I've been incredibly busy the last couple weeks. It's driving me nuts to not do anything I want to do in the shop. (But I did do some paid, monotonous work, so at least there's that.) And I have to stay off of this forum or I get REALLY itchy to do more, thanks to all of the inspiring work that is shared here. I have to finish the current projects first. I'm almost done with the drywall in the second half of my mother's home remodel project, and that's taking every bit of time I can find.
In the process of rewiring everything in the remodel (and with word getting out that I want brass, copper, aluminum, and lead for backyard metal casting) I ended up with a small mountain of wire taking up space in my shop waiting for me to strip it. It's to the point of getting in the way when I want to do anything in the shop, so it's time to strip it and melt it down.
Solid wire is easy (just run a knife or even vegetable peeler along the insulation, it glides along the wire and cuts the insulation and it peels right off). But stranded is harder.
I wondered if the method of running it between two steel rollers, cutting the insulation against the solid wire itself, might work if I dial in the pressure just right, using my bead roller if I could find an appropriate pair of dies and cobbled together a simple guide. I pulled it out, blew an inch or two of dust off, and realized the shearing dies were still installed. Hmm. I forgot about those. That would be even easier. I wouldn't even need to come up with any sort of guide. They're already on the dies.
Sure enough, it works great! I'll have to adjust for different gauge wire, but who cares? It works beautifully and I didn't have to fabricate ANYTHING. Since I store the proper hex keys with it I didn't even have to track down any tools.
I don't think I've ever gone out to the shop to do something and had it work this well or this fast. It's about time.
