To Re-Use SS Wire or Not

[OceanPlanet]

All sooooo sad....but true!

[Jmolan]

This is the tool I use and keep handy for cutting all my rigging. Actually the knife is pictured with a life line I was making up at the time. Same idea though. No mo' wire anywhere onboard. The other shot is the mess of wire for lifeline the Dynex was replacing....all lashings, no turnbuckles

Sorry don't mean to hijack, I just couldn't help myself after getting free of wire.

[OceanPlanet]

Amen to that! Wire is history (or should be) for many of it's traditional uses. Unless of course you're racing under the RORC offshore regs...then you're stuck with 1x19.

[Littlebit]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

WLL can be figured in different ways, either way 150lbs is negligable (sp) when you look at the normal loads vs. break.

Thanks for this. I suspected as much but wanted a second opinion.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Weyalan

Go grab your bolt cutters and a piece of 3/8" 1 x 19 s.s. wire... cut through the latter, using the former. Report back, please.

Reporting back, Sah.
OK I don't have any 3/8" but I do have 7/16" 1 x 19 s.s. wire (Aussie manufacture) -its only a 31 ft boat and my BOLT cutters cut it like case hardened butter, Sah.

Originally Posted by Weyalan

Yeah, but it is my experience that most people tend to carry
a) Bolt cutters as opposed to wire cutters
b) Bolt cutters of the no-name brand, shoddy chinese manufacturer type
c) Bolt cutters that are smaller than they ought to be for cutting the diameters in question
d) Bolt cutters that are thrown into a locker and forgotten about, for years, without maintenance / protection / lurication

but they still still expect these cutters to slice 3/8 s.s. wire like a knife through butter. Hah, says I

Can't comment on what other people carry but it looks like my English brand bolt cutters are up to the task and yes, they do carry a little bit of surface rust but they do get a yearly clean up, lube and try out

Thankfully I have never had to use them in anger, only for rigging replacement

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Weyalan

Yeah, but it is my experience that most people tend to carry
a) Bolt cutters as opposed to wire cutters
b) Bolt cutters of the no-name brand, shoddy chinese manufacturer type
c) Bolt cutters that are smaller than they ought to be for cutting the diameters in question
d) Bolt cutters that are thrown into a locker and forgotten about, for years, without maintenance / protection / lurication

but they still still expect these cutters to slice 3/8 s.s. wire like a knife through butter. Hah, says I

Notwithstanding Wotname’s success, I agree that most cutters* I’ve seen aboard are unsuited to the task of cutting most S/S rigging wire, most of the time.

* usually bolt cutters, not cable cutters

[FrankZ]

I bought a decent pair of cable cutters for my rewire/adding batteries. I was hopeful they would be able to do double duty to cut rigging wire as well, more for emergencies than everyday work. They are stamped (not for steel) so I guess they might be useful in one emergency but I suspect they would be useless after that, expect maybe as a club.