Lead sheathing?

[mroliver77]

While we are on the lead subject I have a question. Someone here stated that lead cable sheathing has antimony and is harder than pure. I have never heard this. I went to my pile and found some and it does seem to be harder. Anybody know if this is true?
I also realised that if I clean the stuff there is prolly 100 lbs of copper wire inside. I am thinking of using an air hammer with a flat bit that has a tit or hook sticking out the middle and sharpened to get under the sheath and split it. Any other sugestions?
J

[blysmelter]

An electricians knife , or just burn it off.

[DLCTEX]

Smelt it in a large pot, salvage the lead and burn the insulation off the wire at the same time. The insulation will be flux and the wire is #2 copper scrap. Dale

[454PB]

I stripped several hundred feet of 1000 MCM lead covered wire many years ago. This stuff is for power wiring, and weighs about 10 pounds per foot. It also contains an oily/greasy dielectric material that resembles STP. I used a 10 pound sledge hammer. I laid the wire out on a concrete slab, stradled the wire, then walked down it striking it with the hammer. It split open like a weenie, and I then separated the lead and copper from the insulation and oil/grease as in skinning a deer. The lead was dead soft, I couldn't tell it from pure lead.