cast iron cutter

Dave_4

not a heating subject but i picked this up from a gentleman who,s father had just passed away. he was a retired plumber who never got rid of anything. the basement and garage are a nightmare. anybody have a idea on what it may be worth in todays market???

Ragu_5

Keith...

We call those babies a "Cast Iron Snapper". I'd say keep it to loan out or rent out; you don't need them that often, but when you do....

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Dave_4

Yes i have had one of these for years now it was my grandfathers. i found this one. i know you will never get parts for these. any idea what it my be worth. would like to give the son something for it.

Mad Dog_2

That looks like a first Generation snap cutter

In fact, The Big Ragu has one on me...never seen one THAT old. I would oil it up and hang it on the wall. Nice find..any manufacturers info on it? Mad Dog

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Ron Gillen

How it's used

I can't imagine how long it would take to make a cut but here's an illustration of one in use. I'll stick to my cold chisel.
http://www.free-ed.net/sweethaven/BldgConst/Plumbing01/lessonmain.asp?iNum=fra0303

Unknown

That`s an old

soil pipe cutter made by Talon tools. I have the same-one, not a "snap-cutter", the cutting process worked by a series of cutter wheels on the chain, and 2 in the head that you moved back and forth while tightening the large tension nut as you go. You could cut cast off very close to the wall or in corners as you don`t need to go all the way around. Don`t use mine often anymore, but it is useful on that old horizontal 4" stuff when adding a powder room to avoid punching a hole in the bottom(typical of "snap-type" cutters). Here`s one out of an old catalog I had around. BTW- Try using-it on MJ soil pipe and the cutter wheels will be "toast",,,wonder how I knew that? You may get $50 from the person who wants-one,,I don`t.

Dave

Glenn Sossin_2

Wall Ornament

Sell to someone like Ruby Tuesday or Houlihans to hang on the wall. They always have some old rusty stuff. Put a sign under it - Any Idea What This Is? It will keep the patrons guessing for a while.

Unknown

I disagee Glen,

there is still alot of old CI plumbing out there and this tool has its use. A must on many renovation jobs, but I guess a Sawzall can displace that if you can hang onto-it while cutting the stuff.

Dave

Plumdog_2

We can agree to disagree

I been talking people into Cast-Iron no hub for the main stacks to cut down on sound. Just bought a new Reed cutter and it was expensive. I'd keep that thing if I were you.

Plumdog_2

We can agree to disagree

I been talking people into Cast-Iron no hub for the main stacks to cut down on sound. Just bought a new Reed cutter and it was expensive. I'd keep that thing if I were you.

Ed Lentz_2

When I needed to cut some cast iron I used an angle grinder with a diamond blade on it. Not expensive. I tried a sawzall with little success. The grinder took about 5 minutes on a 4" pipe. I'm all for older tools that still work, but I was real impatient that day! It was the main drain, and the wife has Chrons disease. So time is always of the essence when I mess with the plumbing!

Weezbo

send a couple jpegs of the basement....

*~/:) maybe you have some cool tools for bargining

i had one of those. some thieves ran off with it )))) Wait till they find out how much WORK owning one of those happens to be:))

mtfallsmikey

I cut my first cast iron pipe with one of these

But Dad had 2 nice Ridgid ratcheting cast iron cutters, wouldn't turn me loose with them until I mastered this one. It belonged to Grandad. Still have the Ridgid, just used it 2 weeks ago gutting out old cast/lead/galv. waste lines. I see that Lenox has carbide Sawzall blades for cutting cast, anyone used them yet?

Ed Lentz_2

Trying the Lenox blade is what got me to try the grinder. The blade for the grinder was $30 but it was worth the time to get the job done.

Dave_4

ed was that a die grinder or a right angle grinder that you used.

BAB

Cast Iron Pipe Cutter

Been using my portable electric band saw for years on all large iron pipe, including drain pipe, ... just mark & cut it. Bromley

Plumdog_2

I have

and they suck. If I could, I would gladly give it back to Hackman. The regular metal blades will cut thru some types of cast iron (about one blade used for each cut) but will not even scratch the surface of other, older cast soil pipes. The angle grinder with metal abrasive wheel will cut easy; but watch the eyes and be careful of fires when in old dusty enviroments. The Ridgid ratchet-style snapper is best in my opinion; gets into close quarters, but I can't find one around here anymore. May have to check the flea market.

Ed Lentz_2

Keith,

That was a 4" Hitachi angle grinder. But like someone said it did throw sparks real good I am a HO and I needed to do this just the once. What a mess.

Kevin Pulver

Lenox Diamond Grit

I see Lenox offering a new Sawzall blade with diamond grit.
I have tried carbide hole saws on ceramic tile and it was a joke. Ditto any sawzall blade on cast. I guess I only find the hard stuff to try to cut! I would think the diamond would do the job. Anybody tried them? Kevin

Chris_82

At one time we were making over a hundred cuts a day with no-hub and although I have heard of people using sawsalls and grinding wheels they are noisy, smelly and time consuming. But I would hang on to that thing because there is no finer cutter to take off about an inch to and inch and a half and sometimes less if you run the tool around the pipe twenty times, the cut normally drops off using only finger pressure. Keep in mind you must be able to run around the pipe this tool will not work by just winding up the knob. Modern snap cutters normally leave a very jagged edge and you can't get anywhere near the ends for short cuts. Modern snap cutters can also send shards and knife like peices over twenty feet and you always have to plan on catching short peices lest you nail someone in the leg if you get careless this tool is a precision cutter and in tight fits, although this hardly comes up considering the amount of play in the couplings you can cut to an accuracy of an 1/8 if need be.

mtfallsmikey

The Ridgid

Will smash and shatter older, weaker cast pipe. No problems using it on new pipe. I actually did more with the rubber hub gaskets than with No-Hub. Sometimes a good laugh could be had trying to use these cutters on old Orangeburg pipe.

Weezbo

sawzall blade salesman must LIKE YOU *~/:)

i still have my Pipe craker

one piece of 4"=4 sawzall blades, basically:)

Chris_82

Don't get me wrong I love sawzall, in the Garden we had to cut thru the I beams to pipe an emergency drain for a 200 ton Cleaver Brooks unit during a show, No cutting torch allowed, it took about a hundred 10 inch blades and went thru about 5 or 6 apprentices. But it did the job. But with the reed snap cutter you can snap in about 30 seconds from measuring to finish cut, so it just dosent make sense to be pridfull about risking your health with cutting wheels and scoring it with a chisle, which may be ok in a pinch, but dosent make much sense if your doing trump tower that has about 100 miles of no hub in it! The other important thing about these old style run around the pipe style of cutters is with 12 inch and up sv or no-hub,... snaping that size pipe is just plain dumb. The circular cutter is then worth its weight in gold as well as the mechanical pullers for underground sv.

Unknown

Heard that Weez,

I tried to drill a piece once for a FD trap primer line, gallant effort, but ya know,,,,,

Dave