Wire stripping tools
- Thread starter silver2000
- Start date
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
Klein 11055 and 11046 in my bag.
OP
silver2000
Well-known member
I've never seen those Klein 11046s before they look like a great small size. I will have to check them out soon.
BigSteve63
Well-known member
These:
Been looking at these under the Irwin name at Lowes, but ran across another auto stripper at the local farm store. Anyone with any experience with Gardner Bender GS-394?
Attachments
I expect they come from the same factory in China.
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
They are super handy.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
I'll be switching over to these Williams when the Craftsman version is no longer available. They're the same strippers; different color. Same soft grip handles.
jasonphelps
Well-known member
Those Imperial/Stride strippers are nice and Klein used to rebrand them but I think I prefer Klein's made in house strippers better, they are easier to lock/unlock. My only problem is they don't lock closed as tightly as my Strides/Craftsman.
Yes. It's basically a safety knife to cut the outer jacket of a multi-core cable. You adjust the knife to the insulation depth, insert the cable in the vise, spin the knife around, and the outer jacket gets cut.
I think it's useful to take a step back and define terms. "Wire" and "cable" are different things.
Wire: A single conductor (solid or stranded) wrapped in insulation
Cable: Multiple wires arrayed inside a common jacket
If there are specialty tools that let an electrician strip both a Romex cable jacket and the wires inside it, then that is useful for electricians even if it's an objectively crude tool. I've never seen an electrician use such a tool.
Funny, I've used mine with to strip the ends off of wires in Romex multiple times. Obviously it's not designed to strip cable jackets.
If you strip a lot of different sizes and styles of wire you can go by feel. If you really only strip one size and style of wire, use the screw and I guess you can clamp-and-go.
They are different. One is a couple sheets of perforated sheetmetal with handles, and the other is a tool.
Using the same brand, here's an example of a "stamped holey thing":
and a forged wire-stripping tool:
That's pretty closed minded when there are millions of "stamped holey things" in use daily in jobsites worldwide. In your opinion they are all doing it wrong and yours is the only proper way
I've never seen one of those dumb stamped holey things outside the US.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
As soon as you get it all dialed in for 14 gage, a 16 gage comes along and you have to start all over again.
Re: Wire stripping tools video
I have a pair of the GB auto-strippers. They're ok, but not great. While you don't have to align them, they also tend to slip off wire that has an outer nylon layer over the main insulation, eg THWM wire. They don't actually cut the insulation—they grip and rip it off.
Klein's version has knife dies that cut the insulation, but you do have to align the wire in the correct notch. They're extremely reliable. They're the only ones I use on S or SJ cable. The S in particular has very rubbery insulation that gives other wire strippers a very hard time.
For small datacom wire, etc, the style like the Matco/HF one above is my go-to. You can strip all the conductors in a cable in one go.
I general dislike strippers that require you to pull the wire through. They often are extremely difficult to use, especially in situations where you can't pull on the wire.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
I have a pair of the GB auto-strippers. They're ok, but not great. While you don't have to align them, they also tend to slip off wire that has an outer nylon layer over the main insulation, eg THWM wire. They don't actually cut the insulation—they grip and rip it off.
Klein's version has knife dies that cut the insulation, but you do have to align the wire in the correct notch. They're extremely reliable. They're the only ones I use on S or SJ cable. The S in particular has very rubbery insulation that gives other wire strippers a very hard time.
For small datacom wire, etc, the style like the Matco/HF one above is my go-to. You can strip all the conductors in a cable in one go.
I general dislike strippers that require you to pull the wire through. They often are extremely difficult to use, especially in situations where you can't pull on the wire.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Ton ton
Well-known member
I know this is a prehistoric thread. But I am curious what do people use to strip hundreds of feet of 14 gauge wire?
Ton ton
Well-known member
I'm going to scrap the wire once it's stripped.
rjn2649
Well-known member
Years ago a couple of guys I worked with would sit and strip the scrap wire at lunch. As I recall they drilled a hole in an aluminum block band sawed a slot up to the hole and inserted a utility razor into the slot and pulled the wire through, This was new wire and they had a block for each size we used. Check youtube for home made bulk wire stripper.
Call the scrap yard, if it's good wire they may take it with the insulation on.
It may come off just by pulling once you get it going.
Ton ton
Well-known member
They don't pay much for the unstripped wire. I checked.
Is it stranded or solid?
Strip a couple inches and put the stripped end in a vice, or tie it off to something solid. For solid, use a Stanly knife to get it going and see if you can just pull the isolation off. If not, just continue down tripping and pulling with the knife.
If stranded, do the same as above but leave the half the conductor in the insulation and pull the other half through.
You used to be able to just burn it off
Ton ton
Well-known member
Stranded.
Ton ton
Well-known member
The local scrap yard doesn't pay much for burned wire.
Once you get it started it should pull right out.