# Favorite ratchet cutters?



## Alan (Jun 18, 2008)

I need a new pair. I bought a set from HD just for doing crap around my house before I started the business, and then threw them in the truck so I didn't have to buy more.

Well, that blade is soft cheap steel, and cutting nothing but pvc and pex has caused a huge chunk of the blade to deflect.


Before I was self employed I carried a set of victors and I liked them until they went dull and the boss wouldn't replace the blade.

Any other suggestions?


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Ratchet cutter to cut what exactly? Pex and small size pvc?


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

For pex I use a lennox pex cutter, I sharpen the blade when it gets dull.
For abs I use ridgid cell core cutter for 1 1/2", 2", its got a razor blade in it.

Anything else that's plastic a good ole hacksaw.


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## Alan (Jun 18, 2008)

Yeah, I usually use them for cutting small diameter pvc for main water lines. It saves some busted knuckles when you're in close quarters.

I tried sharpening the blade on my victor and while I got it quite sharp; because I had filed the chrome finish off of the blade it would no longer slide through brand new pvc or cpvc. It would go partway and then crack the pipe.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

You have to consider the angle which you sharpened it and perhaps polish it with some compound on a leather belt? Do you use a good sharpening stone?

Would the milwaukee M12 copper tube cutter any good for pvc?


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Get one of these and let us know how it works. I’ve been contemplating getting one for condensation drain lines.


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## exclamation (Mar 11, 2013)

Just the hd ones are good for me - I don’t want to spend a lot on cutters. Most tools I will spend for quality but not cutters cause they get lost more than wearing out/ breaking so I’d rather just have them be cheap to replace - also it seems like I’ve seen more of other guys fancy cutters quit working than the cheapo ones.


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## Bayside500 (May 16, 2009)

i use those cheap HD brand grey cutters for up to 3/4" pipe and a pair of blue brass craft larger ones i got from Lowes for up to 1 1/2" plastic pipe. i did buy a pair of rigid ratchet cutters once and returned them next day, not worth the 50 or so dollars and hardly worked at all.

they can be sharpened, just go slow and keep the same angle on the blade.

for me these kind of tools are almost throw away tools , cheap enough to have a few spares and not worry if they get lost, broken, whatever


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Debo22 said:


> Get one of these and let us know how it works. I’ve been contemplating getting one for condensation drain lines.


139$ would be a no brainer for me! Just my milwaukee flashlight was 115$.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

the only ratchet cutter I have is for cast iron..pex gets cut with cheap garden pruners and sawsall does the rest..just throw in a fine metal blade so it doesnt grab the pipe and shake you all over...once in a while I will use a lenox pvc hand saw to cut a piece out in the truck..


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## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

Debo22 said:


> Get one of these and let us know how it works. I’ve been contemplating getting one for condensation drain lines.


If I still worked with pvc/ cpvc everyday I would purchase those in a heartbeat. 

Mainly for the preventive sake of carpel tunnel or arthritis.

I always carried a good pair for big jobs and cheepo's for the once in a blue moon situations like now because I'm only doing new commercial.

Kleins were like cutting butter with a hot knife. A little costly but after watching my dad (retired plumber) suffer with arthritis in his hands as he aged, I'm trying to be pro-active about it. 

The rothenbergers are just ok.


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## PLUMB TIME (Feb 2, 2009)

PVC shears are fine for you southern boys, but in the cold north land they only work six months out of the year.lain:


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## Alan (Jun 18, 2008)

89plumbum said:


> If I still worked with pvc/ cpvc everyday I would purchase those in a heartbeat.
> 
> Mainly for the preventive sake of carpel tunnel or arthritis.
> 
> ...


The kleins look more similar to the victors I used to use.

Maybe I can find a used set on flea bay.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

89plumbum said:


> If I still worked with pvc/ cpvc everyday I would purchase those in a heartbeat.
> 
> Mainly for the preventive sake of carpel tunnel or arthritis.
> 
> ...


while how we work may have a cause on arthritis in our bodies, I think its more the climate, how many times in the freezing cold our hands and body parts get cold and numb have more of an impact , or using equipment that shakes our brains around, after half an hour on a jack hammer I can feel the numbness going up my arm, that cant be good in the long run...I look at hand cutters almost like going to the gym and doing a workout to strengthen muscles, if that causes arthritis then everyone working out doing the same thing over and over would be a major concern for arthritis and carpel tunnel...IMHO..:smile:


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

PLUMB TIME said:


> PVC shears are fine for you southern boys, but in the cold north land they only work six months out of the year.lain:


 Dude totally that and we hardly use pvc so when you do get stuff small enough to use shear cutters on it has been sitting in the supply house for months and is hard so it either cracks your cutter or itself.


I have a small lenox brand cutter, non ratcheting. It was free. I can't stand the all plastic pair you get with the crimpers, they are just junk. We use the thick pe so the metal handle cutters are a must.


For pvc I use my bandsaw or just my copper cutters. Almost always the pvc I use is too big for that style of cutter anyway.


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## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> while how we work may have a cause on arthritis in our bodies, I think its more the climate, how many times in the freezing cold our hands and body parts get cold and numb have more of an impact , or using equipment that shakes our brains around, after half an hour on a jack hammer I can feel the numbness going up my arm, that cant be good in the long run...I look at hand cutters almost like going to the gym and doing a workout to strengthen muscles, if that causes arthritis then everyone working out doing the same thing over and over would be a major concern for arthritis and carpel tunnel...IMHO..:smile:


I agree the climate doesn't help. But I'm talking about working on a repipe crew 6 days a week - 14 hr days. Whether mini pex crimpers or ratchet cutters for cpvc I think it's gonna have long term effects. I've plumbed in mainly Florida for 25 years where weather is not a problem and know plenty of plumbers who can barely open a water bottle cap anymore. 

I'm also done using tubing cutters, from here on out it's mini bandsaw for small copper and mid- size for larger. 

Like you, I've worked hard all my life and just want to make it to retirement with as much quality of life as possible. 

Now if your spending 14 hr days, 6 days a week in the gym, I would say you have a totally different kind of problem ":vs_laugh:


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

I can feel stiffness in my fingers and hands, I had trigger finger surgery a few years bak on a finger and can feel others locking up here and there, but I thinks its hereditary in our family as my sister has the same issue, she says yoga stretching helps the fingers...


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## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

Definitely many factors when it comes to these things.
I heard a report on npr a while back of a doctor who decided in his 20’s to only crack his knuckles in one hand daily for his entire life. I think he was in his 70s and said he had equal pain and arthritis in both hands.


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## Alan (Jun 18, 2008)

Revisiting this thread because my second pair wore out in a different way. It will still cut pipe but only 7/8 of the way through. Something is effed up with the ratcheting mechanism. I'd rather pay a little more. I really hate going to home depot anyway.


This one is similarly priced to the kleins : :vs_laugh:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AZW9ZL...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

Alan said:


> Revisiting this thread because my second pair wore out in a different way. It will still cut pipe but only 7/8 of the way through. Something is effed up with the ratcheting mechanism. I'd rather pay a little more. I really hate going to home depot anyway.
> 
> 
> This one is similarly priced to the kleins : :vs_laugh:
> ...



those would be good to cut up a body, especially the bones, get em down to snack size pieces..


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