Tell me the best way to cut Hardware cloth!

[ChickEngineer]

Oh I feel your pain! It was hot when I was cutting my HC and wearing shorts, with the marks on my legs to prove it. No matter how careful you are it likes to get you!
I didn't have much previous experience with HC but designed the run with 36" stud centers, only had to cut and trim the ends. By the way Harbor Freight has electric staplers for less than $18.00, what a life saver.

 

[teamsunbelt]

Dremmel Tool with a thin metal cutting blade. I have a corless one. Wear safety glasses.

 

[auto5man]

Quote:
X2....I bought 4" or 4.5" from harbor freight. Use a cutting wheel zips through hdwre cloth like butter!

 

[Ole rooster]

For me the only way to cut this stuff is with sheetmetal snips. Not the aviation snips that cut circles but the long jaw kind, that counting jaw and handle are about 14 inches long. I unroll the HC and bend it slightly backwards against the way it was rolled up so it doesn't try to rewind itself. Measure and follow the wire cord you measured to and cut it just like you would Christmas paper. You always have an end with the remainders of the HC square, so I hold that over a trash barrel and cut the protruding wire off. That gives me a clean, fairly smooth section to nail or screw on.

Oh yeah, I do with light work gloves just in case.

 

[sutillman]

My son got me a ZIP Snip for my birthday. Can't wait to see how it works on hardware cloth. Is suppose to cut wire, so we'll see.

 

[reksat]

Best way that works good for me is a good pair of straight sharp tin snips.

 

[LakeMurrySC]

I used a cut off air compressed tool from Harbor Freight that I picked up for $8 (+ the cost of the cut off wheels ?$3?) so a total of $11 - Worked great for the hardware cloth and the welded wire! Like said above - SAFETY GLASSES SUGGESTED

 

[partsRheavy]

Tin snips. This was my first major chicken project after NASTY EVIL raccoons attacked the Chickie Children back in August...

Watch your fingers and wear garden gloves if you wish - lay the hardware cloth out using weights to help the roll flatten out so you can cut it and install it more easily.

 

[guitarbruce]

Harbor Freight has a pneumatic cut-off tool that uses very thin cutting disks and spins at a very high rpm. I'm going to try that on my 1/2 welded fabric and see how cleanly it cuts. I'll let you know.

 

[CurtisCr79]

My compressor was not big enough to use an air tool so I bought a $1.50 cutting wheel and put it on my angle grinder and cut through it like butter!