Originally Posted by
DannoXYZ
You can get the Hozan tool for $145 from some place back east. Also shows up on fleabay around $50-75. I've got a brand-new unused one if anyone offers $100+shipping.
I've cut several thousand spokes on one back when I was a student building wheels for the university team. It does work well if you leave 2-3 of the existing threads as a guide when cutting down spokes. With bare spokes, you'll want to bevel the ends by about 1mm to help the rollers work up gradually. Otherwise, you may roll a ring that connects with itself. You're trading muscle and time for low-cost and you can do a set of spokes for 2-wheels in about 30-40 minutes.
We had a Phil tool at local wheel-building shop where I helped out occasionally. That tool is very powerful! However, it doesn't care about existing threads and will start its own threads when and where it wants. Looking closely with a magnifying glass, sometimes you can see existing threads split in half by the Phil tool at the ends before it re-forms them to new full-threads. So it's best to feed the Phil tool bare spokes. Can do spokes for 2-wheels in about 10-15 minutes.
In the OP's case, if it's just 2mm, I'd just trim the ends off on a grinder and slightly bevel the ends so there's no fragments. Much easier than re-treading with any tool.
BTW, there's a cutting die, such as with a tap & die set. And there's also rolling dies, used to roll threads.
I've custom cut spokes for many entire wheels using my Hozan threader, and used it to complete the set for builds when I was a few short of the proper length. It is very labour intensive though, and getting spokes consistent in length is a challenge. Not to mention a set of rolling dies only lasts a few wheel sets worth. (When replacing dies on the Hozan, always ensure you get the ones for SS spokes.)
A pro quality spoke threader has been on my wish list for a long time, so after much consideration, and comparing options, I went for the Morizumi. Like I said before, I test ran a spoke with about half the threading cut off, and it seems to have picked up the original threads perfectly.
In this demo video by Ric Hjertberg, he cuts 274mm spokes to 269mm, which would mean he has at least 4mm of thread left, although he makes no mention of that fact. He just makes it sound routine.