Copper Scrapping Hacks - Scrap Metal For Beginners - Tips And Tricks!

[Music] hello pandas stubb here want some scrap or copy hacks scrap metal tips to make more money I've noticed that the information on copper scrapping is pretty scattered so allow me to help you get paid the most at your scrap yard in this video we're gonna quickly break down the basics of scrapping copper and then share some tips and hacks from the pros to help you get paid the most from each run so if you're a beginner at scrapping copper then this is for you and if you're a seasoned scrap dog well then stick around because I could use your help at the end and now in order to proceed let's assume you've already identified and collected some scrap copper you know bright red metal smells like blood and turns green and might get sold that's the stuff wire plumbing pipe electric motors it's the most electrically conductive non-precious metal can be recycled an unlimited amount of times without degrading and does not react with water that means it doesn't rust this unparalleled versatility is why copper retains so much of its value in any age or condition and is why it's prized by scrappers everywhere if that's you then here are your best practices for prepping to sell as well as how to proceed when you go to cash out number one clean and sort these are the same thing because cleaning simply means removing all of the material and contaminants that would degrade the value and that's how you determine the grade which is how you sort it there are three main grades which you'll sort by and they are bare bright wire and pipe this one's pretty intuitive it means it's clean of all contaminants and bright and shiny that's the top grade now right below the top grade is number one and you'll see intuitive naming is out the window so that means it's clean but it's not great this stuff here I know it's bare and bright but it's way too thin so this is not gonna go in as very bright this is gonna go in as number one because they'll lose a lot of this when they attempt to melt it down number two copper means it's got contaminant so in terms of wire that means it's still got its insulation on it and in terms of pipe that means it's got things like solder and paint and then with this stuff you need to cut these connectors on if you don't well they're gonna be mad there is actually a fourth category and that's called number three in terms of wire that means Christmas lights also in this category is roofing copper which you're not likely to find but it's a low grade because it typically has a lot of tar stuck to it so there's a lot of contaminant this sorting is the most important step because if you don't the stuff you bring in will be weighed as the lowest grade mixed in which means you'll get paid less and you aren't gonna get away with holding up the line while you pick through everything in front of the scales next in line is stripping your wire now this is a point that's been talked to death already and most people will tell you that it's obvious you need to strip your wire to make the most money but I disagree there is some wire that should always be stripped but a lot of it you'll just be wasting your time at best and losing money or worse something like this which is many small strands or something like this which have multiple layers of insulation well if you strip all the insulation off of something like this you're removing a large percentage of its weight and you may just be breaking even and in some extreme cases like an extension cord you might actually be getting less money after you remove all that weight off my rule of thumb is that would rather sit on my thumb then strip wire but there's a lot of people out there who love spending their time doing just that either one now when it comes to fancy high grade stuff like this they definitely do want a strip kind of wire I don't have a fancy table mounted wire stripper maybe I would strip more wire if I actually had one I mean yeah probably but if you're like me then I'm an important hack for getting the insulation off of this stuff is you definitely have to get it warm so for a lot of people that means just putting it outside and leaving it sit in the Sun for a little while and that's great but if you live in the a perpetual winter like I do then you got to come up with something different I'll show you what I do see for me in the frozen wastes of Canada I needed something a little more reliable so I like to put it over the hot water pipes that'll make it nice and warm and won't take very long either now this stuff is not frozen solid it's not like toasty warm that would be ideal but parts of it aren't there so this is my favorite method as a person who doesn't have a professional wire stripper I just take a really big knife get it nice and sharp and the gloves are super important here start on one end all's flat lift it up a little bit and then it's nice and easy to just get in there now we've got it started go at it from the other direction and there you see it took us only a minute to strip maybe 40 pounds of wire and another minute to coil it up make it nice my point is any wire you can strip reasonably efficiently is what you should be stripping having a table top stripper will broaden that category for you but whether it's worth a couple hundred dollars depends on your volume strong gloves strong knife step wire nice and warm is what makes it efficient you might hear people tell you to light a bonfire and just burn the insulation