Handling Hardware Cloth. I can tell you how NOT to do it.

[Poetical Peeps]

So, um, how might someone interested in cutting hardware cloth so that it ends up flat and tidy go about doing so?

Having left enough DNA along the jagged edges that I could, at the very least, be convicted for being too thickheaded to purchase work gloves and proper snips, I wanna learn to do this. My current snip-thingies seem too short-bladed and it's extremely tedious to cut while attempting to not bend too much. Amazon hunting for better snips is revealing many versions of what I already have, but I may not be putting the right thing in my search.

Advice? Do you have a favorite cutting tool? (Preferably not too costly... but open to all ideas...)

Thanks muchly!

Andrea

 

[gardendufus]

I used, not wire cutters, but tin snips. The kind they sell to cut metal patio roofing. Lemme see if I can find a link. It really worked well as the handles were long and kept me away from the HC. Could only cut 2 wires at a time, but that wasn't too bad.

http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hard...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

 

[Poetical Peeps]

Thanks!

I keep seeing all these nice coops and runs -- people make it look so easy.

 

[mstricer]

I hate that stuff.

 

[MySuburbanLife]

My hands and fingertips are SO cut up! It's terrible stuff.

I alternated between wire cutters and tin snips-- the wire cutters made a cleaner cut, but didn't bounce back open after each cut... so it was slow going. Open, snip, move over 1/2", open, snip, move over 1/2". The tin snips opened but needed more muscle to cut through the wire.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

My husband left me these tiny little wire cutters to cut about 80 feet of wire!

--- umm, yeah, no! I used a pair of super sharp kitchen scissors that can be resparpened instead. Yes, I did basically ruin a $10 pair of scissors, but they cut all the wire. And later I was able to use them again for more hardware cloth. Also, I wore leather garden gloves while doing it. After breaking a nail and scraping my hands, I knew something had to give! I spend too much of a mani to destroy it like that!

 

[galanie]

I used, not wire cutters, but tin snips.  The kind they sell to cut metal patio roofing.  Lemme see if I can find a link.  It really worked well as the handles were long and kept me away from the HC.  Could only cut 2 wires at a time, but that wasn't too bad.

http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hard...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

Same here. My least favorite is chicken wire. Hardware cloth might cut you but chicken wire is just so hard to mess with in general!

 

[MySuburbanLife]

Coop building is death on a manicure! I used to have shellac done every 2 weeks, but put that on pause until my coop and daytime run are DONE. No good spending $$$ on my nails when it's just going to get destroyed the next day.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

Coop building is death on a manicure! I used to have shellac done every 2 weeks, but put that on pause until my coop and daytime run are DONE. No good spending $$$ on my nails when it's just going to get destroyed the next day.

I have found a million ways to same my mani! I garden and cook with surgical gloves on, wash dishes with gloves on, construct with gloves on, and most definitely feed the Chickie Darlings with gloves AND boots on! If they ever catch sight of my shiny nails, I get hen pecked to death! That was cute when they were itty bitty, but now that they are grown, it just hurts! lol

 

[Poetical Peeps]

I'm just glad if I can keep my fingernails free of anything really nasty. Nothing like the moment when you realize you've had baby poop jammed under a fingernail for a couple of hours... can't remember what it's like to have them polished.

Anyhoo, I ordered another pair of snips... not much faith in them being any better, but we'll find some use for them either way.

I have also been beating the heck out of my scissors -- resharpening often with a rotary tool -- and suspect they might be the best I'll do. I like that I can cut through several wires at once and not bend the heck out of the "cloth" -- maybe a respectable death for an old pair of Fiskars. I've also considered getting one of those big paper-cutting tools like they have in schools... but it may just go dull too quickly to be worth it. I did set up a small, temp enclosure for my three-week-old chicks this morning without too much agony. Of course, I only had to cut through two feet of cloth and snap a couple of clips on it, so I don't feel like I have the stuff tamed.

Is it hateful that I find some satisfaction in knowing everyone else is miserable, too?

Do any of you make cages yourself? Or do you find it cheaper to just buy them assembled?