Bought this from Amazon, $14.95. Made in China. (not a fan of anything Chinese). It is metal with coated grips. Surprisingly good construction for the price and Chinese. Is designed for the nylon ties up to 9.5mm. Not for stainless steel ties Has handles to cinch up and tighten the ties. A second lever to cut off the unused part of the tie. One can leave the tie end on if you chose. Easy to use and makes handles well. However the control of the tension for smaller ties is not easy. One can break 3mm ties easily. The 4.5mm clear ties did not break under full tensioning. Some of the other tools on Amazon had a tension adjuster, but the cut off seemed to be automatic with pulling the tie taught. Example: Soda can (empty) with 4.5mm tie pulled tight. As you can see a good amount of tension. Tie end not cut off on purpose. Cut the tie end off with the tensioner. It does not cut off smooth so a bit of a rough edge does protruce. These are the only tests I did. Plan on trying to use the ties and tensioner on glue up of circular items. Like the coopered boxes or trays that I posted earlier. So far pleased with the item considering the price and how seldom I well use it. For outdoor items the stainless steel ties and appropriate tensioner would serve better. Stainless steel tie tensioners seem to be in the $55 range. Do not intend to buy one in the foreseeable future.
