Scrapping wire means stripping the insulation off copper wire and selling the bare metal to a scrapyard for a higher price. Stripped copper can fetch up to 50 percent more than insulated wire, making the extra effort worthwhile if you have enough material and the right tools. The process comes down to identifying what you have, choosing how to strip it, and grading your copper before you sell.
Know What You’re Working With
Not all wire is copper, and not all copper wire is worth the same amount. Before you start stripping anything, you need to confirm the metal inside and sort your wire by thickness. The two metals most commonly confused are tinned copper and aluminum, since both look silver on the outside. To tell them apart, scratch a strand with a knife or razor. If you see a reddish tone underneath, it’s tinned copper. If the metal is silver all the way through and noticeably lighter in your hand, it’s aluminum. Aluminum is worth significantly less, so mixing it in with your copper will lower your payout.
Wire thickness matters because it determines how much copper you’ll actually recover. Thin wires like standard 12-gauge household wire (Romex) contain roughly 75 percent recoverable copper by weight, with the rest being plastic insulation. Heavy-gauge cables in the 250MCM to 750MCM range can yield around 90 percent copper. That difference in recovery rate affects whether stripping is worth your time.
Tools for Stripping Wire
You have three basic options: a utility knife, a handheld wire stripper, or a tabletop stripping machine.
A utility knife or razor blade is the cheapest way to start. You score the insulation lengthwise, then peel it off by hand. This works fine for small batches but gets tedious quickly and carries the highest risk of cutting yourself. Always wear gloves and strip away from your body.
Handheld wire strippers are a step up. Manual models have a notched jaw that clamps onto the insulation while you pull the wire through. Automatic strippers grip and pull the insulation in one squeeze. Both work well for standard household gauges but struggle with very thick cable.
Tabletop stripping machines are the go-to for anyone processing wire regularly. You feed the cable into one end, a blade scores or slices the insulation, and bare copper comes out the other side. These machines handle a wide range of wire sizes, and the settings for different gauges are typically printed on the machine or included in the manual. A basic hand-crank model costs around $50 to $100, while motorized versions run several hundred dollars. If you’re processing more than a few pounds at a time, a machine pays for itself quickly through time saved.
The Stripping Process
Start by sorting your wire into piles by type and thickness. Keeping grades separate from the beginning saves you from re-sorting later. Have a container for stripped copper and a separate one for the plastic insulation you’ll be discarding.
For hand stripping, warmth makes the job easier. Insulation gets softer and more pliable in heat, so working outdoors on a hot day or warming wire briefly in an oven (inside a black box to absorb heat) can speed things up considerably. Once the insulation is warm, it peels away with less resistance.
Never burn insulation off wire. It releases toxic fumes, it’s illegal in most areas, and it discolors the copper underneath, which drops your grade and your price. The clean stripping approach is always the better option.
With a stripping machine, the process is more straightforward. Set the blade depth for your wire gauge, feed the cable through, and collect the bare copper. Change the blade when cuts start getting ragged, since a dull blade tears insulation instead of slicing it cleanly, leaving residue on the copper.
How Copper Grades Affect Your Price
Scrapyards grade copper into tiers, and each tier commands a different price. Understanding the system helps you maximize what you earn.
- Bare Bright is the top grade. This is bare, uncoated, unalloyed copper wire that looks bright and shiny with no tarnishing, paint, or solder. It must be completely free of insulation and impurities. This is what you’re aiming for when you strip clean Romex or THHN wire.
- #1 Copper includes clean, unalloyed wire at least 1/16 inch in diameter. It must be uncoated and free of solder or paint, with a minimum copper content of 98 percent. The difference from Bare Bright is that #1 copper can show slight oxidation or a duller appearance.
- #2 Copper covers wire that still has solder, paint, or some coating on it. It looks dirtier or more blemished, and the minimum copper content drops to 94 to 96 percent. If you can’t get your wire perfectly clean, it falls here.
The price gap between these grades is real. Stripped Bare Bright copper can sell for roughly double what you’d get for the same wire sold with insulation still on it. That’s the core math of wire scrapping: you lose about 25 percent of total weight by removing insulation, but the per-pound price jumps high enough to more than compensate.
Is Stripping Always Worth It?
Not necessarily. The economics depend on wire gauge and volume. For a 100-pound load of 12-gauge wire, stripping leaves you with about 75 pounds of clean copper. That 75 pounds at the Bare Bright rate typically beats 100 pounds at the insulated rate, but only if you factor in the time spent stripping. If you’re hand-stripping thin wire at a slow pace, the hourly return might not justify the effort.
Heavy-gauge cable is almost always worth stripping. With recovery rates around 90 percent, you lose very little weight while gaining a massive price upgrade. Thin wire in small quantities is often better sold insulated, especially if you don’t have a machine.
A practical rule: if the wire is thicker than a pencil, strip it. If it’s thinner and you have less than 20 or 30 pounds, consider selling it as-is unless you have a machine that makes quick work of it.
Where To Find Scrap Wire
Electrical equipment accounts for about 14 percent of all copper usage, which means copper wire shows up in a wide range of everyday items. Old appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, washers, and dryers contain copper wiring in their motors and power cords. Extension cords, holiday lights, and old electronics all contribute. Renovation and demolition sites generate large volumes of Romex and other building wire. If you know an electrician or contractor, job-site scrap is one of the most consistent sources.
What Scrapyards Require
Most states require scrapyards to verify your identity before purchasing metal. Expect to show a government-issued photo ID, and you’ll likely need to sign a statement confirming you own the material or have the right to sell it. Some states go further, requiring fingerprints for certain transactions.
Many jurisdictions also impose automatic hold periods on purchased scrap. This means the yard holds your material for a set number of days before processing it, giving law enforcement time to check for theft reports. These rules vary by state, so check your local regulations. Payment may be delayed during the hold period.
Timing Your Sale
Copper is a commodity, and its price fluctuates. As of late 2025, copper trades in the range of $10,000 to $11,000 per tonne on the London Metals Exchange, near record highs driven by demand from power grid infrastructure and sectors like AI and defense. Analysts expect prices to stay in that range through 2026, with long-term projections pointing higher as global demand is expected to overtake supply from 2029 onward.
For a casual scrapper, timing the market down to the week rarely makes sense. But if you’re sitting on a stockpile, it’s worth checking current copper spot prices before making a trip to the yard. Prices shift enough month to month that a well-timed sale on a larger load can mean a meaningful difference. Most scrapyards post their current buy prices online or by phone.