Safety wire takes practice. This my two cents on it. When I first started as A&P I used duck bill pliers and they worked fine. I got some “Okey, Dokey approved Safety Wire pliers” at a pawn shop. I used them but really didn’t like them. I found that different pliers nick the wire and it breaks easy. I was told there was different ones for different thickness of wire. I wound up drilling the twister lock off and using them by hand.
It allows me to get a better feel for the tightness of the wire. I also lightly smoothed the jaw teeth so they didn’t nick the wire. One trick I learned working helicopters when you need to get a cotter key out of a hole and can’t get to it. Take about 2-4 feet of wire loop it thought the key loop of the head, double back and Wrap both wires across the handles of the pliers a couple times with 2 feet of slack. snap it hard a couple times and the cotter key will pop out. I use the pliers tip to install, remove and bend them too. This works if they are not really big. I have several pairs the I use in machine shop to pull keys out of grooves, or what ever I need a long handle pliers for. I use the whip effect when pulling wire through a tight turn too.
I safety a lot of stuff on shop projects if I have problems keeping bolts or whatever tight.
People always would ask who did my safety wire and comment on how nice it looks. I have done lots of safety wire on people planes for free. The main tips I found improves you safety wire tightness and looks is I always twist the wire in the direction that puts the wire down on the side of the bolt head where the wire comes around. As the twist get there or the end next to the nut or bolt head I do a “Barrel Roll” with my wrist and it pulls the wire tight and sucks it right in to wire hole. I do some over as I usually break the wire due to nicks or just a little too tight, but no buckets full. My pliers are only one way twist and that’s one reason I got to doing them by hand. You can get it start through the bolt head and twist is by hand until you at the other end, then tighten up with pliers, pull through hole and finish with barrel roll at end. PLEASE, PLEASE, FOLD THE TAILS BACK IN SO THEY DON’T RIP THE NEXT GUY REACHING IN THERE. I HAVE MANY ARM SCARS FORM PEOPLE NOT FOLDING THE TAILS BACK IN.
It took over twenty years to use a complete can of wire myself. Have many “Borrowed” from tool box that never made it back. They just don’t have that homing sense to come back.