On Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:57:35 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:

On Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 11:49:49 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Mon, 11 Jan 2021 09:26:39 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:

On Sunday, January 10, 2021 at 11:28:22 PM UTC-8, wrote:

The smaller Swiss Army knives lack a blade suitable for opening
cardboard boxes, cutting thick cordage, stripping wire, and opening
theft proof packaging. So, I gave up on multiplex knives and switched
to something more practical:
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Hand-Tools/Cutting/48-22-1530

Quite so, so telephone installation people used special hardened
and sharpened scissors for cutting phone wire and on the back edge
it has a slot for stripping the wire.

Sigh. Telco "scissors" are called "snips". There's no "special
hardening". Snips can be a little dull so that they don't cut through
the wire insulation when scoring the outer jacket. Hardened cutting
edges also have a habit of chipping. What you want is hardened and
then tempered. Note that this model has a serrated edge allegedly to
grip the wire when cutting:
http://www.southwiretools.com/tools/tools/ESP-1

This video does a rather nice job of explaining the difference between
snips and scissors, as well as demonstrating how the tool is used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMpS2Ctfmg8

https://www.amazon.com/Electrician-Scissors-Theater-Klein-Tools/dp/B000VL03NC/
Klein tools are very good.

This style (as shown in the video) is allegedly better. However, the
only thing the oversize handle does is give you a better grip when
stripping wires:
https://www.amazon.com/Electrician-S...dp/B0015SBIL6/

https://www.amazon.com/Internets-Best-Premium-Utility-Retractable/dp/B01M27QHE2/
Not good. That will nick the insulation when cutting through the
jacket. If there's any braid, it will also damage the braid. It also
takes quite a bit of skill and practice to partially cut through the
jacket using a knife. I can do it because I've had a lifetime of
practice, but I wouldn't recommend using a knife if you have better
tools available. For example, I sometimes use these for stripping
CAT5, coax cables, and some electrical wires:
https://www.google.com/search?q=cat5+stripper&tbm=isch
They work well, but require a different die for each size of cable and
become dull if you allow the blade to touch the copper wire.
For cutting carboard boxed
and their wrapping the only tool to use was a razor knife.
Methinks the official name is a "box knife":
https://www.google.com/search?q=box+knife&tbm=isch
The trick for me is one handed deployment, operation, and retraction.
However, razor blade knives do not have a serrated blade edge, which
is useful for sawing open fiberglass reinforced packing tape, cutting
boxing rope, and dealing with multiple cardboard layers in one pass.
That's why I prefer the Milwaukee knife.

Tell me Jeff, when did you work for the Telephone Company?

1966 or 67. I went through the training for GTE in Santa Monica CA
while attending Santa Monica City College. However, I had to quit
before I was done because the draft board wanted me. So, I went full
time at SMCC in order to get a 2-S deferment. In 1967, I worked for
about 2 months for Pacific Bell in a CO battery room. However, that
didn't involve terminating signal wires and should not be considered
relevent wiring experience.

Since I was partner in a telephone installation firm putting phones
into San Francisco skyscapers for several years what leads you to
believe that you can tell me what tools I used?

You didn't mention which tools you used. I also wasn't aware that I
need your permission to suggest that you might consider using my
favorite tools. Your failure to use the common name of "snips" and
your mistaken impression that razor knives are suitable for
terminating wires, failed to provide me with any suggestion that you
had training or experience. It's really amazing how much one can
deduce from only 3 lines of text.

Why you're so amazing
you can tell the actually contradict the people who actually make
them.

Thank you. However, please note that I did not "contradict" anything
you said. Were you really recommending that one should use a razor or
utility knife for preparing network or station wire for termination?

Over the last 10 years I've bought and assembled probably 100
bikes of all sorts from FS29ers, to every steel bike imaginable
to cyclocross bikes, touring bikes, and aluminum and carbon fiber
road framesets. They ALL came in heavy cardboard boxes and using
a razor knife not only did I unpack them without a problem but I
cut every one of the boxes up into small pieces that would fit
into my recyclable trash can. I have replaced ONE razor and the
knife came loaded with several replacements. So precisely WHY
would I need a knife that has a saw edge on it and a cutting
edge that wouldn't even slice the boxes open let alone cut them
into small pieces.

If you are sufficiently skilled to cut through heavy cardboard without
hitting whatever was packed inside, then by all means, continue using
your 10 year old razor knife blade. Heavy cardboard might make it
easier as it's likely that the bicycle manufacturer also put some
protective distance between the bicycle parts and the box. If you
were opening smaller and thinner cardboard boxes, such as USPS
priority mail boxes, you would probably need to be more careful.

Oddly, I've never had the experience of cutting up cardboard boxes so
that they fit in the tiny residential recycling bins. My office
building had a shared dumpster for recycled cardboard. I would cut
through the tape, fold the box flat, sometimes cut the flat box in
half, and drop it in the dumpster. At home, I recycle all my
cardboard at the nearby transfer station, which also has a dumpster.

The serrated edge on my knife is most used for rope, cordage, and
webbing used to secure some larger boxes. I don't use it often, but
things that need to sawed, a serrated edge makes cutting easier.

Incidentally, I try to save as many cardboard boxes as possible. That
became important when I closed my formerly palatial office and moved
everything to my house. I eventually had to recycle most of the
salvaged boxes, but kept enough to help (slowly) re-organize the mess:
http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/crud/cardboard-boxes.jpg
There's another pile of about equal size in the shop. Also, for odd
size boxes, I use a Uline H-101 carton resizer:
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-101/Carton-Tool/Carton-Sizer



--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558