Blue point wire strippers

[EL34]

Squeeze the handle and it pulls the wire jacket back very cleanly without nicking the wire
They auto sense the jacket thickness even on very thin and very thick jackets

Blue Point Model PXC-22
Made in west Germany
I got them on a Snap-On tool truck

I have two of these that I have been using since the 90's and they still work great
You don't pull the jacket by pulling backwards, the stripper pulls it back
See how the nose elongates?

[sluckey]

How does that stripper perform on stranded wire with Teflon insulation?

[EL34]

I just tested it on some of the teflon 20 gauge stranded stuff I sell


It's not as clean as PVC jacket solid core or stranded


I had to grab the cut area and pull it away from the wire


On PVC the cut area just slides forward


It could be that the cutter blade is 15+ years old, hard to say
I never used teflon wire way back when

[sluckey]

Is the cutting surface actually a "V" notch grove or V blades? If so, those never seem to do Teflon very well.

[EL34]

Yeah, it is a V


I guess a U shape would be better but then how does the cutter scale up or down for different jackets sizes and wire diameters

[sluckey]

It takes a double half circle cutter to cleanly cut completely around Teflon insulation. You must have a dedicated pair of half circles for every size wire you will strip. And they must be sharp! Here's what I use. I give them to my electrician brother about every two years and get a new pair. I'm sure they would last almost forever in the hands of a "real tech" if only stripping plastic.   

[EL34]

Yeah, I have a few pairs of that style
I find that you have to rotate them a bit sometimes to get a clean cut all the way around the jacket

The nice thing about the ones I use is you can stick them down into tight spots and strip wires
No sideways action or spinning is required

Good thing I don't have to strip allot of Teflon wire

Then again, the cloth wire is the easiest and I am lazy
Just snip and push back the cloth

[jjasilli]

I got the "Blue Point" style -- cheap on eBay -- based on Doug's recommendation in an old thread.  It grabs the tip of the wire and strips the insulation cleanly.  It does not tug, or stress the rest of the wire.  The narrow nose fits into tight places.  It's easy to use on the end of a wire already in an amp.  Cons:  Doesn't work well on double-insulated wire; teflon wire; very narrow leads; or the inner leads of mic cable.  For me it's indispensable for ordinary leads.

[EL34]

A do a mod to mine to make them do thinner gauge wires

I have a U shaped piece of .032" thick brass inserted above the sliding upper jaw and it loops up over the top
I hot glue it in place along the top edges

It's lets you do smaller gauges than 20 gauge