Warning: That Homeowner Lecture Made Me Rethink My Whole Wire Stripping Routine

Last Saturday I was swapping out a 50 amp range circuit for a lady in Toledo, and she watched me strip about 12 feet of 6 AWG with my usual lineman's twist method, then said, half joking, "My late husband would've called that a hack's shortcut." That comment stuck with me, because I've done it the same way for 15 years and never once timed myself against a proper stripper or a knife. Has anyone else had a customer or family member drop a casual remark that made you re-evaluate a habit you thought was fine?

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finleylopez19d ago

Think about whether you'd still defend that twist method if she'd handed you a stopwatch and a brand new pair of Ideal strippers on the spot. I mean, 12 feet of 6 AWG is a lot of wire to burn time on, but the real question is what else you might be skipping because it's just how you've always done it. Did you actually time yourself after she said that, or did you just shrug it off and keep going? Because if you didn't pull out your phone and check, you're still working on a guess, not a fact. And honestly, that's the part that would bug me, not the technique itself.