Emergency rigging cutting tools

Oen

Oen

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A fairly thorough (I think) search here has failed to find the answer to my question...

I hear of a cartridge-fired bolt cropper, ideal for cutting through rod rigging, available for about £300.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Or offer alternative thoughts? (Ordinary bolt croppers are not up to the job).

...and has anyone had problems with obtaining or carrying the cartridges?
 
I have seen this kit in use in emergency training. Cuts steel cable like butter.

sharp kit



and occasionally you get secondhand ones on ebay or surplus stores sites.

The advantage is that it relies not on cartridges, but on hydraulic power.


HC20cutter.jpg
 
Reply to OEN
Sorry but I disagree
I went to a local hardware supplier for a set of boltcroppers & when I told him what they were for he told me they were no good. I felt he was wrong so to proove otherwise he produced a piece of 8mm wire. I cut it as clean as a whistle & very easily in the shop in front of him. He was so suprised because he had been told by other yachtsmen that the cutters needed curved jaws & that ordinary croppers were no good. Presumbly they had all been conned by chandlers as well
I had read about cheap cutters from a magazine article that said the bolt croppers made by Clarke's tools at under £ 30-00 were fairly good. Bearing in mind they will only be used to cut about 8 - 10 wires in an emergency there is no chance the blades will get blunt. If I do loose the mast I will get a new set of cutters if the originals looke worn. Personally I suspect the more complicated the tool the more likely it is to fail. If there is a problem I can always have another go at cutting the wire. One does not need 2 hands to operate them. One can put one end on the deck & push down with the other. If your rigging is bigger than 8mm the situation may need something more complicated but try a bit of wire first like I did
 
Felco have a range of cutters - Ok using them on stable platform but I do wonder about heavy seas...In any case a hacksaw with 32 tpi blade or greater may be as good if not better.
 
Bolt croppers (the Felco sort or similar) will definitely not work on my rod rigging.

Many thanks to everyone else for some very useful replies. I'm pondering the wisdom of going down the cartridge route, considering the implications when cruising abroad... On the positive side, the cartridge type does look better for singlehanded (or nearly singlehanded) use.
 
At work I have used hydraulic cutters. Compact units easily carred onboard can cut quarter plate and half inch bolts easily.
They can be hand pump or electro/hydraulic pump powered.
Larger versions are used by the Fire Brigade to cut cars
 
Someone fairly recently reported that cheap Focus bolt croppers were good for cutting wire. In my experience (making up rigging in the workshop, not facing death in a blizzard off Cape Horn) they are totally useless. A bit like cutting paper with blunt scissors. OK, they get through about half the strands, and then jam on the rest.
For nice clean cuts an angle grinder works best, but not perhaps very convenient at sea.
 
These cutters are portable, light weight and designed to last years under the toughest conditions. The anvil style, centre cut blades eliminate jamming problems common to shear style cutters and are easily replaced. The spare blades are relatively cheap also.
 
I used a cheap set of cutters on 6mm stainless wire when my rig failed - they worked perfectly, giving a clean cut, first time every time. Must be the best 13 Euros (yes, 13!!) I've ever spent.

As Oen says, though, cutting stainless rod rigging is an entirely different matter and needs a more specialist device.
 
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