Cable Cutter (18")

The blades are hardened T8 steel, a high carbon tool steel, and they are shaped for a specific job. Cable cutter blades are opposing crescents that gather the conductor and shear it while holding the strands together, producing a clean round end. That matters more than it sounds. A conductor end that has been crushed flat — which is what a bolt cutter, a hacksaw or a pair of pliers leaves — will not enter a lug or a terminal properly, cannot be crimped reliably, and has to be cut back and re-prepared. On heavy cable that is expensive material to waste.

The specification is explicit that this is for copper and aluminium cable, and it is worth taking literally. The blades are ground fine for a clean shear, not built to shear hard material. Steel wire, steel armour, chain and nails will chip them, and a chipped cable cutter thereafter tears and crushes rather than cutting. If the cable is steel wire armoured, cut the armour with a hacksaw or an armoured cable cutter and use these on the conductors.

The handles are steel with rubber grips, and the length gives the leverage a heavier conductor needs.

The buyers are electricians and electrical contractors, panel and switchboard builders, utility and distribution contractors, solar PV installers, industrial maintenance electricians, and hardware dealers supplying the electrical trade.

Two points that matter. Cut with the cable right back in the throat of the jaws where the crescents close most completely and the leverage is greatest — cutting at the tips both strains the blades and gives a poorer end.

And the safety one, which applies to every cable cutter here: rubber grips are not insulation. They are for comfort and grip, and they have not been tested or rated for electrical protection. Never cut a live conductor with these. Isolate the circuit, prove it dead with a two-pole tester before and after, then cut. Ask us on WhatsApp for a price.