So THAAAT's Cable Sheathing!

[Goatlips]

Just blind luck but I was at a garage sale last week and asked the patron (who mainly sold old tools) if he had any lead. Another customer grabbed me and said "follow me!" In the back of a crane truck he had a half dozen 6 foot cables, consisting of a huge copper (!) wire surrounded with insulation, the whole encased by what had to be a soft (pure) lead outer shell. There were some strange connectors and taped on weather cones of some sort. Anyhow I asked what he wanted for them, and he said just take 'em. [smilie=1:

I'll have to figure out the best way to get the cables apart, but thanks to this forum I knew just what I had. Like others have said, it never hurts to ask! :mrgreen:

Goatlips

[randyrat]

Good grab, cut it up with a chop saw. Wear a mask.

[anachronism]

Don't forget to sell the copper wire for scrap. You may be able to trade it for lead or lino at the recycler. You could probably cut it into smaller lengths & drive the copper out with a hammer & punch if it's not wrapped too tight.

[James C. Snodgrass]

Goat lips, I liked your site . As far as gettin the lead free from the cable goes I would try a air chisel ? Good luck James:-D

[Dale53]

I have a friend who is a lineman. He also shoots muzzle loaders competitively. He told me that cable sheathing can come in one of two alloys. One is nearly pure lead and the other contains antimony. I had always thought that they were all pure lead. Sure enough, I ran into some of the antimony bearing sheathing.

Moral of this story: Don't just blindly accept the statement that it is all pure lead. Check it out. I can use both types, so I make ingots of it and check it before marking the ingots for use.

FWIW
Dale53

[imashooter2]

My father was Bell lineman and we shot literally tons of cable sheath boolits. I still have about 300 pounds left in stores...

Anyway, there are a few different alloys used for cable sheath. Bell sheath was arsenical lead. It air cooled soft, but would heat treat nicely when alloyed up.

To get the sheath off the cable, use a hatchet and hammer to split the sheath down the length of the cable and then peel it off.

[DLCTEX]

The air chisel with the ripper for sheet metal and clamping the cable between the jaws of a wood working vice works well for removing cable sheathing, as does a torch over a tub, then burn the copper in a fire to clean it enough for sale. DALE

[454PB]

I've stripped hundreds of feet of it. Lay it on concrete and simply smack it with a sledge hammer. It will split like a weeny, then you just pull the lead off the insulation and copper.

[30yrcaster]

I used to buy lots of cable sheathing back in the 80's from a guy that had it in ingots for about 20 cents a pound.

The cable sheathing I had at the time was 99% PB and 1% antimony from the charts I had then.

[mikenbarb]

I have found that the newer cable sheathing is made from soft aluminum and just be carefull what you grab for free. I found this out the hard way when I told a friend to drop a bunch off to me.LOL.
I use a cutting torch to melt the lead off the older cables and it works pretty good but gotta watch your heat with melting the other stuff. Its gotta be smelted anyway so any impurities will come out in the process and be sure to wear a respirator and stay upwind.

[Frank46]

I have a small meat cleaver type tool this is used by lineman when they strip cable with lead sheathing. Knife edge blade at the front and the whacking edge is about 3/8" thick. We used to scrounge lead cable in the dumps. tie one end to something, find something to whack the cleaver with(usually a 24 ox or heavier ball pein hammer) and start stripping. Have someone hold the stuff in the interior and just keep whacking. Don't know how many pounds we stripped. Made fishing sinkers out of the lead and sold the copper. Or you could substitute a small camping axe of a decent size. On some of the cable you really don't want to burn them.The wrappings are oil soaked and when they catch fire there is a lot of dark sooty smoke that you don't want to breath into your lungs and some of the oil contains PBC's. Something else you don't wanna mess around with. Frank

[Goatlips]

Great replies all, thanks folks! While I have your ear, I have about four garbage cans stuffed full of scrap wire, mostly knob and tube, but no place to burn it without the F.D. coming over. Short of stripping off the tarry insulation with a knife, is there another way to get at the copper?

Goatlips

[imashooter2]

My Dad brought home a lot of wire trimmings and we'd strip them by hitting them with a hammer on a steel plate to split the insulation. Not bad work for a couple of kids, but I wouldn't want to sit down today and clean a barrel full.

What will the yard give you for the stuff as it sits?

[powderburnerr]

Goatlips I just stripped off a bunch ,I just cut it in 4 foot lengths , and pulled it under a sheetrock knife with a new blade ,, it peeled right off ,,Dean