Amazon has been very light on the tool deals so far this holiday season, but there are still some notable bargains of the “I’d buy that!” variety.
This Irwin self-adjusting wire stripper is on sale for $16. It typically retails for around $22 or so, going by online prices at the retailers I typically shop at. 3rd party sellers’ $22 to $25 prices seem a little high.
Advertisement
With self-adjusting wire strippers like this one, you simply insert a wire to the desired depth, squeeze the handles, and it strips the insulation right off.
I have a similar tool, by Gardner Bender, and it has been decent. I have since upgraded to Knipex for my automatic wire stripping needs, and often still use a traditional “select a hole” wire strippers.
The GB’s are cheaper, but the Irwin’s look to have nicer handles. If I had to choose again, I’d go with the Irwin’s, at least at their current pricing. $16 vs. $14 and change isn’t a bit gap.
If you buy these, or have used them, please let us know what you think!
Sale: $16
Buy Now(via Amazon)
See Also(Gardner Bender Stripper)
See Also(Knipex – I bought these at Amazon, too)
Advertisement
Looking for some other wire stripper recommendations? Check out my roundup: Wire Strippers and Combo Electrical Tools.
Jim Felt
Simple Klein first. In both AWS sizes. The original Ideal standard auto stripper. Then the Irwin.
The Knipex and their dozens of knockoffs not so much.
Joe J
I have the Klein version of this. I use it almost daily.
Farid
Question: What kind of wire do you use it on, please? I have some house projects comping up and considering this for make wiring job a little easier.
Joe J
I use it on mostly stranded 16-22awg for electronic repairs. It’s just about the best tool I have found for consistent stripping of smaller wiring without busting strands. The Klein version is only rated for 20awg but it does smaller wires just fine if you are careful.
I use Klein’s other version with a fixed blade instead of jaws for larger (10,12,14) solid wire along with an ‘old fashioned’ pair of strippers.
Farid
Thank you.
4Tech
Not a wire stripper deal but homedepot has a Milwaukee 18v set on sale at for $399. Is this a good deal?
Comes with 2615-20 M18 right angle drill, 2606-20 M18 brushed drill driver, 2656-20 M18 1/4 in. impact drive, 2625-20 M18 hackzall, 0884-20 M18 blower, 2630-20 M18 circular saw, 2735-20 M18 led work light, 2663-20 M18 1/2 in. square drive impact wrench, 2626-20 M18 multi tool, 48-11-1815 M18 CP REDLITHIUM battery, 48-11-1830 M18 xc REDLITHIUM battery, 48-59-1812 multi-voltage charger, (2) contractor bags
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Combo-Kit-7-Tool-2695-27CX/302740102
Farid
I have not used the Irwin, or this style stripper for a really long time. I do use the Knipex style strippers all the time (we use Paladin Stripax / Weidmuller brands at work ) and they work great, especially when consistent strip length is required.
The one thing I can say is the Stripax style strippers work best with softer insulation, such as PVC insulated multi strand wires. In my experience, It does not work as well with hard insulation such as on Romex wire. We do have larger Paladin strippers that are strictly for larger wire gauges (8-12 AWG) and those do work better for Romex, but with the limited wire size range, they are not as useful for DIY and hobby type work, not to mention expensive.
Chris
I have a pair! Bought them at lowes sometime in the spring. I don’t use them a whole lot but they are handy. Especially for the really tough wire insulation. It’s really convenient to have a depth stop especially if your going to be adding connectors or terminals to the wire. But most of the time I don’t use the depth stop so it simply flips down out of the way when not wanted.
Samr
I bought my own pair of these using a loaner to wire some lights on a Gator. According to my amazon history I ordered them actually one year ago today exactly, at the same price. I’d easily pay double that if not more just for the convenience and efficiency they’ve given me (I also hate doing electrical work). I’m not a tradesman but these things are a godsend when I need them. Plus the handle makes them easy to spot in my truck’s very crowded tool box once they inevitably grow legs and move from where I last saw them.
That being said, this is just one guy’s opinion on the Internet, so take that for what it’s worth (nothing).
Cole Kemp
My 2 cents but I think these are junk. I have a pair and they never seem to work as expected.
I have a bluepoint set that works on the same theory but has different slots depending on the gauge. They are a mix between manual strippers and these self adjusting and they work very well.
Nate
I used these to wire electrical panels and they were great but didn’t hold up over time. I maybe got 9 months out of them using them 5x a week and stripping 100’s of wires a day. They worked great on all types of wires, even multi conductor cable (cant’ remember how well they worked on Romex). The return spring in the back broke rendering them useless. I enjoyed them so much though that I bought another pair. I enjoyed using them over the Weidmuller auto strippers and those were over $100. I think for home use or even a residential electrician they are perfect. I no longer wire panels but still enjoy using them at home and work. They are great if you are under a car dash or up on a ladder.
Farid
Thanks for the info Nate. I’ll add one to my cart.
