[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

I like these for cutting 6 AWG.

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I personally like the type that Rich linked to. We found a smaller version that is perfect for #6 copper wire only. Do not allow the mechanical team to find them or they will be toast in a minute.

I've personally found that type to not cut as well as they are shears, not pinching cutters. Then again, it was steel wire that I was cutting.

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Use a box cutter/utility knife by simply rocking the blade until passes through the insulation. If you run the blade around the wire it will nick and cut and you will lose strands. When you have rocked the blade around the whole wire, then lay it flat on the wire and fillet the insulation until it is loose enough to pull off. If the wire is old and nasty looking, toss it. You will not likely get a good crimp and it won't take solder as it should, if you solder your connections.

Side note- I've always heard that if you nick off one or two strands (or a few for finer stranded wire, like 6 gauge battery cables) that it's OK. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and cringe whenever I nick one when stripping (any gauge of wire) but perfect and satisfactory are two different things.

I've had mixed results with soldering battery cable lugs (or the leads to the breaker/PDP for that matter). The bolt-on kind (with screw clamps) I've had good luck soldering. However, soldering the crimp-on kind caused all sorts of trouble when I was on 1747 in 2010. We used a vice to do the crimping and torch soldered the crimp to the wire. The solder wasn't conductive enough and we were tripping the main breaker due to heat, not current flow. Swapping to soldered clamp-type connectors fixed the issue.