Lots of good info here I also really like the idea of the twist and heatshrink method. I just wanted to add a small trick a friend showed me years ago for stripping wires. (works great on really small fine wires) Use a lighter to heat up the casing to just the point where it starts to burn and melt, then you can pinch it and just slide it right off the wire. Takes a bit of practice, but it actually wont burn your fingers at all if you do it right, and it wont break or score the fine wire strands. I use one of the small crack torch types because it allows me to point the heat right where I want the casing to come off, depending on how much wire I want to expose.