ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Sharp Knife permit??

Good one Reno! I just may do that!

haha

Or for that matter one side of a Raco 4sq...

I like the purpose built strippers for coax too. They do a consistant job of prepping the cable for the connector. I also like a real wire stripper for THHN and Romex.
A regular razor knife is good for some other things but get a good one with solid detents for the blade exposure. The $1.99 ones are usually junk.
I do keep a baby Buck on my keychain that is pretty sharp. When I was working I kept it "scary sharp" by stropping it on a box when I was talking on the phone. Once you get a knife fairly sharp that will polish a razor edge on it. With a careful touch you could still strip wire but that would certainly be an emergency type thing where I didn't have my tools.

An electrician without a knife is like a jockey without a horse.

Oh yeah, so was there a different permit for the "dull knife"?

My leatherman is always kept real sharp, and is always with me, even to church. Permit or no.

When I wired airplanes, a set of flush cutting side cutters, usually off the Snap-On truck, was all I needed to strip all manner of coax wire, depending on what system I was working on. Kept sharp, they have no trouble with the foil. In the maintenance work I do now, the flush cutters are in the telephone/network tool bag. They also make really good fingernail clippers after you tore it on the edge of the radio rack.

TW

The only time I had to get stitches when I was an electrician was from cutting EMT with a hack saw. I cut through the pipe to fast and punched the rough edge of it with my right indew finger...had to get 5 stitches or so.

[This message has been edited by Ryan_J (edited 01-10-2007).]

Knife Permit, that is just silly. I wonder if people are laughing when they come up with that sort of stuff, lol. I think that they should be given a "Give Your Head A Shake Permit".

What I find interesting is that an electrician may play with lethal voltages yet needs a permit for a knife.

I trust you to wire a device correctly so a building won't burn down but a knife, too scary, you might get a cut.

The company I work for doesn't ban use of knives. However I have sign the following forms.
Safe use of knives, proper use of elevator, safe driving statement, take a written test on lift truck operation every year and attend lift truck training, fall arrest training, boom and scissor lift training every three years.

If they want to reduce injuries, ban ductwork. 16 1/2 years as an electrician, the only 2 times I've needed stiches was from (sloppily installed) ductwork.
But the first time I got to watch the HVAC foreman REAM out the guy who installed it.