WiHa Flush Cutting Pliers $17.00 (Nerdtool)

You can get Plato 170s from China on eBay for <$2 (similar to Xcelite 170Ms), shipping included. They work fine for small work (20 ga copper is fine). For thicker stuff (and even steel baling wire), you can get Stanley 43-028s for $4 or Irwin linesman pliers for ~$10 on Amazon.

Genuine Wiha are good tools. Their drivers are very nice.

Greelee crescent openeng ratchet cable slicer to 500 MCM

After I bought the Wiha I saw a review on Amazon that condemned them as not being marked Wiha brand and having the blades chip @$#&*!

For many years I used the same pair of Hunter brand (made in Japan) flush cut side cutters.

Here's a pair available on eBay for $14.95: HUNTER Tools 5" Diagonal Plier Cutters

Big Katuna wrote:
Xcelite makes a pretty good set for $7 on Amazon. I wouldn't try to cut 20ga wire tho.

X2 on the Excelite. I've been using these lately.

You need the right tool to do the job right.

Flush cutters are designed to cut components leads that have been soldered into a board, trim wire connections on switches, etc.
Tight, close work. You can cut an IC out leg by leg

The blades meet flush, not like scissors (shear cut) and can cut flush to the PWB. They can cut 30ga just fine.

For bigger than 20ga you would get out your Kleins like this ONE.

For your 10 ga to 2/0 etc you would use a pair like THESE.

A hard cable to cut is large gauge welding cable; big diameter with really fine strands.

I used to install telephone charging systems; three 48 VDC 1600Adc, three phase chargers connected to a bank of 24 4' X 2' square 2 volt batteries. The DC run to the main panel was 24 750MCM stranded cables.

Spent years on the bench too.

Big Katuna wrote:
Xcelite makes a pretty good set for $7 on Amazon. I wouldn't try to cut 20ga wire tho.

What gauge of wire would you cut, if not 20 gauge? I'd think that any wire cutter that couldn't at least handle 12 gauge wire is pretty feeble indeed. (Remember that bigger gauge numbers mean smaller wires!)

Xcelite makes a pretty good set for $7 on Amazon. I wouldn't try to cut 20ga wire tho.