Tools of Japan

[Mr. Tool]

Marvel now.

Marvel MVA-200N Pliers.

Hands down my favorite pliers. Better that Knipex Linesman or any Klein variety. I’m making a video about how special they are.

Interesting pair of pliers.

As you previously stated, has a video ever been made about these?

If so can you post it?

 

[Madjik Man]

My home/garage lug nut sockets.

Regular for my Tacomas and the shallow for my Prius

Koken 14145PM-100-21 21mm Impact Wheel Nut
Koken 280PM-21 21mm Shallow Impact Wheel Nut Adapter

 

[m6z]

A socket for your socket? I guess I'm not understanding the purpose of the wheel nut adapter.

 

[Brian Puccio]

A socket for your socket? I guess I'm not understanding the purpose of the wheel nut adapter.

If you have a wheel nut that is small, it stops the end of the socket from being run against wheel.

 

[Jack_K]

Interesting pair of pliers.

As you previously stated, has a video ever made about these?

If so can you post it?

Not Zjenji but here is a video from someone in Australia where marvels are probably the most common electricians pliers. The argument is always between Marvel and Channellock

Now I need to buy a pair

 

[rick carpenter]

I'm looking for a side-by-side comparison and review of the Engineer PZ series screw extractor pliers please. I fix chromebooks at work, and they have +0 and +00 screws that sometimes get stripped. In particular, I'd like to see reviews of the PZ-58 and the PZ-60 with some close-up views of the jaws. Vampliers is an Engineer rebrand in case some of the Engineers weren't available.

@Zjenji , do you have any info?

Thanks

 

[tamaraw]

I'm looking for a side-by-side comparison and review of the Engineer PZ series screw extractor pliers please. I fix chromebooks at work, and they have +0 and +00 screws that sometimes get stripped. In particular, I'd like to see reviews of the PZ-58 and the PZ-60 with some close-up views of the jaws. Vampliers is an Engineer rebrand in case some of the Engineers weren't available.

@Zjenji , do you have any info?

Thanks

Stripped by clients or stripped by you guys? And what tools are you currently using?

I used to work with laptops, towers, and phones everyday and I don't think our team ever stripped anything to require extracton. Mostly used wiha precision drivers, some ifixit bits from another tech, and the wera stuff Apple sent with their kit. Vessel would be another good bet.

As I'm sure you know, lots of fasteners on laptops are either recessed or up against a pcb so that makes using pliers either impossible or fairly risky. There are close up photos of the jaws on those two models if you google it.

But I would probably try to figure out why the fasteners are getting mangled so badly first and work from there. Technique? Tools? Etc.

 

[General Geoff]

Thanks to @Catcher1984 for hooking me up with this Koken 3/8" 12 point deep wall socket set, 6 to 22mm skipping only 20.



Picked up one of Harbor Freight's excellent US General magnetic backed aluminum socket rails to store them on, and it worked out perfectly, filling out all 16 of the clips the rail comes with. Socket rail is made in Taiwan. Oh and the ball detents on the clips are strong enough to easily hold even the 22mm socket in place, even when the rail is mounted upside down.

 

[rick carpenter]

Stripped by clients or stripped by you guys? And what tools are you currently using?

I used to work with laptops, towers, and phones everyday and I don't think our team ever stripped anything to require extracton. Mostly used wiha precision drivers, some ifixit bits from another tech, and the wera stuff Apple sent with their kit. Vessel would be another good bet.

As I'm sure you know, lots of fasteners on laptops are either recessed or up against a pcb so that makes using pliers either impossible or fairly risky. There are close up photos of the jaws on those two models if you google it.

But I would probably try to figure out why the fasteners are getting mangled so badly first and work from there. Technique? Tools? Etc.

