My journeyman in Tacoma called me out on my wire stripping habit

I was prepping a bunch of 12-gauge wires for a panel change and kept nicking the copper. My journeyman, Frank, walked over and said 'You're holding the stripper like it owes you money.' He showed me how to use a lighter touch with my Klein 11055 stripper, just enough pressure to cut the insulation without touching the strands. I'd been doing it wrong for three years. Anyone else have a basic tool technique they learned way later than they should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_west1mo ago

My buddy did the same thing with a hacksaw for ages, always wondered why his cuts were so crooked.

hugo_schmidt1mo ago

Yeah, the crooked cuts thing. My friend tried to cut a pipe with a dull blade for months, kept blaming his hands. Turns out he never changed the blade once.

the_andrew1mo ago

A dull hacksaw blade will fight you every time, @riley_west. It's not just about a steady hand, the teeth need to be sharp to actually bite into the metal. A fresh blade pulls itself straight through the cut with way less effort. Your buddy was basically trying to push a butter knife through a pipe.