Stripping scrap wire

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delectric123 said:
Is their a hand tool available that would work for stripping the jacket off of scrap cable like #1 or larger?
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There is the pocket stripper from greenlee but its pricey.

Just use a utility knife w/ good sharp blade and score the insulation along it's length and peel it off .
 
How big are the pieces? A good heat up in an oven or barbecue grill makes stripping with a razor knife pretty easy.
 
Just short pieces of cable, maybe 10 or 20 feet long at most.
I figured there's a tool available that works similar like a utility knife but with a guide and gauge so it can be done safer.
 
delectric123 said:
Is their a hand tool available that would work for stripping the jacket off of scrap cable like #1 or larger?
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Too bad you don't live near Fulthrotl; he bought a machine back in 2014. You should PM him to see if he can give you some pointers.
 
gadfly56 said:
Too bad you don't live near Fulthrotl; he bought a machine back in 2014. You should PM him to see if he can give you some pointers.
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it's odd... i googled wire stripping machines, and came up with a ton of
chinese things, look like multiple versions from same factory.

a lot of them on ebay.

mine was made about the same way, but went up to 3". i needed to strip
a lot of 750 mcm copper.

it depends on how much you need to strip, obviously. i had over 6,000'
of 750, so the razor knife wasn't gonna cut it, literally.
 
John120/240 said:
A beer or two & a sharp utility knife. Wear gloves to protect your hands.
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You can say that again.

While stripping wire in my back yard an inadvertent slip of my utility knife blade into the flesh of my unprotected thumb, all the way down to the bone, changed a semi profitable afternoon into a trip to the emergency room. If I had cut a tendon instead of just flesh it would have been even worse.
 
ActionDave said:
You can say that again.

While stripping wire in my back yard an inadvertent slip of my utility knife blade into the flesh of my unprotected thumb, all the way down to the bone, changed a semi profitable afternoon into a trip to the emergency room. If I had cut a tendon instead of just flesh it would have been even worse.
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That's why I was wondering if there wasn't a tool available with a guide of some sort.
 
delectric123 said:
That's why I was wondering if there wasn't a tool available with a guide of some sort.
Click to expand...

Just use a utility knife and be careful- one thing that helps to avoid getting slashed is to use a pieces of something thick and flexible- thin gauge cardboard, piece of half inch rubber etc to hold the wire with while slicing and put tension on the wire by tying an end to something and tugging while you cut. Just go along it's length w/ that blade, make sure you go deep enough to feel the blade hitting the conductor, then just grab conductor(s) in one hand and insulation in the other and separate the 2.
 
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I have seen some youtube videos where people made jigs out of wood to mount razor knives in to help guide the wire and keep it in the right spot. from what I could see it worked pretty good and kept the guys hands away from the razor.
 
delectric123 said:
That's why I was wondering if there wasn't a tool available with a guide of some sort.
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the technique that works best for me is to clamp the end of the wire in the bench vise,
use a fresh blade in a STANLEY #100 FIXED BLADE KNIFE, hold the wire in the left hand,
and the knife in the right hand, and then pull backwards against the wire.

you want a fixed blade that is solidly held, not a retractable blade.
you are actually pulling the knife by pulling with your body,
so that your hands remain motionless relative to each other,
and if the blade slips, you lurch backwards, and your hands don't
move relative to each other. i've been doing it that way 40 years,
and i've not had any issues, but sometimes it freaks people out to
watch you do it.

if you do it that way, and instead pull with your arm, and not your full body,
expect a trip to the emergency room shortly. :slaphead:
 
Fulthrotl said:
the technique that works best for me is to clamp the end of the wire in the bench vise,
use a fresh blade in a STANLEY #100 FIXED BLADE KNIFE, hold the wire in the left hand,
and the knife in the right hand, and then pull backwards against the wire.

you want a fixed blade that is solidly held, not a retractable blade.
you are actually pulling the knife by pulling with your body,
so that your hands remain motionless relative to each other,
and if the blade slips, you lurch backwards, and your hands don't
move relative to each other. i've been doing it that way 40 years,
and i've not had any issues, but sometimes it freaks people out to
watch you do it.

if you do it that way, and instead pull with your arm, and not your full body,
expect a trip to the emergency room shortly. :slaphead:
Click to expand...

Thanks, that looks like a great technique.:thumbsup:
 
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