Thanks. I work at a school, and about 80% of the 'not charging' problems for which students return chromebooks are fixed by cracking the case open and simply re-seating the battery connections. Lather rinse repeat for most trackpad issues as well. The +0 and +00 flathead machine screw heads in the cases that were stripped were most likely all stripped by us, but in our defense some of the case screws have been gunked up from the mfr with a thick thread sealant. The sealant gets disturbed when removing the screw sometimes leaving the hole with an amount of displaced hardened sealant left inside. Sometime a little oomph will reseat the screws but sometimes everything goes south and I strip the screw heads and leave them frozen half-way in. I'll use the Engineer pliers to make getting them out easier. We use +0 and +00 no-name screwdrivers that work well on clean screws and screw holes. I don't know if they're DIN 5260-PH / ISO 8763-1 compliant, but I am going to order a set of Vessel + precision drivers and one or both of the Engineer pliers.

 

[190Octane]

This is most of my japamazon spend the last few months. Not pictured are a **** ton of Vessel, and a few pairs of tsunoda pliers.

Break down… top picture has tsunoda soft jaw pliers, tsunoda slip joints, victor radio pliers and victor plus + pliers as well as a Vessel ball screw driver with some bits, and a fujiya adjustable wrench.

Bottom picture has a ton of engineer screw removal pliers as well as a pair of the scissors, also a fujiya pliers wrench.

Obviously some stuff from Taiwan and germamazon but this is a tools of Japan thread so I’ll spare you those tools.

 

[macgee]

Thanks. but I am going to order a set of Vessel + precision drivers and one or both of the Engineer pliers.

This might sound a bit odd but I found a good way to avoid stripping screw heads is a have a solid fitting driver (like Vessel) and good amount of hand torque via a larger dia. handle. I love Vessel now a days, they're my everyday go to driver but I have found their small precision screwdrivers with colored rubber cushions do not provide adequate torque causing them to cam out more and possibly damaging the cheap super soft asian fasteners in electronics. I prefer to use Vessel #610 over the TD precision driver set for this reason. I rarely ever, ever have a problem with #1 sizes using the #700 Vessel drivers. This is a Japan tool thread but I can also highly PB swiss precision drivers; also excellent; Vessel is very much on par with them and it then comes down to a personal taste between the two.

I agree with above, I don't think you may find the engineer extraction pliers as the best solution but I still think you should get pair; they're good to have around : )

For me, I say screw it to stripped screw heads, I now always have a (Japan) NSK micro motor (or Dremel) very close at hand with a 1/32"+ carbide tip and quickly mill out (with vacuum) a straight slotted line in the screw head to use a slotted screw driver (1.8mm-2mm) to remove the screw; hasn't failed me yet and now takes mere seconds and I just replace fastener (if possible) for re-assembly.

 

[tamaraw]

Thanks. I work at a school, and about 80% of the 'not charging' problems for which students return chromebooks are fixed by cracking the case open and simply re-seating the battery connections. Lather rinse repeat for most trackpad issues as well. The +0 and +00 flathead machine screw heads in the cases that were stripped were most likely all stripped by us, but in our defense some of the case screws have been gunked up from the mfr with a thick thread sealant. The sealant gets disturbed when removing the screw sometimes leaving the hole with an amount of displaced hardened sealant left inside. Sometime a little oomph will reseat the screws but sometimes everything goes south and I strip the screw heads and leave them frozen half-way in.

That's just threadlocker. It's pretty standard for a lot of small electronics applications and shouldn't cause you any grief.

I'll use the Engineer pliers to make getting them out easier.

Like I said before, they won't reach recessed fasteners and may damage other components but YMMV. Those types of pliers are designed with larger and taller fastener heads in mind (like a +2 panhead) although that's not to say that they couldn't possibly work on something smaller.

We use +0 and +00 no-name screwdrivers that work well on clean screws and screw holes.

Well that's a problem right there. If they look something like these, you are screwed (pun fully intended ). The heads on those types are a poor fit and tend to strip things rather easily under any sort of torque.