off but not only would it be callous and juvenile to start your own mini environmental disaster just to make a couple extra bucks but charred and burned copper is downgraded so you won't get what you think you're going to get out of it and it makes you look like a copper thief not to mention it's illegal we'll give you cancer and a lot of scrap yards refuse to buy it your reputation with the scrap yard is important as we'll cover in a few minutes so for me burning wire is a hard no there are also subcategories of wire and you'll have to ask your scrapyard which ones they buy at different prices for me I've got two categories that I take the time to keep separate and that's the VX label cuz it actually adds up pretty quick the ethernet cable don't know why that one's more valuable they just they'll pay me a little bit more if it separates so I do now my next one which I don't hear anybody else talking about I'm not sure why is bring it in in its original form off the rack as it were melting it down to form coins and bricks can be fun and is an effective way to clean the metal but not only does it add a significant cost in terms of fuel and time but you may actually get paid less for it the scrap buyer has no way of knowing what's in those bricks so unless you have a really good relationship with them already they'll weigh it in is dirty copper and that's not good now you've got your copper all cleaned and sorted and you're ready to go in and get your money yes sure but there are a few things to consider firstly remember that you don't work for the scrap yard and they don't work for you you are a vendor and they are your customer and the prices have room for negotiation and you want to negotiate but they aren't just going to give everybody a higher price just because they asked for it so how do you get it volume my scrapyard sees 500 pounds as the line of separation 500 pounds or more of one type of material is where they will consider giving you the higher volume price which isn't necessarily a hard rule but that's just the scale that they're working with it also helps if you come by often so if you've got the space then it probably makes more sense to save the material up and bring it all in at once when you've got a large amount and here's the tip from youtuber Ryan Sharpie to help with that okay now I unfortunately don't have a lot of pieces of large pipe but I do have enough that I can at least show this so you take the the thicker ones and then just grab it grab your hammer and see now takes up a lot less space so if you're gonna pile this up for a while there you go it's just not really worth doing with the smaller stuff because like it you're not gonna reduce the volume by very much now if you're stacking it up you'll want to keep an eye on the market price of copper and cash out when it's high copper prices tend to change a lot more than silver or gold and it's not unusual to see the price of copper go up or down by 50 cents over the course of six months that doesn't sound like much but it's a difference of two hundred and fifty bucks on a 500 pound run of course the scrap yards are quick to react to a dip and slow on a high and they don't pay market spot price because they need to make a profit - but negotiating will be much easier when the markets are up so you've got a stack and the market is healthy time to get paid yes sure but pick the right day if you can going on a weekday not after a long weekend and not at the beginning or the end of a month this will be the least busy time for them and that will make it easier to negotiate for the price you want plus you won't feel rushed if you had questions which isn't a bad idea anyway just to get to know the people that you're working with because that building that relationship is the main thing that's going to affect your ability to get the price that you want well that in volume it's also best not to go in winter because construction work slows down in the winter months and the slump and demand will negatively affect the prices of copper finally if you are fortunate enough to have multiple scrap yards to choose from call ahead and see you is offering the best price before you go in different scrap yards have different buyers for the material that they sell to and they're not all the same you can also do your negotiating over the phone if you have a rough idea how much you'll be bringing in and just as your reputation is important to them their reputation should be important to you because there are still unscrupulous scrap buyers out there and I have chosen to stop supporting certain ones because of things that they've done not to me but other people you're building a relationship so you need to pick one that works for you and that is everything you need to know to get paid the most for your scrap copper I certainly hope this has been helpful or at the very least entertaining and if it has then you can help me out by clicking that like button it helps more than you know for scrappers of all experience levels please let everyone know in the comments if there are any important points that I missed or if you have any tips for making the most of your time when scrapping copper subscribe for more scrap knowledge leave it better than you found it and keep doing the face [Music]

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Views: 186,659

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Id: wRDSMpbkekY

Length: 11min 35sec (695 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 06 2020