Lead sheathed Telephone cable

[Papa Jack]

I have a big roll of lead sheathed Telephone cable.
I'd like to pull the wires out of the lead tube before I smelt .
I just tried cutting the tube with a tube cutter and breaking off the pieces, that worked great, slow, but it worked. But the wires are hard to pull out, or the tubes are hard to pull over the wires ,whichever way you want to look at it.
Anybody have a good way of doin this, short of just melting the smokey mess in a pot and skimming off the copper wire ....
Thank's ! "Papa Jack"

[lwknight]

I never had to do that job myself but , all the cable sheathing I have seen in the scrap yards were split longways and pried open to release the cables inside.
You can get a tube splitter attachment for the air chisel that should get it done easily.

[e15cap]

Air chisel from Harbor Freight. Keep it flat as you can to avoid digging into the cable and making more work. Best, Roger

[imashooter2]

You can split it with a hatchet if you don't own or wish to buy air tools.

[10 ga]

I use hatchet or limb loppers. Run the narrow blade from the loppers up into the sheathing and scissor away. 10

[Papa Jack]

Interesting Idea about splitting the tube.....I'll check that out.
Yes, I have a good assortment of air tools and chisels..
I'd never be able to get my loping shears inside, mine are compound jaw, too big...
I had a nice pair of Cable cutters, they grew legs and left I guess.....
Thank's for the ideas guys !!...."Papa Jack"

[shotman]

do it when cold it is much easier hatchet and hammer works good If cold the coating breaks away easy airal is about pure lead underground has antimony for hardness

[Lloyd Smale]

we had a bunch of lead encased power cables that i got from work. A fellow worker and i striped it and split the lead and copper between us. There was about 200 feet of it. What we found that worked was clamping off one end and taking a hooked lineman skinning knife and just ripping a cut down the middle and then spliting it open. It was a mess though as that cable was not only encased in lead but also filled with grease. Ended up with a pile of lead and each of us got 400 bucks for the copper so it wasnt bad for a days work.