# Cutting wire "hardware cloth"



## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey everyone,
im about to purchase some 1/4" wire "hardware cloth" to use as a deck surface on my Garden Railroad..this stuff:

(random photo from the internet)









Im going to need to cut and trim a lot of it..
I have some old-school large "tin snips", like this:










Would those work to cut the wire? or is there a better tool for the job?

thanks,
Scot


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Get the Wiss offset cutters, compound action, padded handles, easier and less blisters.

HD and Lowes have them.










You can also do it with the carbide cutoff wheel in a dremel, but it wears quickly.

Greg - 743


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

I agree with Greg with the following caveat....the ones he shows are left hand (used to cut circular in a counterclockwise rotation). The red handled pair is the opposite hand. They will work well and as Greg states, save some wear and tear on the the hands.

From experience, wear a good pair of leather gloves when cutting wire cloth, the edges left by what ever cutting implement you use will be sharp and shred your hands if not very careful. There is one other pair of what are commonly called 'aviation snips' available, with a yellow handle. These are designed to cut in a straight line. If funds are available I would purchase the set of all three. I believe both Lowes and HD offer sets.

Bob C.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Greg and Bob! thats what I will do.
I'll be only cutting straight lines for this particular project, so I'll look for the yellow ones.
Scot


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry guys, I am INDEED left handed, but I bought one of each (red and green: left and right), plus the yellow handled "straight".

Greg - 739


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

Greg....tongue firmly in cheek....that explains alot.....


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

You know us left handers are the only ones that are "right" in the mind ha ha!

(referring to the fact that the right side of the brain controls the left half of your body, excepting your eyes)

Tongue now glued to cheek...

Greg - 737


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Sorry guys, I am INDEED left handed, but I bought one of each (red and green: left and right), plus the yellow handled "straight".
> 
> Greg - 739


When my late father-in-law (great guy BTW) helped me to install our new heater/AC system in our home 38 years ago (he was a HeatingAC contractor and wanted us to save money and DIY), part of my "learning experience" as his "apprentice" was that he purchased the three Wiss snips (red, green and yellow) to cut the ducting and plenums to shape. I still use them to this day! Get the good ones.......Wiss.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Scottychaos said:


> Im going to need to cut and trim a lot of it..
> I have some old-school large "tin snips", like this:
> 
> 
> ...



That's what I use and have worked fine for years.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I hear you Gary. Unfortunately, some of the big box stores have started carrying another brand instead, and I tried a set, not near the finish quality on the blades, nor as smooth an operating mechanism.

I think Wiss has been making these forever, I believe I was introduced to them in 1969.

Greg - 735


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## Mike Flea (Apr 8, 2014)

Dikes (diagonal cutter) work well also


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Home Depot webpage says my local HD has the Wiss brand snips in stock. I'll probably stop on my way home from work Monday..

Thanks again everybody.

Scot


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## R.W. Marty (Jan 2, 2008)

Scotty,
Lots of information presented in response to your question, my opinions for what they are worth follow.

The Aviation snips that all are proclaiming great; red, green, yellow (left right., straight) are wonderful tools but not really made for the job you are looking to do. Yes they are compound action so if a person has weenie arms they make for easy cutting but the very short jaws can make that cutting seem to last forever. 

If you don't have, or have access to, a stomp shear or power shear than the only really good way to cut hardware cloth is with a pair of straights. By straights I mean a pair of Wiss 17's if you can lay hands on them. I can't tell by your picture what size your snips are but the 17's are very similar they are officially (straight pattern cut snips) 

For some reason that totally escapes me Wiss and other companies have for the last several years been dipping the handles of their straight snips in that rubber anti slip compound. That crap will wear the skin off your your hand (especially the back and heel of your thumb) quicker than sand paper. If you buy a pair like that carve and or grind that stuff out of the insides of the loops and file/sand the metal smooth so it won't irritate the skin.

A coupled of suggestions/questions;

Why are you using 1/4 inch hardware cloth instead of 1/2 inch?? Half inch is way less expensive and more than adequate for the job. .

Always try to cut your finish piece to the 1/4 or 1/2 dimension (depending on what size your using) so you don't have the "spines" sticking out on the piece your trying to work with.

By the same token always cut the remaining spines off the main stock before you measure out the next cut piece.

Buying new snips of any type Wiss is the best, in second place is Malco Tools but they are generally available only through wholesale dealers to the Trades.

In the picture you show the HC being held in place with screws, I would recommend small fence staples. By starting the staple in the correct spot it gives you up to a 1/2 inch of slip to pull the slack out of your HC before you drive the staple home. I hope any of that made sense.

Like I said these are just my opinions but I have had a little experience along these lines.
Good luck with your build
Rick


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

If you use the tin snips 'cause you have 'em. Be sure the screw is tight, I've used worn ones that can allow the metal to bend and slip between them instead of being cut. Sharp tools are safe, dull tools are dangerous.
Have fun.
John


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks all..

1/2" instead of 1/4"! Great idea..half as much cutting!  i only mentioned 1/4 because that seems to be the standard, but i'll look for 1/2". I have Lowes. HD and Tractor supply, im sure I can find it.

I was hoping to begin some of this work this weekend, but the weather has turned horrible, 90 degrees and a billion percent humidity..I hate August!  but September arrives mid-week, so the Summer heat will only last a few days this year, which is good..cant complain, we had all of July and August in the 70's this year, which was fantastic. I can take 3 days a year of 90 degrees, not too bad.

Scot


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Rick, (or anyone who knows)

I'm interested in something you mentioned. I am truly asking to understand, not to contradict you.

Whenever I used my "tin snips" with the all metal, and thin "finger loops" for a big job, I got blisters.

I _thought _that when I used the snips with the rubber handles that I got no or fewer blisters.

The blisters I got from the metal handled snips were usually on the top of my hand back from the thumb too, rubbed the skin raw.

If I read what you are saying, the key is to NOT have a non-slip surface on the handles of the tool, but to have a smooth surface so as to REDUCE the friction between the tool and the skin, thus minimizing blisters.

Do I understand this correctly? (when I read this, it seemed to make sense, but never thought of it)

Greg - 732


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## R.W. Marty (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Rick, (or anyone who knows)
> 
> I'm interested in something you mentioned. I am truly asking to understand, not to contradict you.
> 
> ...



Yes Greg, that is correct, a smooth slippery surface is far better than a rough non slip one. The spot you mention is almost always the first to be injured followed quickly by the heel of the thumb on the palm side.

Keep in mind if your hands are not used to using snips, not much of anything is going to save you when you tackle a long hard job, but cutting 1/2 inch HC is really not that difficult. Using tin snips is the same as any other repetitive work or exercise, if your not used to doing it your gonna get sore if you over do.

Also as John mentioned above you have to keep your snips adjusted, even Aviation snips need constant adjustment attention if they are used constantly.


After several thousands of miles of metal is cut with snips a guy kinda picks up on some of these things

Rick


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Rick, I think the snips I have were my grandfather's and I'll polish out the handles.

Clearly, the longer jaws are a lot faster than those aviation snips.

Greg - 727


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

If you are only using hardware cloth you will need a lot of support, i.e. probably no spans of more than 12 inches and even that might be pushing it if you use much ballast. My friend and I have used expanded metal with 1/2 HW cloth over then heavy weed block on top of that. The expanded metal has to be cut with an angle grinder.


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