Spring Tension System, Hand Crank and or drill powered.  Just feed the wire into the sized feed whole and it strips!
Scrap copper value:     Good
Stripping Experience:   These types of machines work quite well, but if you plan on stripping 3/0 AWG and above it could wear out your drill or your arm if you’re trying to turn the crank by hand!

The BWS-38-MF-DA is a heavy-duty multi-feed manual wire stripping machine aimed at scrap guys who may not have super high volumes of wire but still want a quality manual unit for stripping scrap wire.

The first thing you will observe about BWS-38-MF-DA is the weight.  It’s not some 5lb cheap unit.  The weight of the BWS-38-MF-DA is 50 lbs which are amazing and will give you the support and durability required to strip 1000’s of 0lbs of scrap copper wire.

You can have confidence the BWS-38-MF-DA is not some flimsy tool.

The BWS-38-MF-DA features a spring tension self-adjusting multi-feed system for stripping the wire.  Just feed the wire into the right size feed hole and away you go – As spokesman Joe Williams from Bluedog Wire Strippers often states.

Key features:  You do not need to manually adjust the BWS-38-MF-DA.  Its very simple to use and works like a charm.  You can either hook up a Drill to operate the bottom feed shaft or you turn it with the included hand crank.

In conclusion,  if you want a manual drill powered wire stripping machine, these units hands down beat the pants off a single blade machine.  Yes, they cost a little more money, but for the difference of less setup and time saved you will be thank full you chose one of these units for stripping copper cable.

BTW- A tip for some of our industrious clients, many people buy these units and hook up there own motor drive with a pulley to save a few bucks.   For the budgeted minded scrap metal guru, this is an excellent choice of machine.

6.  Using a Single Blade – Electric Motor wire stripping machine

Technology Level:  Basic Motorized Electrical Wire Stripping Machine
Likely Results:    Very good for stripping of insulation on wire diameters of 1/4″ up to 2000 MCM.   Not so easy for wire thinner than 1/4″ in diameter.
Scrap copper value:    Bare bright Copper
Stripping Experience:  Plenty of manual adjustment. Works great for the same wire size. Not recommended for 1/4″ scrap wire and below.

Single Blade Machines such as the BWS-60 are generally good for wire ranging from 1/4″ up to 2000 MCM cable.   Wire thickness under 1/4″ we highly recommend using a Multi-Feed wire stripping machine because the wire won’t slip out from under the blade and cause headaches for your operator.

A lot of single blade wire stripping machines manufacturers like to tell customers they are perfect for stripping 14GA, 16GA or even smaller sizes such as 20 AWG.   This simply isn’t true and you will be thankful you picked a Multi-Feed wire stripping machine such as the BWS-50 MF or the BWS-50 SAR if you plan to strip wire gauges this thin!

Pros:
– Strips 1/4″ diameter up to 2000 MCM with no problem
– Great for stripping the same size of wire
– Easy Blade Changes
– Great for Stripping Wire with Thick Insulation such as XPLE

Cons:

-Stripping 1/4″ wire diameter and below is not recommended
– Not recommended for stripping Romex Cable
-Only cuts on 1 side of the insulation on the wire
-Requires constant adjustment for every different size of wire

After some time, unless the wire is 1/4″ or larger, the scraper will soon realize that a single blade machine takes some effort to adjust.  In fact, for thinner gauge wire it will take longer to adjust!

We have had customers strip thousands of pounds of 500 MCM using a BWS-60 single blade wire stripping machine.   The blade is a large diameter which is perfect for stripping wire with thick insulation.

If you have only 1 size of wire to commonly strip, the BWS-60‘s is an economical choice.

7.  Stripping scrap wire with a Multi Feed Electric Motor wire stripping machine

Technology Level:   High
Likely Results:           Strips wire like a dream.
Scrap copper value:       Bare bright Copper
Stripping Experience:   Awesome!  Easy to use.
Just put the wire into the right size feed hole and the machine does the rest.

