If you ever scrap copper for recycling in the past, I’m sure you remember exactly what I’m talking about. Stripping copper wire for scrap was not Sunday suit and tie work. It was rough, dirty work more often than not interspersed with some danger. The image above — heaps of tattered, yellow-brown insulation strewn across a square of grass — could have appeared in the backyard or garage photography studio from years past. It is a story all too familiar to many scrap collectors.
Mmm, Just Like the Good Old Days — of Earning a Few Pesos Here and There
Stripping copper wire for scrap was a way of life. It was a weekend hustle, a side gig, for many — and even a summer project for others. You would pull old electrical cable from the wrecks of houses demolished for new development. There was just one thing they were all there to do and that was get the shiny copper out of its unyielding jacket of plastic, or some sort of rubber compound.
Copper had value, and it hurt to see that pile of naked rusty-metal get taller… weirdly satisfying too. Yes, the prices were always up and down, but it sure was exciting making a dollar out of wire that would have gone to the dump.