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Cutting fittings off copper pipe for scrap?

The Habitat I work with has a bunch of copper pipe that we pulled out of the convent that we are converting to homes. The scrap price of plain copper (no fittings, "clean") is much better that that with fittings & we are looking for a good way to remove the fittings. "Good" means fast, easy, cheap (I know, "pick 2").

I threw away a 5/8" bolt cutter, or that would have been the first thing that I tried (it's mostly 1/2" pipe). But I might be able to borrow one if that would be a good solution. Anybody used a bolt cutter on copper pipe?

I have a Porta-Band saw, with a stand. Whadya' think of that? Might be kinda' slow.

How about an ax & chopping block? Would it work & how fast would the ax go too dull to work anymore?

I suppose a throat less shears would be great, but even Harbor Freight's $140 is too much.

I'm assuming that an abrasive saw would clog up on copper. Yes?

What about a circular saw? Would it REALLY need a special blade if I didn't care about the quality of the cut?

I know that in the collective experience here there is the answer, Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt
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The idea of a circular saw only occurred to me as I was posting. I just tried it and it works great. Fast, easy, cheap - all 3!

For the Habitat work, I'm going to use a table saw so 1 person can do it without clamping or vising the pipe. And an old, fine pitch, carbide tooth blade.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

Well, I did this today, using a table saw with a carbide blade. And it was by far faster than any other available way. Here's a good example: 2" drain pipe, heavy wall, took 3 seconds to cut. Cuts in 1/2" &

3/4" were too fast to measure. It basically took the cutting part out of the operation, time wise. I.e., the time was spent moving pipe, not cutting it.

Bob

BTW - No 1 (clean) copper scrap is fetching close to $4/lb. I cleaned probably 400 - 500 lbs.

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

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