Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
l found reference on the forum that tungsten carbide hacksaw blades are recommended for cutting rigging wire. What's the recommended tpi, and would it be the same for conventional blades?
tpi for cutting stainless
- Thread starter Porthandbuoy
- Start date
fergie_mac66
Well-Known Member
3 teeth at lest in contact with metal.but thereare special tools for cuttingrigging otherwise you will have the end of the rigging looking like a scarecrows head!
Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
Not too much of a concern if you're dismasted.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
I suggest that a fine blade, 32 tpi, would probably be best. 1 x 19 wire cannot be considered to be a single solid piece, but a number of individual strands.
earlybird
Well-Known Member
The carbide blades I've come across are grit rods, so tpi doesn't apply.
Perhaps there are toothed blades on the market though, but would they be better for the job than HSS?
Perhaps there are toothed blades on the market though, but would they be better for the job than HSS?
David2452
Well-Known Member
I use a 1mm stainless parting disc on an 18v grinder on the rare occasion I have to cut that stuff, very neat job it does too especially if you slip a ferrule over it first. In an emergency situation I would have though a good pair of bolt croppers would be quick and sure.
Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
I carry bolt croppers as well, just in case. But when you need one hand for the boat, one for yourself and two to operate the bolt croppers I would expect things to get a bit difficult.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
I carry bolt croppers as well, just in case. But when you need one hand for the boat, one for yourself and two to operate the bolt croppers I would expect things to get a bit difficult.
In the only dismasting I have been involved with the skipper dropped the bolt croppers overboard in the ferocious rolling that took over once the mast had gone. The Crash Test Boat team found a hacksaw to be one of the best methods.
William_H
Well-Known Member
For cutting stainless steel yes 32tpi is best. Use 24 or less for aluminium.
For cutting rigging wire I find wire cutters bypass type (almost look like a parrot's beak) the ones I have are good for 4mm wire. You would want something more substantial for a bigger boat bigger wire.
Bolt cutters (big) would be OK for rigging screws but would I think tend to flatten the wire rather than cut.
If your need is for emergency cutting in dismasting then you would want to test the cutters before you need them in anger. good luck olewill
For cutting rigging wire I find wire cutters bypass type (almost look like a parrot's beak) the ones I have are good for 4mm wire. You would want something more substantial for a bigger boat bigger wire.
Bolt cutters (big) would be OK for rigging screws but would I think tend to flatten the wire rather than cut.
If your need is for emergency cutting in dismasting then you would want to test the cutters before you need them in anger. good luck olewill
Jassira
Well-Known Member
There was I thinking you were passing on a tip for cutting stainless steel
If I had to cut away rigging in a hurry I'd be tempted to cut the bronze bottle screw
If I had to cut away rigging in a hurry I'd be tempted to cut the bronze bottle screw
Now that you say it, that seems like a no-brainer, but curiously I have never heard it mentioned by any instructors or skippers nor mentioned in any magazine articles or sailing manuals. Are we missing something?There was I thinking you were passing on a tip for cutting stainless steel
If I had to cut away rigging in a hurry I'd be tempted to cut the bronze bottle screw
ChrisRayner
Well-Known Member
I think my bottle screws are also stainless. I don't know for sure, but I'd want t know that there's no galvanic couple between bronze and SS.
rotrax
Well-Known Member
S/S can sieze together quite easily hence bronze bottlescrews. The bronze and S/S dont suffer this "galling" in my experience. Electrolicic or galvanic action is not significant in this area as far as I aware.
A brand new Plastimo furling kit was being fitted to a boat I was involved with once and a 12mm S/S nut and bolt siezed so tightly together after it was installed that I had to cut the sides of the nut off with a hacksaw and clear the remains with a chisel. It had only been installed a couple of hours.
Gosport based Jerry the Rigger once showed me that a correctly swaged terminal becomes almost a solid bar inside the terminal due to the pressure applied in swaging.
A hacksaw would be my prefered method of cutting rigging free-a hacksaw on a lanyard.............................
It would seem to me that in the event of having to cut away the rigging, whether you choose to use a hacksaw or a bolt-cropper, the best place to do it is through the bottlescrew, the swage, or very close to the swage, and as Rotrax suggests, a lanyard is very advisable, as is another crew member holding onto the back of your harness to steady you.
doug748
Well-Known Member
There was I thinking you were passing on a tip for cutting stainless steel
If I had to cut away rigging in a hurry I'd be tempted to cut the bronze bottle screw
Much easier to grip or clamp the bottle screw that's for sure. Copper alloys are a bit of a sod to saw though, they are hard and not very free cutting. I can't say I recall sawing any bronze but a brand new blade is highly recommended when attacking brass. Bronze is harder than a lot of steels.
The other day I quite easily cut some 4mm rigging wire with a junior hacksaw and a standard carbon steel blade. The blade being only marginally harder than the workpiece, funny old business.
