Anyone out there use the porter cable hardi shears? Or do you have any other recommendations for shears?
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I use them often. Good investment, in my opinion.
I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. If you don't like dust, these are the babies to get.
Some have said they don't cut over the raised ribs on some of the full panel sheets, but I have never had a problem with that.
Just my humble opinion...
James DuHamel
He who dies with the most toys.... Still dies!
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?" MARK 8:36
http://www.godsfreemusic.com
I use Kett Hardie shears and I like them really well.
The only bad think about the shears, which is quite obvious, is that you can't gang cut boards.
If you do any Hardie, I highly recommend them. I've never used the PC shears, but they're probably pretty nice.
I like my porter cables but learned too late that the ketts will take metal shear blades and I think ketts cut thicker material like 1/2"hardibacker.
Smile. It could be worse. You could be me working for you.
I've used the kett, the P.C. and the snapper shears. they all cut pretty much the same. one nice thing about the p.c. is the reversible blades so that you get twice the life out of them. of course as with all p.c. tools, the motor itself is generic and will wear out in half the time as the other tools, but that's why they cost $30.00-$50.00 less.
I don't see anything in the literature about my Kett shears that says they will go through 1/2" material. but that's not to say the newer ones haven't been improved to do just that. Mine are about 4 years old.
I cut 1/2" hardi tile backer all the time with my PC shears.
No one ever told me you couldn't, so I gave it a try, and it worked well.
It doesn't cut as deep into the throat with 1/2, so you have to be careful, and go slow. But it works when you need it too.
Just a thought...James DuHamel
He who dies with the most toys.... Still dies!
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?" MARK 8:36
http://www.godsfreemusic.com
But why would you want to do that? I have shears,too, but on backer board, I score and snap.Men come of age at sixty,
Women at fifteen.
James Stephens
For walls I don't worry about it.
For floors, sometimes I have to make detailed cuts, and scoring and snapping isn't the best choice for me in those situations. These shears do an excellent job of detailed or oddball cuts.James DuHamel
He who dies with the most toys.... Still dies!
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?" MARK 8:36
http://www.godsfreemusic.com
Great tool. I'm working on getting the goats to eat them curly things and I'll have the cleanup solved too.
Joe h
Here in the PNW, the soil has a fairly low ph and, being a long-time veggie gardener, the curlies work as well as ag lime, if you get enough of them.
BTW, some of the local landscapers here brew up their own compost and are always happy to take sheetrock scraps for raising ph.
To the original post, I still use my PC shears, but have grudgingly swung over to sawing the stuff. A good blade to use is the f/c plank cutter by Hitachi. It only runs four teeth, but cuts like a dream and seems to spew less dust than a diamond saw.
Mike Smith has weighed in to this subject countless times, advocating the Makita saw with the Fein vacuum. I tend to think that is the really pro way to go if you do much F/C.
For one thing, a saw is much more efficient for gang cutting which is not possible with the shears. The cut line is cleaner and generally straighter when cutting around windows and such.
I carry a pair of the wire cutters with the cross-faced jaws (like dikes, but with the cutting edge 90 degree to the handles....kind of like tile nippers) for cleaning the corners.
A jigsaw with a carbide blade is good for intricate cuts.
And always layout and cut with the back facing up.
And whoever said the stuff is heavy needs to get in shape...you just have to be careful with it, carry it on edge and try to keep it fairly dry. You don't need three people, for cryin' out loud. I've done several houses by myself and have never needed more than myself and one helper.
Guess I'll start a pile of HardiMulch for springtime.
Those nippers are called end cutters.
Joe