I posted these beat-up, spring-less, pivot-replaced vintage Var cutters in the "Favorite Bike Tools?" thread a while back. They still work perfectly! They were going to be thrown out at the bike shop I used to work at!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...47b6ec7193.jpg

At home I have the Felco and at work I don't recall if they're old VAR or Shimano. Both work fine.
Grind/file housings and poke with a pointy tool/nail whatever's handy
The Felco are not used exclusively on bikes. I have a roll of SS cable to make things like lanyards for hitch pins or hangers for bird feeders etc.

Haven't experienced anything that indicates deterioration due to grinding the ends, or cutting with a Dremel. It doesn't concern me, and if it was good enough for Sheldon, it's good enough for me.

"Even when the housing is cut cleanly, the end is not square and perpendicular, due to the pitch of the helix. Careful mechanics will grind or file the end of the housing so that it is flat and flush. The best tool for this is a grinding wheel, but it can be done with a file if you don't have access to a grinding wheel.When you cut the housing, the end of the plastic liner also gets cut, and often gets squashed flat. You can use a scriber or a sharp awl to open it up and round it out. If you use a grinding wheel to dress the end of the housing, have your scriber right at hand so that you can open up the plastic liner immediately after grinding. The heat from the grinding will partially melt the liner. By sticking the scriber in before the liner cools off, you can not only round out the end, but the shape of the scriber will actually flare the end a bit for a smoother transition." - Sheldon Brown

+1
"The housing I always cut with a piece of old cable in the canal. That keeps it from getting mashed."
My cutter is a 25 year old Shimano that still cuts cleanly.

I considered this when I started using the Dremel years ago with the cheap unreinforced wheels and for the RD end cut I would install a cable near the cut and right after when the liner is still warm I shove the cable through, thinking it will remove any debris. Being a now retired ex-maintenance engineer when I change the families housing/cables (or any parts) I always look things over carefully as I have the time and see no indication of embedded grit impact on liners at the stops. I now use the Dremel 506CU cutting wheel which Dremel claims to last more than 20x longer with very fancy grit and admit it is not showing any wear to date and it may actually be cutting cooler so don't worry about a grit issue if there ever was one.

Used to be an electrician. Still have most of my handtools. This one cuts through cable housing like butter. Then, use an ice pick to open up hole at end. Klien makes good stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/Leverage-Comm...03161356&psc=1

Someone should post a thread in the User Assistance forum. I would, but I don't know the word.

https://www.bikeforums.net/forum-sug...er-assistance/

The word in question is a different way to spell the word for an embankment that holds water out of the Netherlands. It is an adaptation of "diag" which is short for the "diagonal" in "diagonal cutters". (wikipedia)

I think the use of such a word for diagonal cutters is quite regional. I never heard it in Minnesota where I grew up, but in New England it seems pretty common. I have a friend from Kansas City who says his dad used the word, but when he moved to California nobody knew what he was saying.

Gotcha!!!

I've heard them referred to as such- but not popular usage around here.

Ok, sorry, I must have forgotten that we were in church.

No worries, I was just asking. And I did (long ago) try cutting a few housings using a Dremel with the thin wheel. I myself would then dip the end of the housing into a tiny jar of solvent, and literally watch the grit storm fall out where it then sank in the cup. This was before the days of pre-lubricated housing though.
In most cases I was re-using discarded housing anyway, so I developed a method of scrubbing out the old housings using a bent-up piece of cable wire with ptfe spray , then spraying it out yet a second time with the dry-lube ptfe solvent spray, and finally blasting it out with compressed air. I then apply Grip-Shift Jonnisnot ptfe/teflon cable grease to the inner wire upon installation. Almost as much effort as cutting a piece of housing to length using the dremel!
This was all by trial and error you could say, worked good enough (as in "wow, that's smooth!") that I still often do the same today.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...182db133a5.jpg

Poor 1st cut:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ef7d8851f4.jpg


Better first cut:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4f5ec58373.jpg


After second cut:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...196325e3b6.jpg

I don't notice any improvement in braking when I follow a second cut with a bit of filing (done with the housing end pointed down).

