Hot Knife Questions Thread

[StandingBear]

I purchased a soldering iron for $9.99 and cut all my fabric on a 4'x8' sheet of drywall. Total for the whole setup was less than $20. I have cut many yards of fabric on it and it still works great.

[ChillCo]

I purchased a soldering iron for $9.99 and cut all my fabric on a 4'x8' sheet of drywall. Total for the whole setup was less than $20. I have cut many yards of fabric on it and it still works great.

Drywall... brilliant! I have some already hanging around.

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[curlymaple42]

For the pack I am making to strap to my curly maple pack frame I made, I made plywood templates of the parts and used a brand new utility knife blade to cut the fabric. Worked great. Of course, it's not sealed, but seems to be holding together so far. Hope to get sewing soon.

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[gmcttr]

A 4'x8' sheet of tempered hardboard makes a good cutting surface for large projects. Of course you can cut it to smaller sizes if desired.

Small soldering irons suck for rapid cutting. Sailright type hot knives are too expensive for my tastes. High wattage soldering GUNS (Weller, etc.) with a tile cutting tip or other appropriate tip work well at a reasonable cost and have enough mass in the tip and wattage to use with a 6' aluminum straight edge or a drywall square as cutting guides.

Hotter is better for a clean cut...dull red is a nice cutting color on the tip. Keep your fingers out of the way.

I rarely use a "hot knife" for cutting webbing straps. It produces too much of smoke. I make a clean cut with a sharp knife and seal the edge with a lighter.

A Rope cutting hot knife blade is just about required for climbing type ropes to cut and seal the ends, but produces so much smoke that I only do it outdoors.

[jellyfish]

For the pack I am making to strap to my curly maple pack frame I made, I made plywood templates of the parts and used a brand new utility knife blade to cut the fabric. Worked great. Of course, it's not sealed, but seems to be holding together so far. Hope to get sewing soon.

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Omg. Send me some pics of the frame!!!

[xtrm611]

Omg. Send me some pics of the frame!!!

I saw this on instagram. Takedown frame. Super cool!

[DuctTapeMessiah]

Hand Held Electric Hot Knife Rope Cutter Set - 100 Watt, Cutting Blade (HHHK-HS18) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X97R8KP..._GrQsBbX0VKE0W

This hot knife seems to be trending in a good way. Half the price of Sailrites, Chinese made hot knife.


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