Sea-Dog Adjustable Wire Stripper & Cutter

I've had repeated bad results with simple manual wire strippers; if I use the nominal-sized hole several strands (of stranded wire) get broken or nicked, and if I use a larger hole I have to get a grip and pull hard. On short sections of wire I often find the strands having been pulled through the insulation, forming an irregular end.This tool makes it easy to get good results. The way it works is that the jaws at the end grip the insulation staying on the wire, the sliding blades come together… and start to make a cut into the insulation, and then the backpressure on the blades causes them to stop coming together and instead move towards the end of the wire while maintaining pressure. Thus it primarily pulls the insulation apart rather than cutting it, but this still produces a fairly neat and square end.I've used it on 12 to 22 gauge wire (without any adjustment in between) with equally good results. I still get an occasional broken strand; hopefully I just need to to adjust the blade pressure control and it'll be perfect once I have more experience. (I haven't yet practiced the use of it thoroughly on scrap wire.)There is a sliding stop for the wire end with a scale for setting the length of stripped end you want to make. There is a built-in wire cutter in a notch near the pivot, which is a bit on the small side but works easily when the wire fits.

I've had repeated bad results with simple manual wire strippers; if I use the nominal-sized hole several strands (of stranded wire) get broken or nicked, and if I use a larger hole I have to get a grip and pull hard. On short sections of wire I often find the strands having been pulled through the insulation, forming an irregular end.This tool makes it easy to get good results. The way it works is that the jaws at the end grip the insulation staying on the wire, the sliding blades come together… and start to make a cut into the insulation, and then the backpressure on the blades causes them to stop coming together and instead move towards the end of the wire while maintaining pressure. Thus it primarily pulls the insulation apart rather than cutting it, but this still produces a fairly neat and square end.I've used it on 12 to 22 gauge wire (without any adjustment in between) with equally good results. I still get an occasional broken strand; hopefully I just need to to adjust the blade pressure control and it'll be perfect once I have more experience. (I haven't yet practiced the use of it thoroughly on scrap wire.)There is a sliding stop for the wire end with a scale for setting the length of stripped end you want to make. There is a built-in wire cutter in a notch near the pivot, which is a bit on the small side but works easily when the wire fits.