Send photos
Photograph the material, nameplates and quantity, then send them through the quote form, by email or by phone.
COPPER SELLER GUIDE
Copper Scrap Grades, Explained by a Buyer
The grade of your copper decides what it is worth. Here is how buyers actually grade it — and how to sort yours for the strongest price.
The four grades.
Bare bright: clean, uncoated, unalloyed copper wire — shiny, no tarnish, no insulation, thicker than a pencil lead. The top grade. #1 copper: clean copper tubing, pipe, and wire — may have light tarnish but no solder, paint, or heavy corrosion. #2 copper: copper with solder, paint, heavy tarnish, or mixed with other materials — still copper, lower grade. Insulated wire: its own category entirely, graded by the copper recovery inside — heavy-gauge insulated (like service cable) at the top, thin communications wire at the bottom.
How to tell them apart.
Look and feel: bare bright is unmistakable — bright, clean, heavy in the hand. #1 vs #2 comes down to contamination: solder joints, paint, or green corrosion push it to #2. For insulated wire, strip a short section and check the gauge and strand count — then weigh a foot of it to estimate recovery. When in doubt, photograph it and ask the buyer; misgrading in your favor just gets corrected at the scale.
Why sorting pays.
Buyers grade a mixed load at its lowest component — one handful of #2 in a bucket of bare bright drags the whole bucket down. Sorting into the four grades before you sell is the single highest-return hour in scrap copper. Keep a bucket for each grade as you work and the sorting happens itself. See our full copper grades reference →
Sell it the straightforward way.
Photograph what you have — nameplates, labels, and overall condition — and send it to Ironcrest for today’s offer. We buy nationally and coordinate pickup from your site.
Sell your copper to Ironcrest → | Call or text 312-880-8174 | Send photos →
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Questions, answered.
What is bare bright copper?
Clean, uncoated, unalloyed copper wire with no tarnish or insulation — the highest scrap grade. Must be thicker than roughly pencil lead; thinner clean wire grades as #1.
What is the difference between #1 and #2 copper?
Contamination. #1 is clean copper — tubing, clean wire, no solder or paint. #2 has solder, paint, heavy tarnish, or other contamination. Same metal, lower grade.
Does insulation lower the grade?
Insulated wire is graded separately by copper recovery, not as #1/#2. Heavy-gauge insulated like service entrance cable carries the most copper per foot.
What about tinned or silver-colored copper wire?
Tinned copper (common in marine and electronics wire) is still copper underneath but grades below bare bright. Strip a section to confirm what you have.
Can I mix grades in one load?
You can, but you will be paid at the lowest grade in the mix. Sort first — it is the highest-paying hour in the business.
THE GRADES
Four grades, one metal.
Bare bright, #1, #2, and insulated — everything you have falls into one of these, and the difference is real money.
New: Explore the Ironcrest Copper Resource Center — grades, markets, identification guides, and interactive tools.
HOW SELLING WORKS
Three steps to an offer.
Material review
We review what the material is, its condition and quantity, and whether it fits a direct purchase.
Receive an offer
For qualifying material, we discuss a direct purchase offer and the next steps.