Knife through wire?

[Yo Mama]

Was watching Cops last night, and a guy tried to hang himself with an electric cord. I couldn't tell what knife the cop had, but he deployed immediately and cut the guy down.

Will a normal plain edge cut through cord? I'd rather not mess up an edge for no good reason, so I ask you. Or would a serrated knife work better?

Would it even mess up an edge?

Just thoughts I had. If anyone saw the episode and can tell the knife I'd also like to know.

 

[pikid89]

sounds like it worked for the cop...
if were talkin copper electrical wire, i dont see why you wouldnt be able to cut it with a plain edge, especially if it was under tension like the show you referenced

 

[Mikenmel08]

Didn't see it but I have used a knife to cut wire in the past, and it is possible. I would say with the write being under a great load would make it easier to cut.And its not good on the blade, it is metal you are cutting after all.

 

[M-Cameron]

if youve ever cut open an electrical cord....or seen a badly frayed one......they are made up of multiple strands of very very thin copper wire......

each one of those wires are not much more difficult to cut through than nylon twine.


any good solid knife should have no problem cutting through an electrical cord....

as for whether it will damage your blade.......well, it really depends on the blade...


something like a chisel ground tanto blade...you wont notice any damage at all

...but something like a finely ground slicer......well yeah, you could roll or chip the blade.

 

[rcmodel]

Fine strand copper lamp cord?
No problem for any knife.
Even a cheap kitchen knife will cut it easily.

Even solid 3-strand Romax electrical cable house wiring can be cut with a good folder by pounding it through the three strands of wire using a block of wood for a hammer.
With no blade damage.

Copper wire is a heck of a lot softer then any decent steel knife blade.

rc

 

[Tomcat47]

These make butter out of electrical cords! I prefer and carry the partially serrated version myself.

These in the original version are one tough awesome tool! I have extended experience with them and they are extremely tough and the blades are extremely tough and sharp!

You will definately need a diamond sharpener to re-sharpen the blade in the future when it becomes necessary.

The blade is 154cm stainless on the original all aluminum versions which I claim to be one of the strongest tactical knives on the market! they were priced around $300.00

There is a newer version "The Type E" available for $99.00 in either plain or serrated. I know it will be a quality piece due to my personal aquaintance of the manufacturer. I dont know if these will be as strong as the 6061 Aluminum constructed versions, but would not expect it to be out of two different construction methods, but a great price point!

You can see and read article at Tactical-life.com

 

[Walking Dead]

Probably a ginsu knife. It will cut suicidal people down, bricks and still slice a tomato.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Plain, Thanks

Will a normal plain edge cut through cord? I'd rather not mess up an edge for no good reason, so I ask you. Or would a serrated knife work better?

For this application I would prefer a plain edge.

Perhaps a scalloped edge might work a little better, but I would worry that the wire would provide just enough resistance to cause a serrated edge to hang up in the strands and actually impede the cut.

Depends on the depth of serrations, gap width, degree of side-of-tooth sharpening, etc., but wire isn't rope, and it would seem to me that the "toothiness" would work against you.

If it rolled the edge at all, it wouldn't be much, and would be easily fixed with a steel or crock stick, and a stropping swipe or two.

 

[Remo223]

I've done much wire cutting and wire stripping with a knife. It dulls a knife very fast. You have to resharpen your knife every day if you are doing daily electrical work. Most of the electrical work I do is on solid wire though, not stranded. A serrated knife will cut through stranded wire easily. Especially stranded wire in tension. I don't know what the previous commenter is talking about.

 

[Sulaco]

I used to have an old Gerber (back when they were made in America) fixed blade skinning knife (full tang, had plastic scales and I recall they made a clip point also, mine was a drop point) I kept in my 'possibles' bag when working construction. Me and another guy were digging a hole with a backhoe when we hit a large wire. It was not connected to anything (in the middle of a field) so we had to cut it. All we had was my knife and the guy I was with wanted to walk back to the truck (quite a hike) to get some proper cutting tool. Before he got out of the hole, I had gotten out that old Gerber and cut the wire in two. I think I was more surprised than he was! The dang thing slide right through it and was no worse for the wear! The cable was probably 1/4 thick solid copper with a very thick, heavy, black insulation. I guess it you wang down on something hard enough, the weaker of the two forces is bound to give eventually. I guess Gerber did the heat treat right on that one, should have kept it!

 

[RudeMood]

If it was your average electrical cord it was most likely #16-#18 copper stranded. (For reference, most house outlets are wired with #12 or #14, which is thicker.) I can't imagine many knives would have an issue cutting that, except maybe like a previous poster mentioned with a serrated edge hanging up.

I wouldn't go trying it on a regular basis though, I stopped stripping wire with my good pocket knife that I keep on hand for SD, even infrequently, because it dulls the blade quickly and can chip it in some cases.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

When all I had was a Stockman I just used the Sheeps foot blade for wire.

A lock back like a Kershaw JYD, or the classic Buck 110 would cut the guy down with no issues.