How the heck do I clean this?

[JohnH]

I've got a roll of lead sheathed telephone cable. The wire is multi strand, each with a plastic coating. I've never recovered lead from a source like this and for whatever reason, I'm concerned that the plastic is gonna contaminate the melt. Is my head just lying to me?

[Pipefitter]

Slice it length ways with a razor knife and peel the lead out. Shorter lengths of the cable will be easier to work with.

[sutherpride59]

I would get as much separated as possible. The plastic will float to the top but it will make a lot of fire, smoke, and garbage to clean up.

[mdi]

The cable sheath I've seen (high voltage underground cable) isn't fused to the cable/wires, sorta a semi-tight sheath. Slitting and peeling is what I'd do...

[JimB..]

Cut it, then take all those little insulated copper wires back to the scrap yard. They are worth far more in that condition than the mess you’ll make burning it off.

[frkelly74]

Those hook blade roofers knife blades for utility knives might work well for getting the lead separated from the non lead.

[lightman]

The contractors that I have gotten it from cut it into short lengths and use Linemans pliers to pull the wire out. Most of what I've seen was cut into lengths of 2 to 3 ft. It looked like they used a sawzall to cut it with.

I wouldn't put the sheathing in my pot with the wire in it. That sounds like a big mess in the works.

[Dusty Bannister]

I agree with JimB in post #5. Cut the lead cover, remove it and recycle the inner wires just as they are. A lot less mess to deal with and the recycler knows exactly what they are getting. You will never get all the garbage off the wire, just spend a bunch of time and fuel making a mess of things. Good luck.

[JimB..]

The recycling for the copper wire is interesting. The wire gets fed into a nibbler where it gets cut into short lengths and then to a shaker which separates the copper from the insulation.

The nibbler will also easily vaporize an adult raccoon.

[RydForLyf]

The nibbler will also easily vaporize an adult raccoon.

Ok, I gotta know more.

[gwpercle]

I use metal snips ( Aviation Snips ???) to cut the lead sheathing and peel it away from the plastic coated copper wire . The lead is not fastened and pulls off easily .
You can keep some of the copper wire for wrapping and fixing and if a lot take it to the scrap metal yard ... copper at one time brought a fairly decent price .
Gary

[JimB..]

Ok, I gotta know more.

My 23 yo daughter was learning to operate the machine which is inside. Raccoon was in the rafters and for no apparent reason fell into the machine. It exploded, bits of hair and pink mist. Machine didn’t even think about slowing down.

[Martin Luber]

Scrapyards have wire strippers, a pair of pinch rollers with a fixed axe blade that splits the cable open. If you have a lot, let them strip it for the copper, you get the lead back.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Scrapyards have wire strippers, a pair of pinch rollers with a fixed axe blade that splits the cable open. If you have a lot, let them strip it for the copper, you get the lead back.

Yep, I bought 300# of the split sheathing from a scrap yard. Good stuff.

[15meter]

What's the diameter of the whole cable? The small cables 1-1/4" dia or less can usually be cut with a utility knife, clamped on one and a hook blade work.

Larger dia, I use an air hammer with a "seam ripper" chisel. I've done up ~4" telephone cable. There are about 2 gazillion wires in a cable that size. Save it and sell it for copper. Most scrap yards around here won't touch wire that has been "burnt" out.

And you DON'T want to melt the lead without removing the wire first. It will be the nastiest melt you will ever do. Exponentially worse than the worst range scrap you will deal with.

I've done both, and melting telephone sheathing with the stuffing still in is almost as much fun as juggling skunks.


P.S. it really is great lead.

[dondiego]

Are you still juggling skunks?

[jsizemore]

I split the lead along it's length and peel the insulated wire bundles out of the split lead sheath. Carry the insulated copper wire back to the scrapyard for more lead scrap. Your actually saving them the labor cost to do it themselves.

[15meter]

Are you still juggling skunks?

When I can't find any porcupines.

[oley55]

May I suggest not substituting armadillos when neither porcupines or skunks are available on account of them being the only non-human species known to carry and transmit leprosy. Just saying....

[15meter]

May I suggest not substituting armadillos when neither porcupines or skunks are available on account of them being the only non-human species known to carry and transmit leprosy. Just saying....

Thanks for the tip, got enough problems already, don't need to complicate things with a disease of biblical proportions.