The value of a good pair of wire strippers is often overlooked until they’ve disappeared from your toolbox. Here are the 4 basic types of wire strippers that you’ll encounter.
GAUGED WIRE STRIPPERS
Gauged wire strippers are the simplest and most common type of wire stripper used. Each pair is only made for certain gauges of wire, so if you work with both small and large gauges of wire, you may need multiple sets.
ADJUSTABLE WIRE STRIPPERS
These wire strippers are probably the cheapest available, and can be adjusted for different gauge wire by changing the position of the stop-screw. They work well, but can be tedious to adjust when working with multiple wire gauges in a
single project.
SELF-ADJUSTING AUTOMATIC WIRE STRIPPERS
While more expensive than most other wire strippers, these are the easiest ones to use. Just place the wire into the mouth of the tool, squeeze the handle, and the jacket of the wire will be removed from the end. These wire strippers are great when they work, but they will often have trouble with smaller gauge wire. If you have a lot of wire to strip, this tool can save you a lot of time.
GAUGED AUTOMATIC WIRE STRIPPERS
If you want to use professional-level wire strippers, look no further. These wire strippers are a combination of the gauged and automatic wire strippers, and will deliver the best of both worlds in a single tool.
The blades can be swapped out for stripping other gauges, and watching the mechanism work almost makes stripping wires fun.