Charles
Used a similar tool wiring panels for frack sites. Not bad for indoor environment. Have come to love the strip ax for being outside. Plastic doesn’t rust, it’s lighter. I can reliably strip 32awg to 8 awg by adjusting the preload.
The Irwin’s don’t have a blade, just a tab that grabs the insulation and tears it. The harbor freight version of these has a blade and seems to give better life because once they start to wear they can be adjusted tighter to compensate.
Points to the Irwin for depth of strip gauge and much smoother action than their Chinese counter part.
ktash
I’ve had my eye on these for a while. Thanks for the update.
Justin
I love this tool for Romex/UF. Its great at pulling the outer sheathing off without damaging the inner wires. It definitely needs adjusting time to time and it struggles with some older wires, but its amazing on the double sheathed stuff.
jeff
yeah if it is any of that old cloth sheathed wire it sucks, or if you get into some of the thhn (I think, aka the wire with clear plastic over the jacket) when the tool gets old and the teeth are not as sharp as they were new it strips the clear plastic and you have to go back to get the actual jacket.
Still awesome tool though.
jeff
ive had this same pair for almost 10 years, ive wired 3d printers, outlets, 2 houses, and 2 mobile homes, and stripped many more thousands of wires.
They are getting a little loose, but thats what happens when you try to strip a hot and neutral at the same time on a live wire…. whoops.
Its hard to not buy these to replace mine, but it still has plenty of life yet.
Buy this tool, you will not regret it.
Ben F
The pair I own consistently struggle to strip 22awg stranded. I really only use these now to pull the sheath off of wire mid-span if I need to tap into an existing run.
Joe J
Strange. My Klein’s seem to handle 22awg just fine.
Don M.
If you’ve never had a pair of wire strippers like this, they’re worth buying. They struggle with some wire insulation, and they’ll eventually wear out, but they work really well most of the time.
That being said, they don’t come close to Ideal Stripmasters… When you wear this pair out, buck up for the Stripmasters – they’re worth it.
Hep
I have used these for years – available at every lowes. Every tech in my shop (we build police cars) uses these or some variant of this style. There is no better wire insulation stripping tool – here’s why:
– auto adjusts to the wire size…upper limit is about 10 awg, smaller limit is appx 20 awg.
– removes jackets from jacketed wire…rca cables, in-wall spkr wire, etc
– cheap
– available everywhere
As an earlier poster alluded to, the spring breaks after a year or so of daily use. Each tool has 2 identical springs….. I have a drawer in my tool box of Irwin stripper carcases that have been stripped of springs to create a functioning unit.
-Hep
Jeremy
I don’t like this kind for my use(marine auto) messes up the stranded wire.
Knipex, Ancor and Bluepoint all make much nicer more usable ones, less effort and a clean cut. I do use one sometimes to rip the outside insulation of multi conductor cables(12/2 14/3 etc).
Ian Random
I have a Neiko version of it and love it. I strip small wires for projects I don’t want to do (long story) and it works beautifully, even strips just a smidgen off the end for soldering LED strips together. I had I cheaper version with orange handles, that was horrible. The jaws didn’t pivot on that, they just slid down a 30 degree incline and would always catch. I used to push down the jaws with my fingers to get it to work.
Nathan
I don’t have that irwin but I have something decades older and I have used it for year. It does have a type of blade or rather moveable, replaceable edge. and it works awesome for as little wiring as I do yearly. when I need it, it works.
OH and it will work with romex – I should mention that
I wish mine had that nifty depth stop. I might just buy a replacement set.
Jeff
I was looking at this on Amazon, and in the “sponsored links” section, I counted at least 24 versions of what look like the same wire strippers, with different colored grips, from “brands” such as Blusmart, Dowell, “Youthful nature”, AGOOL, etc. They range in price from $11 to $22, and they all look nearly identical to the Irwin pair. Are they knockoffs of Irwin, or are the Irwins just a commodity tool stamped with the Irwin name?
Examples:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074KGFCYY/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X981ZTS/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072QL69MB/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076K6MDYH/
Stuart
It’s impossible to tell.
Irwin does work with OEMs for certain tools, having them tailored to their specifications and designs. I really can’t say if the near-identical tools are replicas or if they came off the same factory line but with slight differences in fasteners and handle designs. Some of the look-alike tools are clearly different, you just have to look very closely at the product photos to see.
Hep
One of my guys has the red $12 version from amazon …. it’s identical
MtnRanch
I bought a pair of these a couple of years ago and never could get them to strip properly . Irwin replaced them with no arguments and didn’t want the old ones back but the new ones were just as ineffective.
After reading the comments here it’s clear that some people really like these things and some people hate them, there’s not much in between.
I wanted to use them on 10-12-14 THHN and Romex and for that I have to say they’ve been useless. My simple Klein strippers work fine every time where the Irwin unit either doesn’t strip or cuts the wire short.
I’d love to see a video of them in action on 10-12-14 gauge solid wire.
ChrisP
Down to $14.38 on Amazon today.