Some VERY interesting silver plated PTFE wire from the 60's...

[AuggieDog]

So, this is 10 gauge braided wire that is composed of 20 separate strands of 40 gauge braided strands that are then composed of 7 strands of very thin silver plated wire. In reality the 10ga cable is actually composed entirely of this very thin silver plated wire. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but my thinking is the huge amount of silver plated surface area would yield some decent results...? Can anyone chime in with their thoughts...? Pics forthcoming.

 

[AuggieDog]

By the way, I have 35 pounds of it.

 

[Master Nater]

i assume this is silver plated copper wire...? with those small strands, you'd think it would be a pretty good yield. i guess my first thought would be to run a small sample, and see what kind of yield you get. which method were you thinking of for recovery?

this will be an exciting experiment to follow. i hope you share results with us.

 

[anarxi]

well, it's actually quite a thick wire,
I think the silver content will not exceed 8% of the total mass.
for an accurate understanding you need to dissolve 100 grams in nitric acid (diluted) you will need about 350 grams of acid.
Well, weigh how much silver you get

 

[anarxi]

but the cable is so thick that it is easy to “fluff” it and use either electrolysis in sodium sulfite or melange (washing off silver in a solution of sulfuric and nitric acid), an electrolyte for batteries with a density of 1.4 and heating in a water bath is suitable.
ratio of acids: sulfuric and nitric 10/1
A liter of such a solution contains up to 300 grams of silver.
you will still have copper as a bonus...

 

[RichardSukhoi]

So, this is 10 gauge braided wire that is composed of 20 separate strands of 40 gauge braided strands that are then composed of 7 strands of very thin silver plated wire. In reality the 10ga cable is actually composed entirely of this very thin silver plated wire. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but my thinking is the huge amount of silver plated surface area would yield some decent results...? Can anyone chime in with their thoughts...? Pics forthcoming.

An interesting aside is that huge amounts of this wire standard were purchased by Military and NASA. Then the “red plague” was observed - copper oxide forming due trace contamination and moisture. The standard was prohibited from use and the wire permitted only for mock up and demo assembled. It cost many many millions of damage. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_plague_(corrosion)

By the way, I have 35 pounds of it.

 

[RichardSukhoi]

but the cable is so thick that it is easy to “fluff” it and use either electrolysis in sodium sulfite or melange (washing off silver in a solution of sulfuric and nitric acid), an electrolyte for batteries with a density of 1.4 and heating in a water bath is suitable.
ratio of acids: sulfuric and nitric 10/1
A liter of such a solution contains up to 300 grams of silver.
you will still have copper as a bonus...

This seems ideal to me. Strip the Teflon, un braid the wire until each strand is free, and plate off the silver.
All should be aware to not burn off Teflon. It forms volatile HydroFlouric acid which is lethal in small concentrations. I never understood how but something along the lines of entering the myelin sheaths of the nerves that control dilation of blood vessels in the lungs. Death is horrible. The effects are only slowly reversible as your body needs to grow new nerves. Methods suggested are to axially slit the sheath and hand peel.
Industrial scale pulverize the wire and float the plastic. You can buy machines designed to strip wire for metal recovery. Another warning is that certain aerospace wire under M22759 “high strength” “Phelps Dodge 135”, is a copper Cadmium alloy, typically nickel plated but also found silver plated. Smelting this alloy I think volatilizes cadmium which is very toxic. It is also transdermal so even handling the alloy long enough will poison you.