Pro tip: try a fish tape reel with a brake on it

I was doing a 150-foot run through conduit in a commercial building in Seattle last week. My old fish tape kept birdnesting on me every time I pulled more than 50 feet. So I borrowed a Klein Tools tape with the thumb brake from a buddy. No more tangles, and I finished the whole pull in 20 minutes instead of an hour. The brake keeps the tape from spooling loose when you stop pulling. Has anyone else tried one of these and noticed a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher38514d ago

Nah man, I gotta disagree here. Those brakes just slow me down and add another thing to break when you're in a tight spot. I've pulled way more than 150 feet with a regular tape and never had a birdnest issue I couldn't fix by just pulling slower.

jana_davis9014d ago

Oh man, I gotta say I'm the exact opposite. I'm the kind of guy who can birdnest a tape measure just by looking at it too hard. I mean, I once spent a solid five minutes untangling a tape that got knotted up while I was just carrying it across the room, no joke. So yeah, I'd probably take any brake I could get just to save myself from my own clumsiness. Idk, maybe it's just me, but I find that little extra resistance keeps the chaos at bay.