Ideal and Klein Tools Fish Tape

Working as an electrician, one of the things you’ll need to do is run electric wiring through walls using conduits from one floor to another or across a building or room all without completely destroying the wall or building. And this is every bit as challenging as it sounds especially if there’s no conduits and even with them it’s not exactly a picnic. To make this job possible and even easier, fish tape is often used to get the wires from point A to B. Fish tape can help even if there’s no conduit sometimes with the use of magnets and the right fish tape you can get the job done against all odds.

Fish tape is basically a coiled length of “tape,” actually more like a cable, often made of steel, fiberglass or nylon and it’s coiled up into a dispenser that’s easily rewound when it’s done making its trip through the conduit with the desired wire. Basically, with the help of a buddy, you run the fish tape through the conduit you want to wire, then secure the wire to be run through the conduit at the end of the fish tape, then pull/rewind the tape to bring the wiring through the conduit to the location of the desired hookup. Specially made lubricant can be used to make this journey a little easier and working out a program for pushing and pulling the tape with your buddy is mission critical.

Fish tape has actually been around for a long time, the first rudimentary forms of which came about with the 1889’s “leading in apparatus for conduits.” This early core technology was added to over the years in 1926, 1929 and 1932 finally coming together with the fish tape leader in 1946 which would have made things much easier to use. Of course, since then toolmakers like Ideal Tools and Klein Tools have continued to make improvements up to this day including making the fish tape from fiber glass in place of steel to reduce shock, injury and damage to the electrical circuit being worked on.

The most common size of fish tape in use is 50 and 100 feet in length, however it does come in longer varieties up to 200 or even 500 feet! We do carry all Ideal and Klein fish tapes in 50 ft (Ideal steel and fiberglass, Klein steel and fiberglass), 100ft (Ideal steel and fiberglass, Klein steel and fiberglass), 200ft (Ideal steel and fiberglass, Klein steel and fiberglass) and many more beyond those.

By far though, our bestselling Klein fish tape is the Klein 56004 which is a 240 foot, steel fish tape. Our bestselling Ideal fish tape products come in the form of accessories. Ideal replacement fiberglass eyelets 31-158, 31-159 replacement leaders, and the 31-203 non-conductive tip repair kit are quite popular. Each brand is great quality and have been making fish tape and related gear since the beginning of electricity.

Fish tape is an essential tool if you work as an electrician and need to run electrical wire or cable through the hidden areas of a building. By grabbing one of these quality tools made by Ideal or Klein you’ll be getting a fish tape made by a manufacturer who helped pioneer the tools used by electricians and as a pioneer, they’ve developed products with features that make the job easier and are reliable. We’re proud of these brands and are excited to help you find the right fish tape for your needs.