How do you guys strip that crazy braided insulation that you find on ceramic heater cartridges? I’ve tried a few things (wire strippers, etc.) but I haven’t found a method that works great,it always frays, falls apart, etc.?
If your talking about the cloth covering I strip it with a knife and use heat shrink or insulation tape to stop them fraying more.
Yep, sharp knife or scissors, then heat shrink. Heat shrink is your friend; it covers a multitude of ugly connections. 
wire cutters, spin it 4-5 times with a tight grip. gets rid of most the fraying.
good tips. I wasn’t sure about using heat shrink since temp may be an issue but I suppose the junction is far enough away from where the heat is generated.
I do what @Nigel_Dickinson does as well. Knife, then heatshrink.
Wire stripper set to the right diameter - i use this type and it cuts right through: http://knipex.com/index.php?id=1216&L=1&page=group_detail&parentID=1363&groupID=1376
Knife worked, if a bit messy (probably should have removed the freshly-gluesticked build plate first :), but heat shrink cleaned things up nice, thanks for the tip!
Automatic wire strippers aren’t the best for this, but I’ve never had a problem with the kind with a series of holes in different sizes, just squeeze, turn it 90 degrees, and squeeze again, then pull it off. The ones with the red silicone over the fiberglass don’t fray much, but when I have the braided fiberglass without it, I put a drop of cyanoacrylate on the end after stripping to keep it from unraveling.