Where there is not much length of ferrule, the slight tilt of an un-finished end might, might, slightly improve aesthetic entry angle in a few rare instances, but I wouldn't waste much time on it since it might as likely slightly improve the entry angle (where the cable perhaps curves to the side anyhow?).
But yeah, it sometimes just feels good to accurately square the end of the housing, so if the grinder (and a tin of solvent!) are actually at hand (mine is unfortunately way down in the defined "dirty" half of my basement workshop), then why not go for it!
(Well, it did look this clean six years ago, shown here maybe a couple of weeks after I built it)
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...efd566cc7f.jpg

Interesting BEFORE/AFTER, this is about how it normally looks six years later:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e315f53c6c.jpg

:lol: No church, and no big deal either way.

I'm sure your brakes work great. I know mine do, too.

I've watched this play out previously, and on the same term/spelling for that matter. The censors what it is, and always will be. The mods and admins are good people, friends with many of them, and not on the outs with any of them. For what they are paid:roflmao2:I amazed they are here as long as many have been.

Bill

Hmm, I'm from California, and I've never heard them called anything else but the term in question. Might be regional. Also, in the big cities, many if not most people are from somewhere else. Plus there's lots of dumb people.

My Old Man was the UP of Michigan, did time in the USN as diesel engineman from 48-52, and took jobs as a machinist in Wisconsin while on college (UW) summer breaks. He always referred to them as 'ikes' with a d in front . How's that one?? Or better yet -- 'rhymes with bikes' ) ;)

Dad is retired USN airplane mechanic. Always called diagonals "dikes" (with a Y) and linemans pliers "kleins". He was born in the 'deep south', so not sure where he got it from.

Always called them wire cutters myself, though today I probably use them on zip-ties as much as anything.

Yup. I typically call tools based on function. Cutters. Crimpers. Strippers. BFH. Medieval 10lb cotter removal beast (VAR-07).

These work amazingly well at an astonishing price:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commerci...0127/300513196

I always use a cut off disc with a Demel style tool to finish of the cable housing ends; especially after curving the cable housing on the compressionless style "SIS" derailleur cable housing at the chainstay cable stop to derailleur body section- eliminates any play for crisp, precise indexed shifting.

I too am astonished at how cheap that tools can be these days. And a lot of these things are made of great materials on sophisticated mass-production lines.

It does also sort of shock me how little of the stuff we buy is made in the US these days.

I use a Shimano cable cutter for both cable and housing, a few file strokes on the housing then stick a pokey tool into the housing. (Pokey tool - simply a sharpened spoke with the other end bent into a handle. Name is universal throughout the Portland bike scene. Very useful tool.

Ben

Ok, thanks for all the replies, I reviewed what was available and ordered a felco knock off.
The first test cuts were quite impressive, so I will have to see how long they last.

This is the first set I bought, and to paraphrase Mr Hambini these are utter shyte.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fe3bdc76e.jpeg
This set, from Amazon works very well. Appears to be a Felco copy, identical to the Pedros except for the colour.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...886a3da5a.jpeg


B

I bought two pair labeled Cal-hawk off amazon for a bicycle clinic that are exactly like these and they look like pedro's clones but work better then the Pedro's. I've got the nicer park, and honestly don't see a difference between the cut quality of either of them. 6 years on the cal-hawk have seen a lot more use then my personal parks and are still just as good.
After the first cut if there's a small jagged piece on the brake housing I just turn the cutters and sort of nip it off, and use a niny philips to open the end.

These are a generic, bicycle-specific cutter, sold under many brand names and so with different colored handles.

They are the best I have ever used, going on decades here!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...14225ec970.jpg

Sorry, not a fan of riveted tool heads like the last couple. Makes me happy with my Park CN-10 purchase.

Like many people here, I use a pair of Pedro's cable cutters. They're not too bad. I usually throw the housing on a grinder afterward, to square things off. Then I use an awl or an old nail to open things back up.