Ratcheting cutter for fragging?

[Greg Goby]

I was curious if anyone has used one of these for cutting the skeletons of corals, specifically torches, hammers, duncans, things of that nature. It can make a clean, accurate cut through PVC so I was considering trying this over the typical sweat inducing dremel method. I can't find any threads on here about them being used for fragging. Any thoughts?

 

[jerrod]

I've only used those on PVC. I use regular bone cutters about 8" long and it cuts through all my LPS easily and clean.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Maybe it’s the type of cutters I have or just operator error(very likely), but I cannot get a square cut with these things on PVC. I feel like it might crush a coral skeleton and not actually make a clean cut.

 

[Greg Goby]

Maybe it’s the type of cutters I have or just operator error(very likely), but I cannot get a square cut with these things on PVC. I feel like it might crush a coral skeleton and not actually make a clean cut.

Yeah that was my main concern with using them, my other concern was whether most types of cutters would actually be able to get around the individual heads to be fragged.. most of the cutters are pretty bulky. My set has a pretty sharp edge to them and cuts sch 40 pvc without any noticable warping of the pipe. I was imagining the speed and accuracy with cutters being the main advantages. Crushing is definitely possible but given the porous nature of the skeletons on these corals I was imagining that even if crushing happened it would remain relatively localized on the skeleton.

 

[andrewey]

I usually just use bone cutters for most LPS, only pull out the band saw or dremel if the bone cutters can't handle it. I would worry about smashing the skeleton with the ratcheting cutter.