The Best Crimp Pliers For Working With Wires

Crimp pliers are used in jewelry and in electronics, and while they look very similar, they perform very different roles. Here’s a guide to help you figure out the best crimp plier for the task.

What Are Crimp Pliers?

A crimp plier is a crimping tool that’s designed to crimp wires and fold them into each other or into terminals. Crimp pliers resemble traditional pliers in terms of shape, and some can even function as actual pliers in certain scenarios.

Why Is It Important To Have Crimp Pliers?

It makes working with wires in jewelry a cinch

When working with jewelry or crafting your own, you’ll eventually come across a situation where you’ll need to crimp metal wires into shape. This can be difficult without crimp pliers, as you can’t control the pressure and angle of your crimping as easily with other tools, such as a traditional pair of pliers.

With a pair of crimping pliers, you no longer have to worry about your crimp being slightly misaligned, as you’ll have much more control over the crimp. It’s also made for pinpoint accuracy, an advantage that traditional pliers do not have in jewelry.

It helps you crimp electrical wires

Electrical wires are pretty difficult to crimp without a dedicated crimping tool. Crimping tools make the process of crimping much simpler, especially with color-coded jaws and whatnot. It’s very beginner-friendly, as it should be since even beginners need to learn how to crimp at some point in their studies.

Tips for Using a Crimp Plier

Remember these tips when you use your crimp plier.

Don’t exert too much effort while crimping

This is one of the most common mistakes when it comes to crimping. It’s a problem that you’ll see in both jewelry making and electrical wiring. You see, crimping involves the folding in of wires and whatnot, so to many people, they assume that it takes plenty of effort to accomplish. As such, they put in as much effort as possible, squeezing down on the wires as hard as possible.

This, of course, is far from ideal. By exerting too much effort while crimping, it results in what’s known as over-crimping, which can be very bad when crimping electrical wires. Fortunately, some crimping tools come with mechanisms to prevent this from happening. And even if over-crimping isn’t a problem, putting too much focus on your power takes away some of your ability to remain accurate and in control. When working with jewelry, this is far from ideal, so try to keep your force exertion to a moderate level.

Remember, at the end of the day, crimp pliers are made to make the crimping process easier, not harder. You don’t really need to exert a whole lot of effort to successfully crimp something. Learning how to manage your strength while crimping is one of the first steps to becoming good at the skill.

Pay attention to the color codes

Color coding is present in some crimping tools that have different nests for different types of wires. Unless you’re a professional, you probably haven’t memorized the locations for each nest, so try taking advantage of the color codes to make crimping at least a little easier.

Oil your pliers and crimping tools regularly

This is more of a general tip than something that applies specifically to crimp pliers and crimping tools, but it’s still worth mentioning. Over time, your crimp pliers and crimping tools will feel a little more difficult to use, and this is mainly due to the joint of the pliers tensing up. To solve this, you’ll need to regularly lubricate the joint to allow unrestricted freedom of movement.

But when should you lubricate? Honestly, lubricate as often as you’d like. You’re the one using the tool, after all, and your tool should feel as comfortable in your hand as possible if you want to work efficiently with it. If lubricating your crimp plier or crimping tool often helps make you more productive, then, by all means, lubricate away. Alternatively, if you like the more rigid feel of the pliers after not being lubricated, you can also just opt out of lubricating entirely.

Different Types of Crimp Pliers

Jewelry crimp pliers

Jewelry crimp pliers are crimp pliers made for the primary purpose of crimping metal wires in jewelry. If you’re trying to close off a hook at the end of a wire, for example, a crimping plier can come in handy in this situation. Crimping pliers allow you to fold the wire in themselves to keep the hook in place.

Crimping pliers vary greatly from traditional pliers in the sense that they’re far smaller. There are small grooves on the arms of the crimping plier and they help facilitate pinpoint crimping accuracy. You don’t even have to be a professional to use them, as the crimp pliers make the whole process much more streamlined. It may take a while to get used to, especially if you’re used to working with traditional pliers, but over time, you’ll get into the groove of things.

Electrical wire crimping tools

These tools are made specifically for crimping electrical wires for all sorts of applications. Some crimping tools are used for purely electrical wires, whereas other crimping tools are used to crimp network cables instead. These tools also sometimes have color codes for beginners to more easily use them.