sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Outside Plant OSP Construction Abandoned/Obsolete Armored Copper Drop.

From below, 150 to 200 pairs seems spot on.

That's actually super dangerous almost everytime I've seen a street lamp like that they have a hot chassis
Would be interesting to wave a non contact voltage detector around that.

Missed that last picture of the other end hanging off the street light. Even if that light was "hot", that cable has a poly outside jacket so there is no danger of it becoming hot. Still, that picture makes the situation look even worse. Really no excuse for leaving it like that.

-Hal

Here ya go:

https://www.britannica.com/technology/terneplate

And if you score it with your splicer's knife, along the axis of the cable, and then try to bend it back, the razor-sharp edge will trim your finger nail, right up to your first knuckle. I would show you a typical scar, but there may be children reading and they would be traumatized. (my favorite nephews Jeff "-51" Green, and the other one near the Arctic Circle.)

Used for casket linings.

I think that I've come across it before. And the results weren't good for my fingers.

Interesting. I never investigated, sort of just thought it was a spelling error that turned into a trademark.

Yeah its pretty vicious, some brands and qualities are worse than others. Modern cable tends to have the jacket welded to it very tightly so you need to skin the whole thing in one go, while older cables you can peel the jacket off, then work on the ternplate by itself. It's very satisfying to start a cut and push it through the metal.

I have almost abandoned my splicer knife. It's either too sharp and cut a pair while I ring the cable, or too dull and I cant effectively skin it. A hook blade razor almost never fails

Could a pipe cutter be used to skin that type of cable?

There was one in the old BSP and I found it in the tool pile. It either never worked great or is worn out. I tried it a couple time and it looks like it should do everything. It cuts with a tiny razor blade, and you can set the depth of that blade. Then you can set a roller to the cable diameter. You squish the razor into the cable then and it's supposed to be easy to ring cut or skin the cable.

It always seemed like more trouble than it's worth. The utility knife with a razor hook blade is great.

Sawzall

I thought ternplate was only used as the outer shield of Stalpeth cable. The picture isn’t that clear but that cable appears to be Alpeth.