I am looking at upgrading the way I cut blanks. Wondering what tools and methods others are using.

I only cut from the butt end so my method is probably a touch more crude than others. I mark the area I want to cut wrap 2-3 turns of 1.5” masking tape over that area and cut on my 10” Ryobi chop saw. Go slowly and a fine tooth blade shows no signs of splintering. Have been doing it like this for a couple decades with great results.

Tom

I agree with Thomas in his recommendation for taping, fine tooth, moving slowly. I would add, highest speeds are best. I also will not trim a tip, so have no experience with that.

Three corner file..no splintering for sure..And no dust in the air.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2022 11:31AM by ben belote.

Quick and clean.. a 6" fiber cutting wheel. Simply engage the wheel and roll the blank around.. i used this same method for cutting golf club shafts. Only down side is dust so wear a mask



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2022 09:11AM by Harry Glenn.

The owner of Thrasher Rods made a video where he tested various methods on blanks, you can see the results from each as it happens. It was a while ago so I have no idea if it's still available.

A chop saw of different sizes - all of which use a very thin fiber cut off wheel.

1. A dremel tool with an abrasive cut off wheel. Hand held and OK but not extremely accurate.

2. A small chop saw from Harbor freight - that I converted into using a 3 inch cut off wheel and other mods that work very well:
[www.rodbuilding.org]
Current model of this saw: [www.harborfreight.com]

3. An 8 inch chop saw from a pawn shop for $25. I removed the saw blade, built up a base to allow use of the saw as the abrasive cut off wheel wears away. Added a light for illumination. Extremely accurate, quick and easy to use:
[www.rodbuilding.org]

4. I also use an inexpensive 8 inch chop saw. I simply removed the blade and replaced the blade with a very thin 8 inch abrasive cut off wheel. This also works very well, is quick and easy to use:

5. This is a current version of a 6 inch chop saw that is a larger versatile tool that will chop nearly anything, accurately, easily and very quickly: [www.harborfreight.com]

Been wanting to get something like what Roger is using. That is the gamut of cutting blanks. I use a miter box and fine tooth Japanese Rip-Tooth Dozuki saw and tape the cut area like Thomas suggest.

Lance,
When I converted my small chop saw from harbor freight, I also changed the motor. At the time, I thought that the motor was a bit wimpy for my taste.
I dug around in my boxes of stuff and found a bunch of motors that originally were used for blender motors. It turned out that the form factor of these motors were the same and the only thing that I need to change was the diameter of the shaft to accommodate the pulley that was on the original motor. I simply turned on the motor and used a grinding stone on the spinning shaft to reduce the size to the required size. Then, I put everything back together.

But, the new motor turns about 40,000 rpm, which is fast for most applications. So, I also added a router speed reducer unit between the wall plug and the chop saw. I then, start from zero and increase the speed of the motor to turn just fast enough to nicely cut the material that I am cutting. The saw will cut virtually anything form wood to steel and everything in between. If necessary, I just speed up the saw to cut the harder materials.

-------------------
The nice thing about this mini chop saw with the 3 inch cut off wheel, is that it takes up almost no room in the rod room, so is a nice unit to have in the rod shop.

But, if I am doing a bunch of grip work and other similar activities out in the "dirty room" where I do my grinding, sanding, and shaping; then I prefer to use the 8 inch chop saw with its very thin 8 inch abrasive cut off wheel. Again, this saw with a reasonable speed and a larger wheel will cut virtually anything that I need chopped - whether it is wood, wire, cable, brass, aluminum or steel.

--------------------------------
However, recently, I was cutting a lot of aluminum for machines that I was building and found that the abrasive cut off wheel would cut the aluminum, it would also smear the aluminum due to the melting of the aluminum as the cut was made. So, then I investigated some of the new saw blades. In particular, I found that a blade made by freud - with its very unique tooth shape does a wonderfully quick chop of aluminum, with no smearing of the aluminum at all. I will try the blade on a rod blank to see how it will do. I suspect that the cutting quality will equal or exceed the cutting of the carbon tipped saw blade.

This is one blade that I use:
[www.amazon.com]

I will also use this blade for some speciality cuts for certain materials. I have found that this particular tooth shape makes remarkably clean suts with almost no saw marks in the material being cut.
[www.homedepot.com]