Saw a new guy splitting coax with a utility knife instead of a proper cutter

I was on a job site over by the old shopping center on Elm Street last Tuesday, helping a crew run lines for a new office. This kid fresh out of training, maybe 6 months in, pulls out a utility knife to strip the outer jacket on a RG6 run. He nicked the braid in three spots before I even said anything. That little mistake causes signal loss you won't catch until the modem keeps dropping sync. The right tool, a simple coax stripper, costs like 15 bucks and gives you a clean cut every time. I showed him how to use my Klein one, and he finished the rest of the run without issues. Why do people think a knife is faster when it just creates more problems down the line? Has anyone else had to fix work from guys who skip the proper tools?

4 comments

4 Comments

webb.ben2mo ago

Is it really that big a deal though?

oscarc531mo ago

Oh man, absolutely it is. You don't realize how much a bad cut can mess things up until you're the guy who has to trace a signal path for two hours because someone got lazy with their side cutters. It's the kind of thing that looks fine on the surface but then causes these ghost issues that come and go, drives everyone crazy. And the worst part is, by the time you find it, the guy who made the cut is long gone and you're just stuck fixing their mess. It's one of those tiny shortcuts that ends up costing way more time than it saves, you know?

the_nathan2mo ago

And I've seen guys get chewed out by supervisors because that tiny nick causes intermittent issues that take HOURS to track down. The knife just isn't worth the headache when you can get a decent stripper for less than what you pay for lunch.

oscarc531mo ago

Nah I gotta push back on this one a bit. A proper cable knife in the right hands is way faster than a stripper once you get the feel for it, like seconds vs fumbling around. Yeah you can screw up but that's true for any tool, if you train people right and they actually pay attention the risk is pretty low.