Wire strippers

[Roger]

I was just wondering what wire strippers you guys like to use and how many different ones you carry on the job as many do things others dont. My favorites were the small yellow klien in the photo and the blue handled kliens. The far right are made by UZ products and are by far the best quality strippers of this type I've come across. The yellow kliens next to the blue ones are a new purchase for me I like the way they cut the sheath on #12 and #14 Nm cable. Just wondering what your favorites are both for stripping wire and removing Nm sheathing.....Roger

http://images.snapfish.com/33%3B7743923232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E232%3A%3D%3B9%3A%3D6 88%3DXROQDF%3E23235%3C693%3A947ot1lsi

[mdshunk]

This is a timely post, since I just went through this discussion with one of my helpers. I like the 'T' style stripper, made by Klein, Ideal and others. The ones with the red handles are calibrated for stranded wire, the yellow handles are calibrated for solid wire, and the blue handles are calibrated for both. I like the T style that have the 6-32 and 8-32 screw cutoff holes in them, since that is a right handy feature. They also have the little hole in the side for bending the hooks on the wire (I NEVER backwire). I have tired two styles of automatic strippers, and never really found one that would strip "used" conductors very well. When you have to strip a little more off an old conductor, you don't always have the luxury to cut it back to "straight wire". The automatic strippers tended to cut off the conductors if there were any crinkles in it. Becuase of this, when I used the automatic stripper, I also had to carry a set of T strippers. Eventually, I just switched back to the T strippers. I particularly like one certain model from Ideal, which strips from 16 AWG to 8 AWG. Not many strippers go as big as 8 gauge, so I like this model. I go through about 2-3 pairs a year. Some of the newer styles have bent, "ergonomic" handles. They don't seem to fit my hand very well, so they frustrate me. I used one model for exactly one day before I pitched them as far as I possibly could across the lot of a new home under construction. Never used the model with the NM sheathing cutoff. When last I looked, you needed a different stripper for #12 sheathing, and another for #14 sheathing. It looks like your model does both, but doesn't appear to strip the conductors of any other guages besides #12 and #14. That would have value for a ruff-in electrician, but would be of little value for a service electrician. A few of the guys I work with use that one. I'm pretty fast with a knife skinning sheathing, so I guess it's whatever you got used to.

[Roger]

Thanks Md, yes the red ones are for stranded wire but dont go well when you dont have lots of wire to work with. This particular pair does a nice job on solid but dont use them much and yes they dont work well unless the wire being stripped is straight. A salesman gave them to me to try on the job....Roger