I don't know if they're DIN 5260-PH / ISO 8763-1 compliant, but I am going to order a set of Vessel + precision drivers and one or both of the Engineer pliers.

I have Wiha because that's what I used at my old work and they have a wide selection for many different fastener types. These are the ones I have but they also make ones with fancier grips.

I do love my larger megadora Vessel stuff though and I would probably go for their "micro" or "g-grip" line if I were buying new precision drvers. The rest of their precision line is probably ok because it's Vessel but the construction is just a little too close to the horror show generic drivers for me. https://vessel.co.jp/english/product/screwdriver_category/14

Wera has options with their usual colorcoding if you are into that and they also offer fancy albeit pricey pre-set torque drivers that take their miniature half-moon and hios bits.

Felo, Stahwille, Hazet, etc. also make precision drivers which I assume are decent but I don't have any experience with them myself.

 

[Jack_K]

Stripped by clients or stripped by you guys? And what tools are you currently using?

I used to work with laptops, towers, and phones everyday and I don't think our team ever stripped anything to require extracton. Mostly used wiha precision drivers, some ifixit bits from another tech, and the wera stuff Apple sent with their kit. Vessel would be another good bet.

As I'm sure you know, lots of fasteners on laptops are either recessed or up against a pcb so that makes using pliers either impossible or fairly risky. There are close up photos of the jaws on those two models if you google it.

But I would probably try to figure out why the fasteners are getting mangled so badly first and work from there. Technique? Tools? Etc.

I have the great fun of my work (e-waste/hdd wiping "recycling" place) buying the cheapest rubbish (ozito/craftright) and then my coworkers (including the manager) consistently use one phillips/torx size smaller than correct . Sometimes even pozidrive. There was one set of bits which for example the ph1 from new is too big to fit any ph1 screws but nobody else there can recognise that.

I would love to take my own tools (vessel, sunflag) but I don't think it is worth the problems it could cause.

 

[Jack_K]

My new Shinano SI-2740 10x330mm belt sander. The ebay China special I bought first only lasted one project car.

 

[Brian Puccio]

I'm looking for a side-by-side comparison and review of the Engineer PZ series screw extractor pliers please. I fix chromebooks at work, and they have +0 and +00 screws that sometimes get stripped. In particular, I'd like to see reviews of the PZ-58 and the PZ-60 with some close-up views of the jaws. Vampliers is an Engineer rebrand in case some of the Engineers weren't available.

@Zjenji , do you have any info?

Thanks

I posted pictures of PZ-58 and PZ-57 earlier:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/tools-of-japan.97563/page-195#post-9656880

However, as @tamaraw mentions:

As I'm sure you know, lots of fasteners on laptops are either recessed or up against a pcb so that makes using pliers either impossible or fairly risky. There are close up photos of the jaws on those two models if you google it.

If the screw head is recessed/countersunk, these pliers will not help you. Your later mention of a screw stuck half way, yes, the pliers will help there.

 

[darkzero]

I'm looking for a side-by-side comparison and review of the Engineer PZ series screw extractor pliers please. I fix chromebooks at work, and they have +0 and +00 screws that sometimes get stripped. In particular, I'd like to see reviews of the PZ-58 and the PZ-60 with some close-up views of the jaws.

I have those two. Bought the PZ-58 first. Later on I wanted/needed something for smaller screws. It was a toss up between the PZ-57 & PZ-60, I went with the PZ-60 which worked out for me. No idea how the PZ-57 & PZ-60 compares in tip size, I don't see a need for me to buy the PZ-57 having the PZ-60.


I worked in laptop & other electronics repair for about 8 years. I was the go to guy for getting stripped screws out when the techs couldn't get em out. I didn't have any of these tools back then but the pliers wouldn't have worked anyway. Most of the screws that stripped were case screws that were usually in recessed holes. Many laptop screws are thin truss heads also, not much for the pliers to bite on. But that was almost 10 yrs since I left that profession so laptops have probably changed in design/construction a lot.

