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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Fri Aug 06 1999 - 14:13:51 EDT
Unfortunately, the bean-counters have prevailed over the sailors at West once
again. The ARM (Chinese?) cutters West sells are of the "saddle" type (one
jaw supports the wire and one jaw cuts) and are specific as to wire size.
This means that if you cut a smaller wire than the cutter is rated for, the
wire shape will not be retained by the saddle and it will be crushed rather
than cut. Salt-water sailors will be interested to know that ARM cutters also
have steel handles.
Felco (Swiss) cutters, OTOH, have two cutting jaws; both are in the shape of
a right-angle. This results in simultaneous shearing on opposing sides of the
wire. It also makes possible the cutting of smaller diameters without
crushing. Felco cutters also have aluminum handles, so you only have to keep
the steel jaws greased to prevent rust.
Nevertheless, NONE of these cutters were designed to cut 1x19 stainless; they
were designed to cut 7x7, 7x19, 6x25 etc. *iron* wire rope, a much softer and
more-easily-cut product. Actually 1x19 is not wire rope at all, but a "single
strand" of what would be a larger wire rope.
Bottom line is that you need a larger cutter than the manufacturer specifies
in order to cut stainless wire. For instance, the C-16 Felco cutters we sell
to the entertainment industry are rated to cut 5/8" wire, but believe me,
3/8" stainless is about all they can handle!
John
"Truelove" - Westsail 43
In a message dated 8/6/1999 12:14:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:
We tried the large cable cutters at West
> Marine and if you jump on the handle repeatedly they will eventually cut
> through a 3/8 SS wire but it is a real job so we did not buy one.
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