Clip a wire-coated terrier and the coat grows back soft, pale and flat, because the clipper cuts the hard outer hairs and leaves the soft undercoat to take over. Hand-stripping pulls the dead outer hairs out at the root instead, and the new coat comes through with the correct harsh texture and proper colour. The job is repetitive and slow, and the tool in your hand makes a genuine difference to how long you can keep at it.

The blade here is hardened steel, which holds up to the pulling and rolling action that stripping actually is. The knife works as a fulcrum for the thumb rather than as a cutting edge, and a soft blade rounds off and starts slicing hair instead of gripping it. Coarse and fine are two stages of the same groom: coarse for bulk removal down the back and sides, fine for the head, the ears, the legs and the tidying at the end.

• Hardened steel blade built for sustained use
• Easy-grip handle for the repetitive stripping action
• Coarse option for bulk coat removal and initial stripping
• Fine option for finishing, heads, legs and smaller areas
• Suits wiry and rough-coated breeds
• Sold singly; choose coarse or fine at checkout

On technique. A stripping knife is not a cutting tool, and used as one it chops the coat and leaves you with the same problem as clipping. The hair is trapped between the blade and the thumb and pulled in the direction of growth, a few hairs at a time. If nobody has shown you how, ask a groomer to run you through it once, because ten minutes of instruction saves a season of coat.

Who it's for: Border Terriers, Wire Fox Terriers, Airedales, Miniature Schnauzers, Irish Terriers, and any breed whose standard calls for a hand-stripped coat.