Cable cutters
 

Hello,

My current cable cutters are these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/16116...ff14=95&ff19=0

They worked well on the first two brake cables, but completely failed on a gear cable. They won't cut brake cables any more now, and I have a new frayed gear cable on one of my bikes.

I'm going to buy some new cable cutters, but I wanted to ask which ones are the best value for money:

Park Tools CN 10 £23.50

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Park-Tools...item338a480f3b

Ratchet CC325 £27.50

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ratchet-Ca...item4d0d215417

Felco C7 £39.99

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW-...item2a368b11cf

I have the Park Tools CN 10. They work great!

I have both the Park and Felco. Felco wins hands down. Try Ebay - I got nearly new Felco C7 for around $20.

After having bad luck with a couple of pairs of Park cable cutters I switched to Shimano cable cutters. I can't help you with how well the current Park cutters work because my Shimano cutters are about 20 years old and still going strong. Maybe that's your answer.

I have the Park cutters and I've never been able to get a clean cut of the brake housing. I use a Dremel now and it works great. If I had it to do over I would buy a Dremel and an inexpensive cutter from the hardware store for the inner cable.

I bought the Park about a year ago and have used it without problem. If you are a shop mechanic you probably want something heavier duty, but for occasional home use it is fine. I read all the negatives about it and bought it anyway, and I think the negative reviews spawn more negative reviews without having actually been used.

I have a cheap cable cutter from Supergo (who remembers them!?) that have worked for quite a few bicycles now. Probably seen 15-20 cables, and no signs of giving up yet. I use them on guitar strings as well, :) Brake housings it does leave a weird burr because of how the housings are made, but nothing a file and diagonal cutters won't take care of.

Dremel works OK, but takes a LOT longer to cut housing than my cutters. One snip, and the housing is done. No plugging in the dremel, chucking up the right tool, melting plastic...etc.

Shimano cable cutters are, IMO, vastly superior to the Park Tool ones. I personally don't rate Park stuff. That said, I think their heavy duty stuff is well made (truing stands/bike stands etc). I have found that their screwdrivers are made of cheese and cone wrenches and other hand tools just aren't tough enough.

Felco cutters are the best buy if you have the extra £. As with everything in the UK, stuff is vastly overpriced compared to that in the US and other countries. You may find some great deals online, as long as the overseas shipping is not too ridiculous.

I bought these Draper cutters and, for the price, I can't complain. I have cut numerous amounts of housing and inners for myself and friends, and they're still going strong.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-Expert-57768-Wire-Cutters/dp/B0001K9WXA

It's hard for any of us to qualitatively rate different brands of the same tool, since most of us just buy one and if it works, we're done. I bought the Park cutter. It works great on all newer 10-speed and brifter type stuff. It also works for the older and fatter cable housing on C&V bikes, SO LONG AS you make a quick, hard cut. "Squeezing" the cut will produce mushed housings and frayed cables. My $.02

I too use the Park, more or less satisfactorily. My favorites were Sears end-cut cutters, but they got dull, and I can't find anyone who knows how to sharpen them so that they bite uniformly across the blade. Couldn't find new ones like them either in the stores so I went with the Park. Guess what? I just googled them and here they are: http://www.sears.com/search=end%20cu...tting%20pliers

I find that when new and sharp, these do the absolutely best job of cutting inner and outer cable. I think I am going to switch back to the Sears. Anyone in the market for a slightly used set of Parks? I keed!

I like linemans pliers, they are strong and usefularound the shop for other uses too. The best part is you can pick them up from a hardware store.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineman's_pliers

You will not regret buying FELCO cutters. I bought mine 40 years ago when I could not really afford them and they work today as well as the day they were new. Cheap cutters dull quickly and leave the cables mangled and frayed as the OP has found. I picked up a pair of Shimano cutters at an estate sale and they are sort of OK but nothing like my 40-year old FELCOs.

What he said.

I've used a number of different cable cutters and even the cheap ones worked as well as the expensive name-brand ones... as long as they hadn't been dulled. A trick that some use is to put an old piece of cable in the housing when cutting it as it helps minimize crushing of the housing. The method I generally use is to make the cut about 1-2 mm longer than desired and use a grinder to remove the material and produce a flat square end in the process. Go slow and for 1-2 sec at a time on the grinder to prevent overheating the cable and melting the jacket and lining.

If you look at the cut ends of housings as they are supplied in cabling kits, you'll see that they were done with a cut-off wheel or grinder, and not cut with pliers type cutters.

Looigi, that is a good method, no question about it. Problem is, every now and then you run across someone who doesn't have a grinder. I know, boobs, right! Go figure! In any case that is when the $20 end cut pliers (nippers) really come in handy. They can very precisely trim off the end of wound wire reinforced housing and square it up nicely. A make-do for the tool challenged among us. I would say that the Dremel approach (man I love that thing; Nobel prize material right up there with the microwave oven and Mr. Coffee) is the in-between solution. One of these approaches should suit just about everyone.

I use cable cutters for the cables and a dremel for the housings. The housing cut with the dremel has a nice clean edge.

The pecking-order, and cost, of cable cutters is pretty much as said above: Felco in first place, Shimano second, Park third and then almost nothing worth having.

I have a pair of Park's older CN-4 cable cutters I've used for well over 20 years and they do an adequate job. But, I work only on my own and a few friend and relatives bikes so they are not in anything like daily use. They work well for cutting inner cable wires and for index shift housing. For spiral wound brake housing I use a pair of side cutters and am careful to get the blades between adjacent coils of the wire. Then I smooth the resulting burr with a flat file. A large needle or small nail can be used to round out and straighten the liner after cutting any housing type.

I have a mid-70's SunTour cable cutter like this (thanks to JohnDThompson for the images): http://velobase.com/ViewTool.aspx?ID...C0BF4&AbsPos=0
I use that or a much newer Park tool for cables and have recently adopted the Dremel shower-of-sparks housing cutting technique.
The SunTour cutter is somewhat handier for crimping on cable end tips.

The end cutters work better than the side cutters that you describe. In my experience of course. And a ball point pen tip works great for opening up and rounding the innards.

another vote for Felco .. the best .


though the Park has a crimp the housing ferrule and cable tip cap part of the jaw, on the handle, side.

I haven't had problems with my Park cutters, but I only use them on cables, not housing. For housing, I use diagonal cutters and then clean off the end with the bench grinder.

Thanks for the advice. I've decided to buy the Felco ones.

When I get round to changing the cables (I have a lot of sanding and waxing to do in the meantime) i'll put a post on here with any problems I encounter. I'll definitely try some of the tips mentioned in this thread though!

I have the older shimano cutters and have had good luck for the last 15 to 18 years. http://www.niagaracycle.com/categori...2-cable-cutter

In the market for some of these soon myself. Tried lineman's cutters on the inner cable - some scrap inner cable - NOPE.

Why are these particular tools so pricey? I understand good tools are good tools, but where's the cost at? Just really hard metal for the shears?

Wondering if I could just use a cutting disk from a dremel. Or an electric drill. Never tried it.

M.

"When I get round to changing the cables" follow the advice in this article:

http://sheldonbrown.com/cables.html#housing

The hint about bending compressionless shifter cable housing prior to cutting it is right on (as is virtually all of Sheldon's advice).