Yesterday while pouring a few 1/100 jigs I was having a hard time with the sprue. Sprue cutters were too big for the small heads and breaking off was not an option as it loosened the heads. There happened to be a pair of wire strippers laying on my pouring bench so I picked them up and thought what the heck. The bypass cutters on the wire strippers were perfect. These were Southwire so the quality of the pliers is good. They worked like a charm. They cut very even taking the sprue off clean with nearly no sign of tool marks. The only problem was the length of the jaws made it cumbersome to get the hook all the way to the back of the cutters. Today I picked up a pair of Kleins that I think will be perfect. They open a little wider and have shorter jaws. If needed I will cut the stripper part off making a short pair of bypass shears with a fine point. The next time I pour I will post up a few pics.
Another use I found for them was to remove the flashing from around the hook shank. The sharp curved edges of the wire strippers fits perfectly around the hook shank and makes removing the flashing a breeze.
Has anyone else ever used these?
