Flush cutter, cutting pliers?

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What type snips, cutters or pliers cut straight through metal wire/rod and don't result in a pinched, ragged cutting surface? I want to snip off up to 2 mm (39/500 inch) diameter piano wire cleanly. Flush cutting ability would be good.
 
Sounds like you want a small guillotine. Any cutter that approaches from both sides (like cutters & pliers) is likely to leave the pinch in the middle. If you insist on going with cutters, get some tool steel ones and stay well away from the carbon or stainless.
 
A small version of the beheading tool? What about pliers that don't pinch but shear off the wire? What's this type pliers called?

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Originally Posted By: BRZED
A small version of the beheading tool? What about pliers that don't pinch but shear off the wire?


They might do the job if you can find some with tool steel blades, I just have no experience with them personally.

I play in a band and run about 6 guitars, so I change strings regularly. I've yet to find a pair of cutters that will last when faced with the solid core of a set of strings, and they are way smaller than 2mm. I've probably destroyed 20 sets of cutters over the last 20 years trying to find some where the blades don't end up looking like a cheese grater. The worse they get, the rougher the cut and the bigger the puncture wound when I do something dumb.

Come to think of it, you might get a good clean cut with tin-snips. Same shearing action and actually designed to cut steel. I'd never actually thought about that before.
 
Flush cutting pliers are designed to cut softer materials like copper wire and plastics. If you're wanting to cut 2 mm thick hardened piano wire, you're not going to find flush cutting pliers for that kind of wire. However, there's lots of nice pliers available to cut piano wire cleanly and without a pinched end, but the cut won't be a 100% flush. All you need to do is download the Knipex catalog and look through it to find the pliers you want.
 
What type pliers would you use for softer metal rods like brass?
 
I just remembered I have a Park Tool cable cutter that might work.
 
Originally Posted By: BRZED
I just remembered I have a Park Tool cable cutter that might work.


That'll work but you'll ruin the cutting edges real quick cutting piano wire.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: BRZED
I just remembered I have a Park Tool cable cutter that might work.


That'll work but you'll ruin the cutting edges real quick cutting piano wire.


I'm not overly worried. Most of the wire is just 0.25 or 0.5 mm thin. Anyway, any idea what a cutter with "blades" like shown in my above sketch is called?
 
I also have a cutter that is used for cutting copper plumbing tubes. It has a single blade and your blade/cutter turns around the wire/tube. You apply more pressure and you make revolutions and before you know it you have a good clean cut for plumbing. Don't know if that would help in your application
 
If it were me, rather than worry about a special tool, I'd just cut it and then clean up the end of the wire on the grinder/dremel tool or with a file.
 
Hard wire cutter works well and leaves a mostly smooth end cut.

I have these: Xuron 2193F Hard Wire and Music Wire Cutter. I've never tried 2mm wire with them, but they do handle smaller wire very nicely. They cut by a shearing action.

BSW
 
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bypass type cutters will cut cleaner than any type that that has the blades meet in the middle. Cable cutters are this type,so are scissors.
 
I found my Park Toolo cable cutter. It has no trouble cutting 1 mm piano wire cleanly. That's good enough for now. Pop_Rivet suggested cleaning up the cut after cutting. That's not very practical if I have to cut 100 half inch short pieces. I have small cup burs, but it's too much work. For now the Park Tool cutter will do, and in case of brass rod, it can cut even thicker rods. The Knipex pliers look like they might work.
 
Do you remember which model or kind? The Flip Joint look useful.
 
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