One of the best ways for stripping scrap copper wire s is to use a Multi-Feed wire stripping machine.   Hands down, the most economical and fastest way to process scrap copper.  All you have to do is put the wire into the right size feed hole and away you go.

Multi-Feed wire stripping machines feature spring tension systems.  You won’t have to worry about manually adjusting these machines for different wire sizes because the holes are already per-pitched.

These machines are ideal for operators who don’t want to mess around with constantly adjusting a machine.  The time it will save you to strip wire and your ROI will pay for these machines in no time.  Adjustable Tension.

Pro’s
-Strips wire from 16GA up to 2″ Diameter no problem
-Easily adjusts to each size of wire
-Replaceable blades

Cons:
-Not recommended for XLPE cable

Overall these are great machines and highly recommended if you need to strip scrap copper wire.    Most popular models:   BWS-50 SAR and  BWS-50 MF

If you are running a scrap business, a multi-feed machine is the fastest and most economical solution for stripping multiple gauge wire sizes.  It will save you time and money for processing scrap copper wire.

8.    Industrial wire stripping machines

Technology Level:  Modern Scrap Metals Entrepreneur
Likely Results:          Excellent Profits
Scrap copper value:       Bare bright Copper
Stripping Experience:   Top notch.  Industrial wire strippers live up to their expectations of stripping heavy-duty cable and maximize your scrap copper profits.  Feature-rich machines built to last.

If you have large amounts of scrap wire we suggest going with an Industrial cable wire stripping machine.   These are excellent for stripping power main cable, XLPE cable,  marine cable,  mining cable,  any type of cable with thick insulation and large copper cores.

Industrial wire stripping machines are popular choices for Scrap yards, demolition companies,  wire and cable manufacturers,  electricians,  large electrical contractors, military,  and more.

Most Popular Models:  BWS-80-HD and the BWS-100v2

Bluedog wire strippers offer the most quality heavy-duty automatic wire stripping machine on the market!   Trusted by thousands of copper wire recycler’s as the best choice copper wire stripper

Yes, you’ll lay out a few more of your hard-earned dollars on this smart investment for your business, but clearly you’ll see a return on that investment in a few hours or days of use.

Industrial wire stripping machines are popular choices for Scrap yards, demolition companies,  wire and cable manufacturers,  electricians,  large electrical contractors, military,  and more.

Key features:   Robust designs – Machines weigh over 1000’s lbs. Strips on both sides of the insulation. 4 HP motors,  Has Forward and Reverse Directions,  Capable of stripping 100,000’s lbs of lbs.

Bottom line:   If you want an Industrial workhorse for copper wire stripping consider the BWS-80 HD or the BWS-100v2

9.  A Granulator to process bulk scrap wire

Technology Level:  Industrial High tech Scrapper
Likely Results:  Pure Copper and you can process wire which won’t fit into a mechanical stripping machine
Scrap copper value:   #1 Copper Chop
Scrap copper quantity:  High – Super Jackpot

A granulator will allow entrepreneurial scrapers to process, communication cable, car wiring harnesses,  telephone cable, Ethernet cable, electrical house wire,  bulk cable, extension cords,  coaxial cable.  You can literally process any kind of cable in bulk with a Granulating machine.

You can get the best of all worlds with a Copper Chopper Granulator.   For more details check out the BDG-8L

Unquestionably, scrappers who decide to buy a wire stripping machine are astute business people who are highly motivated to make their business a success!

To conclude,  Bluedog wire stripping machines offer the best machines for stripping copper cable on the market.  Stripping scrap copper wire is like gold and if you need the machine to do so, Bluedog Wire Strippers is your # 1 choice!

Wire stripping machines are healthy for the environment and they are healthy for the Scrap entrepreneur so they can be assured years of profitability into the future.  No toxic fumes will be released into the enviroment when you use a Bluedog wire stripping machine to process scrap copper cable.

If you want to grow your scrap metal business, a Bluedog wire strippers is totally the way to go!

And always remember: Don’t scrap it, strip it!

Team Bluedog
www.bluedogwirestripper.com

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