Lead Sheathed Cable: Buy or Avoid?

[PBSmith]

My local scrap yard has a quantity of lead-sheathed cable that measures about 3/4" OD. I was tempted to buy it but didn't. Three questions:

Can anyone venture a guess about the origin and use of this cable? I didn't look closely at the wires or the insulation.

Do the guts of the cable likely hold potentially harmful substances, such as asbestos or ????

Assuming there are no potentially harmful materials behind the sheathing, is there a relatively easy way to cut the sheathing loose from the wires and insulation?

Price is 40 cents/pound, so it's attractive in that regard.

[Uncle Jimbo]

I know a person who bought 25# of this cable and he just melted it down into ingots with no problems. At least when I seen him the other day he had not grown a third arm and his face hadn't started to rot or slid off his head. But that was a couple of days ago.
:bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2:

[powderburnerr]

I use it when I can find it, I cut in 2 ft sections ,score it and bend to break and pull apart,melt the lead , burn the paper off the copper and sell it for #2 copper . more than pays for the lead,
from the size , sounds like telephone cable.

[lightman]

I've melted a lot of it. Phone cable is more common, but some electric cable was lead sheathed. It's soft, about 98.5%, with a little arsenic and maybe antimony. It may be weathered and have a white powder coating on it. Try not to stir this up and breath it. Its probably lead oxide. You can cut it in about 2 ft pieces and pull the wire out. I use a sawzall with a course blade. Catch the chips and save the wire for scrap. My "source" told me that the paper inside can be dusty and should be respected, too. The wire may have a greasy coating on it to combat moisture, probably silicon base. Any joints or valve stems will be soldered, probably with something like 70-30. I just work mine in front of my shop fan, but a mask is not a bad idea. For 40 cents, I would buy as much as I could, as you should turn a profit from the copper.

This was part of a haul that I scored early this year, about 700-800#. The contractor that did the job cut it up for the copper and I got the lead.

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy164/PTheodo/IMG_0820.jpg?1420425384097

[454PB]

While I worked in power plants, the older ones used to use lead sheathed cables for low voltage (relatively) high amperage conductors. We replaced those conductors on some transformer banks, the cable was 1000 MCM. It was roughly 1 1/2" in diameter and contained 61 strands of #10 copper. The lead sheathing was used to reduce induction, since the working voltage was 2400 volts. At each end, the lead covering had a clamp installed that was connected to ground.

Once it was all replaced, we cut the old cable into lengths of about 20 feet (it weighed 3 pounds per foot) for scraping. I would lay out a length, then straddle it and hit it with a 10 pound sledge hammer....the cable would split like a weinie and the lead and inner insulation could be pulled off the copper. My company only sold the copper, the lead was too cheap back then to be worth messing with. Myself and a fellow employee (both of us boolit casters) grabbed all the lead, which was dead soft. I used it for many years and still have some stored away.

The messy part was the inner insulation, which was coated with a very sticky heavy oil, almost like STP. That stuff smoked and smelled awful.

[scottfire1957]

While I worked in power plants, the older ones used to use lead sheathed cables for low voltage (relatively) high amperage conductors. We replaced those conductors on some transformer banks, the cable was 1000 MCM. It was roughly 1 1/2" in diameter and contained 61 strands of #10 copper. The lead sheathing was used to reduce induction, since the working voltage was 2400 volts. At each end, the lead covering had a clamp installed that was connected to ground.

Once it was all replaced, we cut the old cable into lengths of about 20 feet (it weighed 3 pounds per foot) for scraping. I would lay out a length, then straddle it and hit it with a 10 pound sledge hammer....the cable would split like a weinie and the lead and inner insulation could be pulled off the copper. My company only sold the copper, the lead was too cheap back then to be worth messing with. Myself and a fellow employee (both of us boolit casters) grabbed all the lead, which was dead soft. I used it for many years and still have some stored away.

The messy part was the inner insulation, which was coated with a very sticky heavy oil, almost like STP. That stuff smoked and smelled awful.


STP or! PCB? OMG!!

[Duckdog]

Buy it up! It should be be pretty close to pure. I used to work with it years ago, and depending on the size of the copper inside, it can be pretty easy to strip. If it is a bit bigger copper, you can take a skinning knife and sore the lead sheath. The try grabbing one of the wires and it should peel along the score from the knife. I did a lot if it this way.

Only some of it will have the dielectric oil in it. If it does, it is mineral oil, with most likely some PCBs in it. Just smelt it outside and don't keep your head over the pot and you should be A OK. In any case, it should be a very thin layer of oil.


You should be able to recoup your cost with the copper.

[454PB]

That PCB question came up a lot, and of course we had to test EVERYTHING!

In this case, the cables were manufactured before PCB's were even invented.

[scottfire1957]

Ahh, hell. I'm just showing my age with the PCB reference.

[Duckdog]

Funny thing is, when we have oils spills from transformers with PCB contaminated oil, we clean up the oil/dirt ad send it to a landfill to be incinerated to burn off the oil, then bury the dirt.

No, I'd be on that lead faster than a wood duck on a june bug.

[trapper9260]

I get that lead when it show up and use it.get all you can it is lead and will do what you want to use it for .

[PBSmith]

Okay, thanks for the information. I'll take another look at it and ask the scraper if he knows the cable's age and origin.

[PBSmith]

I went back and bought the cable. It had three CU wires inside. I used an axe to chop it into two-foot lengths. Clamped these in a vise and drove a very sharp wood chisel the length and bent the sheathing back so I could remove the wires. No messing substances, but the inside of the sheathing had a black rubber residue from the bundled wires.

This smelted down okay but stank worse than anything I've yet melted. Didn't get much return on this for my efforts, and would not use again unless very desperate for scrap.

Edit:
This isn't a condemnation of all cable sheathing lead. If mine had been larger diameter and not had the rubber residue inside it might have been a different story.

[zuke]

At least you learned something and shared it.
Thank you

[mjwcaster]

What is your return on the copper going to be?

Did the lead at least end up cheap/free?

[PBSmith]

You're welcome, Zuke.

mjw, if the scraper buys my copper wire back, or even if he doesn't, the bottom line was half decent. It worked out to about 55 cents based on the purchase price of 40 cents and the final weight of ingots.

See Edit to my last post. My attitude is based mainly on the time to strip the sheathing and the smelt stench, most of which came off before the lead actually melted. Depending on where the future price of lead goes, I might someday be happy to put up with the smell. Thanks.