BarBender Posted April 5, 2001 Share Posted April 5, 2001 For you steel benders who cut your nails and steel bars, what tool do you use for the cutting? Using wire cutters would enhance crushing strength as mentioned by John Brookfield in _Mastery of Hand Strength_. A hack-saw would work but little if any grip work is done. I do not recall ever seeing mention of wire cutting here or on the old GripBoard. As John Brookfield suggests, it is a good idea to cut the wire while held inside a bucket. Also, do not twist the cutters while cutting. Some dummy borrowed a co-worker's cutters and broke off one of the cutting jaws when he twisted the the cutters. He was trying to cut a thin metal strap that secured a cardboard box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Black Posted April 6, 2001 Share Posted April 6, 2001 BarBender, I usually just bite them in half with my teeth, I thought everyone did. :biggrin: Actually, I use bolt cutters on everything up to 5/16”. For the ½” bars I’ve been bending lately I hold the bar and use a hack-saw to cut it in half. I’ve never thought to use wire cutters, it seems like it would be tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarBender Posted April 6, 2001 Author Share Posted April 6, 2001 The Mighty Atom used his teeth to bite through nails and other metal objects. I prefer to use my teeth for eating. Cutting hot rolled steel with wire cutters would probably make a nice grip workout. Cutting cold rolled steel may damage the cutters in addition to working the grip. I mentioned the question primarily because a new tool store opened in Little Rock and there is quite an assortment of wire cutters and other steel cutting tools. Seeing the variety of wire cutters reminded me of the wire cutting suggestion by John Brookfield. While I was there I bought a 55-pound anvil that was on sale for ศ.99. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Black Posted April 6, 2001 Share Posted April 6, 2001 I agree BarBender, if I ever started using wire cutters for cutting bars I would work under the assumption that they would be damaged over time. Since I do my bending immediately after my crushing I don’t think I could give the method my all. When I cut 5/16” cold rolled steel with my bolt cutters it’s fairly challenging, they are small bolt cutters and this thickness/type of steel is at its design limit. Personally, I have no design limit, so I guess I could cut 3/8” and ½” with these cutters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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