Stop Outdoor Zip Ties Failing in the Sun by Switching to Stainless Steel

The Problem

A plastic zip tie holding something outdoors is on a clock. UV breaks the nylon down, and a tie that went on tight and flexible turns brittle over a season or two — it doesn't stretch and sag, it snaps, usually without warning and usually on the thing you'd least like to find on the ground. Anywhere the tie is doing structural work rather than tidying a cable bundle, that's a problem: fence wire to posts, netting, guards, anything on a roof or a gate.

The Technique

Stainless steel ties solve it, and they work exactly like the plastic ones. The band feeds through a head, ratchets in one direction, and will not reverse once it has passed the lock. The difference is that you cannot pull one tight by hand — steel doesn't give, and there is nothing to grip.

That's what the tensioning tool is for:

1. Pass the tie around the posts, wires or bundle and feed the tail through the head, the same as any zip tie.
2. Snug it up by hand as far as it will go.
3. Slide the tail into the nose of the tensioning tool.
4. Squeeze the handle. The tool grips the tail and draws it through the head, tightening the loop a click at a time — keep going until it is as tight as you want it.
5. Cut the tail off with the tool's built-in cutter, which shears it flush at the head.