If I still worked in that field I think I would have tried these Engineer Bazooka bits that are made for screwed screw removal (but I did fine & pretty much never failed to get a screw out with the company supplied Wiha drivers & no other special tools). They work pretty good as long as the screw head isn't completely stripped/rounded out. I also have the Engineer GT driver meant to be used with the Bazooka bits, tang through for hammering. But the hammering is probably not a good idea for electronics & shouldn't be necessary anyway.

 

[rick carpenter]

Thanks everyone again. @macgee interesting you mentioned the Vessel 610 drivers. I think they would encourage too much downforce which breaks chromebook screens etc. Still interesting, though (I have a few of the larger 700s and 2200s for my garage, which I really like). @tamaraw oooh Lawdy no, we don't use that **** set you pictured. I'm just not sure of what we do have so I'm looking to get the Vessel 9900 driver set to take possible tool deficiencies out of the equation. I know the 9900s are DIN 5260-PH / ISO 8763-1. Agreed the thread sealant shouldn't cause problems, but every screw/screwhole that's wonky is caked with it. But not all screws have sealant applied and not the same location screws every time either. We don't even have or use thread sealant.

And @darkzero thanks for the pics. I definitely think the PZ-60 pliers will work, but then why not get the PZ-58s too, right? The flathead machine case screws that are stripped and frozen are ones that have been removed and attempted to put back in and got stuck about 2/3 way.

 

[190Octane]

Thanks everyone again. @macgee interesting you mentioned the Vessel 610 drivers. I think they would encourage too much downforce which breaks chromebook screens etc. Still interesting, though (I have a few of the larger 700s and 2200s for my garage, which I really like). @tamaraw oooh Lawdy no, we don't use that **** set you pictured. I'm just not sure of what we do have so I'm looking to get the Vessel 9900 driver set to take possible tool deficiencies out of the equation. I know the 9900s are DIN 5260-PH / ISO 8763-1. Agreed the thread sealant shouldn't cause problems, but every screw/screwhole that's wonky is caked with it. But not all screws have sealant applied and not the same location screws every time either. We don't even have or use thread sealant.

And @darkzero thanks for the pics. I definitely think the PZ-60 pliers will work, but then why not get the PZ-58s too, right? The flathead machine case screws that are stripped and frozen are ones that have been removed and attempted to put back in and got stuck about 2/3 way.

That’s the full size picture cropped for just the Engineer pliers that I posted earlier. If you blow it up you can read the model numbers on them and get an idea of the sizes. The green with the cover is the PZ-58, army green is pz-33, and the black handled are the pz-57. You might find the pz-22 (3rd from the right between the 58 and 60) to be useful as they’re for “tick screws” despite being somewhat long.

Let me know if you want any other pictures of these, or the engineer catalog which came with the pz-57.

The exchange rate is fantastic right now so most of these cost between $10-$20 and I figure you might as well buy in bulk to amortize that shipping cost out.

ENGINEER

TOP Page

www.amazon.co.jp

 

[Vicks]

I recently bought a Kakuri Ryoba saw blade (just the blade, no handle) and set out making a pine wood handle from some scrap wood. I laminated two strips, and kept it oversized so that I could file it down for my liking later.


Made holes in the wood and fixed the blade with 3 M4 machine screw and nuts (probably overkill but it will do) before marking out all the excess wood to be filed off using a rasp.


After filing off all the excess, I gave it a try making small saw horses using scrap wood. The Ryoba is a joy to use the cross cut and rip cut sides are extremely handy for this kind of work. The blade is very fine and extremely sharp, it makes that sweet rasping sound while cross cutting wood, ASMR right there !!


Since I live in an apartment and don’t have a workshop or garage with a workbench, I store all the hand tools in a Stanley drawer cabinet in my wardrobe (it was a long negotiation with the Mrs.) and I cannot store this saw with an open blade. So I set out to make a sheath for the Ryoba saw using some canvas drop cloth and thick plastic sheet as inner lining.


