auto wire strippers marring wire

Talk to your shrink about it on your next visit. Important things like marring romex that will never be seen can ruin your life.

ok, so you're saying it doesn't matter.

however, it will be easily seen by the inspector (I'm a homeowner doing this). i'm talking about marring on the conductor insulation, not the romex sheath. where the stripper grips the insulation it digs into it.

ok, so you're saying it doesn't matter.

however, it will be easily seen by the inspector (I'm a homeowner doing this). i'm talking about marring on the conductor insulation, not the romex sheath. where the stripper grips the insulation it digs into it.

I find that automatic wire strippers, the type that you put the wire in and squeeze the handles, do not work properly with romex wire insulation. These strippers work by gripping the insulation on both sides of the intended break and pull to stretch and break the insulation. A similar style of wire strippers do make a cut in the insulation on one side and work a little better. I have had the best results with simple scissor type of strippers where you lock a screw to determine the wire gauge, and cut and pull to strip romex cable wire insulation.

Yes, get the klein.

No.

Time to post a photo somewhere. Just how BAD is the "marring"?

I recently used my (Ideal brand, IIRC) strippers on 14-gauge Romex and noticed that the gripping action marred the COATING on the insulation, nothing more.

You get what you pay for. If what you are using is truly damaging the insulation, you should use a different tool. Good luck.

however, it will be easily seen by the inspector (I'm a homeowner doing this). i'm talking about marring on the conductor insulation, not the romex sheath. where the stripper grips the insulation it digs into it.

As long as the insulation is not broken you have no problem. A slight depression or dimpling is OK for anything I've had inspected.

hi all.

to answer questions, the 'marring' is slight, and is not breaking through the insulation. it may just be on the clear coating around the insulation, but i think it's probably digging in a bit to the insulation itself.

anyway, i went and got the klein 11055, and boy does it rock. this 'manual' stripper is so much easier than my 'automatic' one, and it does a better job with no marring to boot. it's really a pleasant tool to use. in fact i liked it so much i went back and got the klein needle nose (7") and the heavy duty side cutters. the former is great for looping the wire and the latter is much better at twisting the wires together than what I was using.

back to wiring. thanks for the responses.