Southwire 9 in. Side-Cutting Plier Multi-Tool

This 9″ side-cutting combo plier is a very well built and sturdy tool. It’s very handy for electricians or home handy people. It features a crimper, bolt shears for 6-32 and 8-32 bolts, fish tape puller, 12 AWG wire stripper and excellent gripping surfaces. It features excellent solid plastic handles with good grip and high durability. The cutters are quite sturdy and well aligned. They operate very smoothly but have no wiggle to them.

This is the best side cutting pliers that I’ve ever owned. It cut 12 AWG Romex and underground rated cable easily. The bolt shears (6-32 & 8-32) cut easily and cleanly without messing up the ends of the thread. That will be very helpful shortening cabinet knob screws and electrical bolts. The reaming head should clean out ends of cut conduit (I have not tried that) yet. These pliers have a built in 12 AWG wire stripper, so a separate wire stripper isn’t needed unless you are doing other gauge wire.It also has a section for crimping terminals and for grabbing onto fish tapes to help pull those. The handle is very comfortable.

Very robust cutting pliers made from forged steel, so no more bending the wire back and forth to cut through like with cheap cutting pliers. So much more efficient to cut with a quick snip, especially when you are reaching from an uncomfortable position. Besides being very heavy-duty, they have a well honed joint, and are comfortable to use with the non-slip handle grips. This is a seriously nice tool.

The Southwire 9 in. Side-Cutting Plier Multi-Tool has a lifetime guarantee and is heavy enough to address 12 AWG cutting and twisting needs with ease. It is a multi-tool which adds extras to the traditional linemen’s pliers. It comes complete with bolt and wire cutters, wire stripers, crimpers, reaming head, grippers, and fish tape pullers. I love the heavy insulated grip with safety notches to keep your hand from slipping into danger combined with sturdy holes at the ends that can be used with a lanyard or to mount the item to a tool board. It feels good and balanced in my hands and works well on electrical and other tasks. I would recommend this tool as it is pro quality with more features than other tools in its class and the price is lower than some brands that do not come with all of its features.

At first glance, these look and feel like high-quality heavy-duty pliers. They are in some respects, but not all. They are heavy, meaning they have mass. But they are NOT heavy-duty. The steel is too soft. Look carefully at the close up photo to see. I used a cheap imported file to test the hardness of the steel on the business-end. The file easily cut all the way through the blackening and easily scraped the delicate edges of the cutter. That may not be important for occasional use. But for a professional who uses tools every day, these will quickly degrade.The jaws are designed to be a reaming tool, such as a plumber or electrician would need for reaming and de-burring pipe. But because the jaw-steel is so soft, their utility for that purpose can’t last long. The same thing is true for the handles.Urethane injection molded handles feel and look great when new. But experience proves they degrade quickly, especially if your work involves petroleum chemicals or solvents.I tested the bolt-cutters too. They worked fine, but because of the blackening around the holes, it is hard to align the bolt all the way through. And I was working in a well-lit shop! It would be even harder to see those dark holes in poorly lit spaces. Every electrician will understand what I mean. Another point is that the plier jaws do not “occlude” properly. That means the tips of the jaws do NOT completely close. See the close-up photo I took with a strong back-light to understand. For an electrician pulling thick romex through a wall, that isn’t a problem. But for many other uses where we need the jaws to completely shut, it is. I don’t think these are “bad.” They open and close smoothy and feel good. They have copied several useful features of other innovative brands. But they missed some crucial details that professionals require: HARD cutting edges, HARD steel for reaming, handles that stand up to harsh environments.They are a good “copy-cat” design that could easily fool less-experience users. So, although these are a good budget alternative for a homeowner or occasional user, I cannot recommend them for pros.

These pliers feel comfortable and durable. This tool combines heavy-duty forged steel and fire rivet technology for smooth action without wobble and clean cuts. Handles have holes for tether. Fire edge induction hardened blades should be very durable.The tool serves as a reamer, cutter, stripper, fish tape puller, 12 AWG Sol wire crimper, bolt shear, spanner wrench, or grip; it shears: 6-32 and 8-32 bolt. The working part is 5 in, total length 9 in, depth is 0.79 in and width is 2.36 inHandle is Comfort Grip and not insulated.The tool is guaranteed for life. Overall, it has comfortable grip, smooth action and good size and feel. Its multitude of functions makes it versatile and it is guaranteed for life.

My review of the Southwire 9″ side cutting combo plier. I really like these so far, they are well made and have plenty of features, more than the Linemans I have been using. The fish tape puller and the stripper are a nice touch. They have great cutting leverage and the jaws grip and hold wire better than pliers I have used in the past. The bolt shears work well. Being able to attach a lanyard to the tether holes on the handle took the fear out of dropping them while rewiring a boat. I would recommend them.

It’s amazing how some tools just seem to have a great ‘feel’ to them. This is one; it has a great heft to it, and just feels like a quality tool There are several improvements over the traditional lineman’s pliers that make this stand out. In addition to the normal flat jaws, it has a rounded section as well to grip rods. There is also a gripper for pulling fish tapes. It also has a properly-sized cutter for stripping #12 wire, a crimper for insulated connectors and butt splices, and an awesome screw cutting setup for #6-32 and #8-32 screws. I’m including a closeup of a screw I cut off as well as the threads in the plier. the finish of the cut screw is nearly perfect, and I did nothing but just remove it from the plier. The minimum length of the cut screw is 5/16″, which works perfectly for almost everything I would need it for. I tested the wire cutters’ alignment by cutting a single sheet of notepad paper, and the cut was perfect. Cutting and stripping some # 12 wire was practically effortless.