A buddy with whom I just built a couple of Chessies and who will later build some Pygmies turned me on to a very fast way to get stitching done fast and without blisters.
You use wire pullers made for the fence-making and aircraft trade. You grip the untwisted wire with the puller (about the size of pliers), draw it back, and the wire puller's spindle spins, twisting the stitch into a tight, smooth twist.
We stitched each boat togehter in about ten minutes.
The tool runs about $28. They're sold through Amazon. These happen to be made by MSR. A very good tool to speed up building time in building multiple boats or on a deadline in say a building class.
Wow - this almost sounds too good to be true! Anybody else used this device: any disadvantages? Could be well worth the investment!
Wordsmith
Safety wire plyers are faster and fun to use the only disadvantage is it’s easy to over tighten with them.
As a 22 year Air Force vet, safety wire pliers are very familiar and very easy to use. If you are careful, accidental overtightening is of little concern.
Just a question, as I didn't use safety wire pliers on my chessies and probably won't on my Mill Creek, I imagine. But one thing I liked about putting the wires in the old-fashioned way and slowly drawing them up by hand is that I can easily check for fairness as I go, making small adjustments as needed. With something that draws each stitch up quickly, aren't you running the risk of getting a hull that's not fair, and then having to go back and redo a bunch of stitches? Just wondering ....
-- Jim