Introduction

I was looking for a simple, fairly economical pair of wire strippers, and stumbled across these interesting scissor-like 11 82 130 wire strippers from Knipex. I thought I’d give them a try. They are intended for small wire diameters.

What Are They?

They are a simple pair of wire strippers, where the jaws have a scissor-like (i.e. shearing) movement. For the actual wire-stripping, the scissor action stops short of cutting the wire, by means of a screw-adjustable depth-stop. That’s it! Nice and simple.

Of course, knowing Knipex, they have to go one better, so these wire strippers can also be used to quickly snip wires as well, using the shearing action.

These wire strippers/cutters are about £50 list price, but they are available for £35 from Amazon currently. I don't think they are worth £50.

Ergonomics

I liked that these Knipex wire strippers have very comfortable handles; some simple wire strippers have a dip-coated plastic surround that isn’t easy on the hands. The handles are sprung so that the wire strippers are always in the open position. They have a slightly soft, grippy blue area.

The wire strippers are light, and the jaw end is quite long and narrow, so you could probably strip wires that are in an awkward position.

Wire Type

The strippers are intended for 0.03 to 1.0 mm conductor cross-section, solid or stranded. I tested with solid-core wire of the type that would go into solderless breadboards, 0.6 mm diameter. I also tried 30 AWG solid-core Kynar wire, 22 AWG stranded, and 10/0.1mm stranded. It worked well for all of these wires, although it can take close to a minute or so to dial in the depth stop accurately.

Wire Cutting

This turned out to be a bit of a highlight of the tool. I didn’t realize how much time can be saved by using the same tool to both snip the wire and strip it. Usually I’m reaching for proper wire-cutters.

To be clear, it’s quite a basic cutting action; you’d still want to use decent wire cutters normally, but for quick prototyping with thin, typically PVC insulated wire, then this Knipex tool works fine.

The springy clips that hold the jaws open are quite weakly sprung. Sometimes, you may have to spread the handles apart manually if you wish to snip a wire using the end of the tool. I pressed and bent out the clips a tiny fraction, to have the jaws open a little bit more from now on.

Build Quality

The main parts of the tool are quite chunky steel, about 6 x 5 mm thick cross-section going into the moulded handles, and 3 mm thick at the jaw end. The jaws are hardened, but probably to just a basic level; considering the tool is just designed for thin wires. There’s not a lot to go wrong, so I can’t see it failing on me for at least several years.

Spares

The springy metal parts are available from Farnell. I've not found spares for the thumbscrew and nut yet.

Final Thoughts

Unlike larger wire strippers, this Knipex tool is only suitable for thin wires. I think it is suited for hobbyist or prototyping use. You wouldn’t expect this tool in production use unless you don’t like your staff.

I liked that using the tool can be speedy, for both cutting and stripping. However, since it takes a while to set up the depth stop, you wouldn’t want to use this tool when dealing with a range of wires. It’s more useful when you have many dozens of wire ends to strip that are all of the same wire type. You either like the screw depth stop, or you hate it, in which case there are wire strippers with different-sized notches. Personally I would have preferred a tool with multiple notches, just one less thing to fiddle with if there’s no need make an adjustment.

Overall, this tool is about as well-built as expected for the price, and it is comfortable to use. However, you may be better off buying a wire stripper with multiple notches unless you really do intend to strip the same wire type many times. 

For a wider range of wire sizes there are more suitable wire strippers of course.

Thanks for reading!