Added some Velcro strips on the sheath for ease of use. I think it turned out decently well and now won’t damage the other tools in the drawer.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

Curious why you made the pine handle rather than use the factory handle.
Nice job on the sheath.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I recently bought a Kakuri Ryoba saw blade (just the blade, no handle)

Curious why you made the pine handle rather than use the factory handle.

Because it didn't have one?

 

[Vicks]

Curious why you made the pine handle rather than use the factory handle.
Nice job on the sheath.

The saw blades were 8$ each while the saw with handle was almost 22$ IIRC so i bought two blades and made the handle myself. I dont miss the quick release mechanism of the original handle anyways. What can i say, I'm cheap haha... and it gave me something to do (use scrap wood to make a saw handle). Pine wood was just something that was lying around in the scrap, i might look at making another wood handle (i think its acacia wood, but i'm no expert at identifying wood scrap) later to improve my skills.

 

[Reed Prince]

No idea how the PZ-57 & PZ-60 compares in tip size, I don't see a need for me to buy the PZ-57 having the PZ-60.

 

[darkzero]

Dammit! Maybe I do NEED to buy them now.

I never liked the PZ-59 that I have in my stripped screw removal kit, just threw em in there cause I had em, I never use it. Maybe I'll replace the PZ-59 with the PZ-57. Damn I hate this thread!

 

[midorix]

Damage report.

 

[midorix]

Dammit! Maybe I do NEED to buy them now.

I never liked the PZ-59 that I have in my stripped screw removal kit, just threw em in there cause I had em, I never use it. Maybe I'll replace the PZ-59 with the PZ-57. Damn I hate this thread!

You'll like the PZ-57. Saved my **** recently and that one occasion made the tool worth it.

 

[darkzero]

You'll like the PZ-57. Saved my **** recently and that one occasion made the tool worth it.

I've been using the PZ-60 for smaller screws. Choose that one cause being needle nose I thought would be good to have longer reach. I never bought the PZ-57 cause I have the PZ-58 & thought they would be redundant.

But I like that the PZ-57 has way more teeth at the tips than the PZ-60 & they're rated to grip down to 2.0mm. My screw removal kit I put together is targeted towards smaller screws so for me the PZ-57 will be better than the PZ-59 that's in it now.

 

[Odd-job]

Was finally going to get my Amazon Japan order in, but alas the Merry electrical pliers are out of stock. Maybe Midorix got the last one

Any alternatives worth getting or looking into?

Edit: Wish the KTC's darkzero got were available. https://redirect.viglink.com/?forma...apan | Page 190 | The Garage Journal&txt=link

 

[darkzero]

Was finally going to get my Amazon Japan order in, but alas the Merry electrical pliers are out of stock. Maybe Midorix got the last one

Any alternatives worth getting or looking into?

I had the Merrys, ended up selling them & bought the KTCs that I like much better. Basically the same but comes with different tips & looks better IMO. The Merry handles gave me a cheap looking feeling.


I haven't looked at current prices (AMZ JP is low right now) but all my Merry pliers I ordered directly though Nile Merry USA. They're in Ohio & they ship out of Ohio but I don't think they stock much there. The 5 pliers (well minus the HS175C that I sold) that I ordered (seperate orders) always took 4-5 days to ship after placing the orders so I think they have them shipped in from Japan.

At the time it was cheaper for me ordering through Nile Merry USA compared to AMZ JP. Their shipping was on the high side (no USPS) but the price of the pliers were cheaper & they always have a 10% coupon code available, they don't charge sales tax either.
www.nilemerry.com

Irrelevant now but when I bought the HS175C from them they were only $24.95, I paid $41 shipped at the time. Their price has gone up to $51 now ($46 minus the 10%) not including shipping.

snip..

