A woman wearing blue overalls and a pink tank top sits on a bench in a workshop lined with tools. Holding a broken copper wire in one hand and a small mechanical tool in the other, she looks at the camera and smiles. “Let’s make money stripping …” she says, pausing for effect. “Wire!”

This play on words is common in a specific corner of TikTok where users document the process of stripping copper wire in order to sell it for extra cash. Most of these creators don't appear to collaborate or use a common hashtag, and they haven’t coined a new term ending in -maxxing. But many of their videos have a similar, visually striking setup: A complex appliance is broken down into bits, or an industrial wire is split like ropes of licorice, and in the end, what’s left is a bundle of glistening amber.

The participants are diverse: Some are hobbyists or electricians looking for extra income. There are also people who claim to be saving for a big purchase, and others who appear to be cash-strapped teenagers. They speak a wide range of languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, and Romanian. At least one has an Etsy shop for selling hand-cast copper bricks, also known as ingots, which are made by pouring molten metal into molds.

Selling scrap copper is nothing new. The metal is relatively scarce, a strong electrical conductor, and fully recyclable—qualities that have made it a particularly valuable scrap metal for centuries .

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