Curled Fishtape

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J

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
We have a fishtape that has gotten full of curly cues. That usually happens to really old ones but this still has the bluish finish, no rust or major kinks. I hope to fix it up on a rainy day soon.
Someone said years ago that you can drive 3-4 nails in a row along a wall or 2x4 fence rail, thread the fishtape in & pull the bad lengths through. Has anyone tried this or found another way? I hate to see it scrapped but it isn’t worth much as it is now.
Thanks for any feedback.
 
Six 16-penny nails driven about 3" apart in a straight line works perfect. Anchor the lumber down if needed, weave the fishtape through like a ski slolemn, pull the fishtape through. It may take 2-3 passes to get it straightened out, but it does work.
 
It ain't easy pulling it through, tho. I mean, you'll need a tool to grab the fishtape. Maybe the one built into your linesmans pliers will work, but I've never succeeded using it for this. You may need something like this or this. I use the latter, and it works great.
 
Good thought. I can probably clamp 2x4 to a beam, start with hook end secured to a chain & pull it with a forklift. We have a few long corridors in unused corners of the plant.
 
I’ll clamp vice grips on it & get a young gung-ho helper to pull it. Save my already torn shoulders. 🤣
 
Not sure about straightening the fish tape but the Rack-A-Tiers ropematic that 480 sparky posted is very useful. It really makes tough pulls a lot easier.
 
augie47 said:
If you use the fork truck the tape will possibly be 25 ft longer :)
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It might be. ;) But I'd also be concerned that it could be a little dangerous if the tape broke under a lot of tension and then whipped around. Not that I haven't done some dangerous things myself in the past ...
 
Besoeker3 said:
What are they?
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A fish tape is a length of hardened steel, very stiff, which may be wound in a coil. When you need to bring cable from point A to point B without access to the space between, you feed the fish tape from B to A, attach your cable to the end, and pull it back to B.

klein-tools-fish-tape-poles-56331-64_1000.jpg
 
gadfly56 said:
A fish tape is a length of hardened steel, very stiff, which may be wound in a coil. When you need to bring cable from point A to point B without access to the space between, you feed the fish tape from B to A, attach your cable to the end, and pull it back to B.

View attachment 2553259
Click to expand...
Not something we use very often. At least not that I use.
 
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