 

[midorix]

Was finally going to get my Amazon Japan order in, but alas the Merry electrical pliers are out of stock. Maybe Midorix got the last one

Any alternatives worth getting or looking into?

Edit: Wish the KTC's darkzero got were available. https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_165948071436513&key=8d1879ea4db6639656bbe1af129db4fc&libId=l6crw7e7010025g3000DLbal7r5p2&loc=https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/tools-of-japan.97563/page-190#post-9587946&v=1&out=https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B01ACSVLCU/&ref=https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/search/526739/?q=merry&t=post&c[thread]=97563&o=relevance&title=(3) Tools of Japan | Page 190 | The Garage Journal&txt=link

Few of items, including Merry pliers, only had one or two in stock. Pretty much what triggered my order. And when these go out of stock, I noticed Amazon Japan takes bit of time to restock (last few orders, Merry plier was out of stock. Got lucky this time). I also did look for KTC plier darkzero referenced but didn’t see it in stock at Amazon Japan.

 

[Odd-job]

I had the Merrys, ended up selling them & bought the KTCs that I like much better. Basically the same but comes with different tips & looks better IMO. The Merry handles gave me a cheap looking feeling.


I haven't looked at current prices (AMZ JP is low right now) but all my Merry pliers I ordered directly though Nile Merry USA. They're in Ohio & they ship out of Ohio but I don't think they stock much there. The 5 pliers (well minus the HS175C that I sold) that I ordered (seperate orders) always took 4-5 days to ship after placing the orders so I think they have them shipped in from Japan.

At the time it was cheaper for me ordering through Nile Merry USA compared to AMZ JP. Their shipping was on the high side (no USPS) but the price of the pliers were cheaper & they always have a 10% coupon code available, they don't charge sales tax either.
www.nilemerry.com

Irrelevant now but when I bought the HS175C from them they were only $24.95, I paid $41 shipped at the time. Their price has gone up to $51 now ($46 minus the 10%) not including shipping.

View attachment 1706490

Many thanks darkzero. Looks like I might be out of luck on Amazon Japan. They had the Merry pliers for $25, but clearly I waited too long. Interestingly they sell the tips for the KTC pliers you referenced, but the pliers themselves are unavailable.

 

[darkzero]

Many thanks darkzero. Looks like I might be out of luck on Amazon Japan. They had the Merry pliers for $25, but clearly I waited too long. Interestingly they sell the tips for the KTC pliers you referenced, but the pliers themselves are unavailable.

Yeah $25 is a good price & worth waiting for if they come up again at that price. But if you really need them now you can get em from NileMerry USA. IMO this is a tool you can live without & wait till the price is right.

AMZ JP still shows the KTC unavailable, don't know if it's reliable but there's a review as recent as 4/22. Maybe they just sell out fast? I see the KTCs on ebay but way to expensive. Or you can try Japan proxy shippers like Amayama, etc.

As for the KTC tips, if you decide to buy them, I can confirm on the Merrys the tips are removable exactly like the KTCs but I don't know if they are the same diameter.

 

[rick carpenter]

You'll like the PZ-57. Saved my **** recently and that one occasion made the tool worth it.

Any issue with the PZ-57 hardness at HRC56 vs the PZ-60 at HRC60? (It's looking like I want these two now.) I don't know the advantages or disadvantages of screw removing pliers blades at HRC56 vs HRC58 vs HRC60.

 

[midorix]

Any issue with the PZ-57 hardness at HRC56 vs the PZ-60 at HRC60? (It's looking like I want these two now.) I don't know the advantages or disadvantages of screw removing pliers blades at HRC56 vs HRC58 vs HRC60.

No issues and I haven't heard any issues from other's reviews and posts.

 

[Vicks]

Any issue with the PZ-57 hardness at HRC56 vs the PZ-60 at HRC60? (It's looking like I want these two now.) I don't know the advantages or disadvantages of screw removing pliers blades at HRC56 vs HRC58 vs HRC60.

