Found out my fish tape was the problem after 3 hours of frustration

I was working a job in a 1970s house in Denver last Tuesday. I kept snagging on something in the wall and couldn't get the coax through to the living room. Turns out my fish tape had a tiny burr on the tip from a previous job that kept catching drywall. I filed it down with a pocket knife and the run went smooth in 10 minutes. Anyone else ever wasted time on a dull or damaged fish tape?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_alex16d ago

Might be worth checking if it was actually a burr though. Sometimes those old steel tapes can get a little bent near the tip from being shoved into tight spots, and that bend can catch on things in ways a burr wouldn't. I've had that happen with a Klein tape where I spent an hour thinking it was a nail or something, but it was just a slight kink an inch from the tip. A quick straighten with some pliers fixed it right up, but filing wouldn't have done anything for that.

loganm525d ago

Grab a tape from 1978 and that bend is probably older than half the guys on this site. I get what you're saying about a kink catching but a burr is way worse because it actually digs into whatever you're sliding past. A kink is a smooth curve, it deflects off stuff more than it grabs. I had a Lufkin that was bent so bad near the hook it looked like a wave, and it never once snagged on a stud or drywall edge. A burr though, that's like a tiny razor. It'll shave wood fibers right off and hang up every time. Filing is the fix, not pliers.