Any electricians on here?

V

Vicv

Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
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Or anyone who has had the fun of stripping the I guess original lumex wiring? The black braided jacketed stuff from probably 50 years ago. If you have you'll know rope, cardboard, even concrete(just kidding) doesn't hold a candle to the abrasiveness of that stuff. In one day turned a shaving edge into a butter knife along the whole edge and even scratched the sides of the blade of my recurve cable knife. Admittedly the vendor specifies an hrc of 53-54 in an unknown stainless but the edge was gone to the point it took about 10 passes per side with a 120 grit belt to raise a burr(also about ten cuts into a king 1k to remove damaged metal) maybe stripped about 10-15 8" sections of it. The edge wasn't folded. It was abraded away. I think if he can get enough supply that should be Jim's new material instead of 5/8 rope!
 
I don't think so. It's like strands of fiber impregnated with a black binder than degrades over time so your hands are black after from the powder
 
Just looked it up. I've used that tape. Are you sure this 60+ year old stuff is made of that?
 
Ooh felted asbestos. Tasty! Good thing I was working in an insulated attic so just so happened to be wearing a tyvek suit and my asbestos mask. Safety first
 
Don't recall encountering anything like that in my 33 years in the trade, sounds like nasty stuff.
I have cut into asbestos and lots of glass fiber stuff, but haven't found an edge that will hold up to it for long.
 
That's strange. Maybe it's a Canadian thing. It basically is romex just instead of a nice soft plastic sleeve it's this nasty braided fiber out jacket that's impregnated in a type of varnish or resin. It's the original romex that replaced nob and tube. Old stuff. Found in an attic while removing nob and tube wiring
 
Not the first time I've encountered it. Always find the stuff in old houses. Also the conductors are wrapped individually in brown paper twisted around them then the outer jacket
 
Vicv said:
That's strange. Maybe it's a Canadian thing. It basically is romex just instead of a nice soft plastic sleeve it's this nasty braided fiber out jacket that's impregnated in a type of varnish or resin. It's the original romex that replaced nob and tube. Old stuff. Found in an attic while removing nob and tube wiring
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I think I know what you are talking about. I think what I can remember seemed very deteriorated and kinda fell apart in my hand....fell apart where it didn't matter but I had hell stripping it where I wanted to.
 
Knob and tube! I'm industrial these days and haven't heard or seen that in a while. Nothing like having the highline running through your attic!
 
I mostly do industrial as well but I'm out of work right now so I'm helping my grandpa out who does residential here and there. Yup good old knob and tube. Surprised more houses haven't burnt down from that stuff. You could see all the hot spots in the joints. Covered in shredded paper blown insulation
 
Sorry to hear you are out of work. I'm on an oil rig, so things aren't looking great for me with the current market. I'm just lucky to be here I reckon. It's pretty much day to day.
 
Thanks. It's no problem things are just slow here right now. Sure hasn't helped the knife budget though. With doing a bit of work with houses and sharpening I'm not doing too bad. Plus my wife makes a killing waitressing 10h a week!
 
If I lose this gig I may be back to pulling romex. It's been good and hopefully we will all survive this downturn. It's nice when there is an oil boom. I'm one of the few that like to see the gas prices go up. Sorry. But yeah, luckily I'm straight on knives for the moment. Been looking at rifles to start an 8 year old on....something that is legal....243 or bigger. That's kinda on hold too.
 
Dude!....you almost read my mind. I'm probably going with the 30-30, but I'm a Henry guy. My main elk rig is a Henry 45-70, scoped. I'm good out to 200yds with it and it folds them up! Nothing against Marlin, I might even check them out. I know their selection of affordable rifles is better. I would be adjusting the length of pull a few inches, even with open sights, and even so the gun would hold value. He's small for his age so we'll see.
 
Stripping wire is the only reason I have for using a chisel grind. I only bevel down one side of my hook knife to act like a plane when drawing the flat side against the conductor. This might not necessarily help, sounds like some tough stuff.
 
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