Isn’t common machine screw fastener’s hardness in the high 40s HRC ? If that’s correct then I doubt the plier teeth hardness difference between HRC56 and HRC60 is going to make an impact.

 

[Odd-job]

Yeah $25 is a good price & worth waiting for if they come up again at that price. But if you really need them now you can get em from NileMerry USA. IMO this is a tool you can live without & wait till the price is right.

AMZ JP still shows the KTC unavailable, don't know if it's reliable but there's a review as recent as 4/22. Maybe they just sell out fast? I see the KTCs on ebay but way to expensive. Or you can try Japan proxy shippers like Amayama, etc.

As for the KTC tips, if you decide to buy them, I can confirm on the Merrys the tips are removable exactly like the KTCs but I don't know if they are the same diameter.

Going to try holding out for them to come back in stock soon rather than paying 2x for instant gratification. Either the Merrys or the KTCs. Deal with stubborn Mercedes connectors fairly often so these would be nice to have and hopefully reduces the chances of breaking the flimsy plastic clips.

 

[4xdog]

Going to try holding out for them to come back in stock soon rather than paying 2x for instant gratification. Either the Merrys or the KTCs. Deal with stubborn Mercedes connectors fairly often so these would be nice to have and hopefully reduces the chances of breaking the flimsy plastic clips.

I have the Merry terminal pliers, and mainly use them on Toyota/Lexus. They’re OK, I guess, but I’m not over the moon for them. I’d judge them to put at least as much stress on a connector latch as undoing it by hand. Maybe more — the value of these is their ability to apply focused force.

 

[cbracer]

These are the other strippers I currently use. They're all excellent doing some things and poor doing others.

I would have to say I've used many of those and found them unsatisfactory. The Engineer PA-14 wire stripper wore out way too quickly. I think they simply use too soft a steel. I've found the stainless ones from Greenline seem to last the longest, followed by non stainless Paladin/Greenline/Klien ones. For wire strippers, those all have straight blades, the ones I buy have a V shaped blade on both sides and cut much cleaner. The price has come down a lot to $72 for the blue insert V, so they are a good buy and wirecare.com seems to have the best price:

Self Adjusting Strip and Cut Tool

When on location, this EMBLA VBC self adjusting wire cutter and stripper is essential. This tool can easily strip and cut multiple sized wires and is durable.

www.wirecare.com

 

[macgee]

I would have to say I've used many of those and found them unsatisfactory. The Engineer PA-14 wire stripper wore out way too quickly. I think they simply use too soft a steel. I've found the stainless ones from Greenline seem to last the longest, followed by non stainless Paladin/Greenline/Klien ones. For wire strippers, those all have straight blades, the ones I buy have a V shaped blade on both sides and cut much cleaner. The price has come down a lot to $72 for the blue insert V, so they are a good buy and wirecare.com seems to have the best price:

Self Adjusting Strip and Cut Tool

When on location, this EMBLA VBC self adjusting wire cutter and stripper is essential. This tool can easily strip and cut multiple sized wires and is durable.

www.wirecare.com

Made in Sweden Pressmaster are excellent, top shelf. I like the Felo #62681 version with adj. strip length. Wire strippers like these are more like consumables, the Felo is only $22 quickly to my door so I just replace them when they start to go. However, Pressmaster's are the very best and worth the price.

 

[Reed Prince]

Most of this year's purchases from Japan. Koken 3/8 nut grip and fractional sockets, and a bit adaptor. Nepros 3/8 t-handle things, and 3/8 standard and compact quick spinners. KTC cutters, a Vessel chisel screwdriver, a Mokuba mini prybar, and Vessel and Anex thin shaft bits.

I think I've picked up most of the recent "Japan-only" PB Swiss screwdrivers, and both of the Zwilling scissors had Japanese packaging, even though one was purchased from Amazon USA.