What is the right tool to cut a clothesline made of coated steel?

Question

I have a clothesline that is made of 5-6 braided tiny steel wires that is coated with flexible plastic. I need to cut it to smaller segments, I tried using a cable cutter made of carbon steel but it barely worked and the wires kept fraying or wrapping around the blades but not getting cut.

The cutter itself is losing its edges despite being new and of decent quality, I believe it is made for electrical wires made of softer materials like copper and aluminum, not steel. I would like to avoid fraying because that can be painful if hands come in contact with them by mistake.

Here is a picture of the clothesline:

Answer 1

I use what are generically called "tin snips". True tin snips are designed for thin, relatively soft material (like sheet tin or similar metal). But the good ones can cut through almost anything. I had a recent problem (very long story...short version here) where I ended up with a screw stuck inside an oven hinge and after trying all kinds of things, I pulled out my trusty tin snips and chopped off the screw.

Alternatively, go for bolt cutters. They are designed to cut through solid bolts, but can also cut through cables and other things. They just aren't designed to chip away at a long run like tin snips.

Answer 2

Cable cutters are the tool designed for cutting cable. If you're doing this a lot, the correct tool helps. For a one-off task, it may not be worth the cost, although then you have the tool for life.

Cable Cutters are basically scissors/tin snips but with curved blades, so the wire being cut is trapped and cannot squish out the mouth. I use something like this for trimming the braided wires on a bicycle's brakes.

There are also fancy ones that use a ratchetting mechanism to cut beefier copper cables and wires. These would be for heavy duty mains wiring or automotive starter cable, and are far too big for this task. This one clearly says "not for steel" on the blade. You want the top one.

Answer 3

An abrasive cutting disk works well. That might take the form of an angle grinder or a rotary tool (often generically called by the Dremel brand name).

Answer 4

I would use a hammer and chisel on steel plate. Not a wood chisel but a cold chisel for steel. Lay line over a solid piece of steel, place chisel at cut point, and hit chisel with heavy type of hammer.

Answer 5

As I have them for bike cables, I prefer to use my Draper Wire Rope cutters, but I have also used cheap cable cutters, sometimes called fencing snips. Tin snips tend to push the wire out after cutting the housing, and my aviation shears aren't great on anything other that sheet material.

I have a selection of electrical wire cutters and combination pliers; none of those are as suitable, but I wouldn't want to blunt my good ones on steel anyway.

Answer 6

I would use a hacksaw. Wrapping the cut point in a bit of strong tape will help to keep the cut clean.

Ideally hold the cable in a vice or a pair of pliers at the least. All of the other answers have their points, but I would have thought that a hacksaw is more universal, and even if you have nothing then a "junior hacksaw" costs only a few pennies, almost certainly far cheaper than any of the other alternatives.

Answer 7

Cutting steel wire requires a hardened tool with a relatively blunt, durable edge. Diagonal cutters are the proper tool:

The manufacturer of the pictured tool describes their intended use:

Diagonal Cutters cut ACSR [aluminum conductor steel reinforced], screws, nails and most hardened wire

Many pliers have a cutting section near the hinge for this purpose, for example these long nose pliers:

Look around your toolbox, it's likely you already have such a tool.

Bypass cutters, those that have two blades that pass by each other like scissors, are not designed to cut steel, though with a high quality tool and thin wire you might abuse them for that purpose. For example, Klein Tools makes these cutters which are not reccomended:

Notice the manufacturer says these cut copper and aluminum, which are substantially softer than steel:

Cable cutter cuts 4/0 aluminum, 2/0 soft copper, 100-pair 24 AWG communications cable

And if you look carefully at the tool, it says "NOT FOR STEEL" near the hinge.

The problem is the sharp blade is relatively thin compared to diagonal cutters, and so it will become nicked or bent with use until the blades no longer slide smoothly against each other. A quality tool will be hardened enough to tolerate this abuse for a little while. Cheap bypass cutters will be damaged on first use, if they manage to cut your wire at all.

Answer 8

If you're going to be doing a lot of this, I'd recommend a Felco "C7" cable cutter, which looks like:

It's made specifically for cutting this kind of steel cable. It's not cheap, but it will be a lot easier to use than a regular pair of diagonal cutters.

Answer 9

For cable this small, go with a bicycle cable cutter. They are relatively inexpensive, and will stand up to cutting even stainless cables.

For connecting the cable ends, use either the u-bolt clamps (two of them to be sure), or aluminum crimps that are made for that size cable. Of course, if you get the crimps, you'll need to get a crimping tool.

Answer 10

Earlier today, my son and I discovered that someone had borrowed and not returned the long-nose pliers that we usually use for cutting a new clotheslines to size. We tried (very gently and only once) my all-in-one RJ45 tool, two pairs of kitchen scissors, and a pair of bypass pruners. I wouldn't recommend any of these for the task.

Then I remembered I had a tiny pair of needlenose pliers that I keep in my bike toolkit, because my dad gave them to me 45 years ago and they're still often useful. Its cutting section wasn't up to the task, but we were able to use it to grasp individual filaments and twist them until they snapped, which was fast and easy work.

It left quite a ragged end, which doesn't meet the OP's requirements, but someday I'll get the right tool back and go trim the end properly, and in the meantime we have our clothesline working again.

Answer 11

This stuff should be cuttable readily with a wire snip. Even a good pliers would shear it on the jaw's outer notch.

Answer 12

Years ago, I was making memory wire bracelets and bought a heavy metal snip because everything I read advised against using my good metal snips that I use for other types of jewelry wire. Memory wire is steel wire that comes in coils in 3 sizes for bracelets, necklaces or rings. It is steel wire that maintains its shape in the coil even after beads are added. I keep the heavy snips with my household tools instead of my jewelry tools and take them out when I have any heavy wire to cut. They were less expensive than buying good metal snips from jewelry supply companies and came from the hardware store. Get the heaviest ones you can find and use them for cutting steel wire. I hope they work on your clothesline. I think the advice to put the line in a vice is good; also wear eye protection.