Pliers

Indispensible pliers:

• Flush cutter
• Cutting pliers
• Wire stripper

After trying some cheap chinese cutters I ended up with a Piergiacomi TRE-03-NB flush cutter I found at Baco. For thicker wire I use some cheap cutting pliers. A flush cutter is a cutter where one side of the cutters is flattened. This works better than standard cutters for cutting off the leads of components you soldered on a PCB, the result is cleaner and you have more control.

I can recommend the Jokari Super 4 Plus. Bit of an investment but saves me so much frustration and time. Take my advise: don't use a hobby knife to strip wires. You never get a clean result and risk cutting yourself.