this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
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Much quieter
These things are a pain to use. Especially the cheap ones require more force than you'd expect and occasionally get stuck. They make a good clean cut but it's so slow and awkward that if you were wanting to do vandalism they're impractical relative to a reciprocating saw or better yet portable band saw.
I also wouldn't underestimate the power of spray paint, even though it's simple to fix it's still expensive when the contract specifics all the maintenance must be done by flock themselves.
And slower. Great for plumbing, not so much a 3" aluminum post with 1/4" walls
But hey, I might be wrong. 30yrs in the trades, but I've never tried cutting down an aluminum post with a pipe cutter
Also if the method varies from person to person, or one person uses a unique method, it's easier to get multiple vandalism charges to stick
Hey, totally unrelated, but how does one cut copper pipes mounted close to the wall?
Oh, I should clarify, "the trades" isn't exclusively plumbing. I can sweat pipes and lay out a house but I'm no expert
That being said I always used a little stubby cutter for pipes close to walls
There's other designs, including ratcheting ones that look so much easier than what I used
"Oscillating cutters" are good for close cuts in tight spaces.
Cool. I saw those at the store when buying drill bits. Didn't know what they were. Thanks.
There's a tool that attaches to your drill or impact driver. Kinda expensive, but when you NEED it, it's worth every penny.
So throw money at it. Got it. ;) Thanks.
Its a big part of why plumbers cost money. Like the auto shop guys, a lot of money gets spent on tools that get used maybe once or twice a year, sometimes less. But you must own them to do the work.
It's only aluminium, you could probably chew through it if you wanted
wet the post with gallium and put a piece of duct tape over it, i'll fall over in an hour. no tools
Where would get Gallium? I saw a youtubr video of some dude (mark something, I think) and he did this to aluminium cans. Always wanted to try that.
Ahh, that's not the hard part; the hard part is how to get gallium without being noticed.
Would a straight cut be easier to add a union joint to and thus make the cost of repair slightly lower?
I guess it would depend on priorities
Nah, they wouldn't bother repairing the tube regardless of how it's cut. If they did and the repair broke, hitting someone, they'd have to take the liability. For a company with their funding, a length of ally tube and the cost to dig it into the ground is fuck all.
edit to add: but multiplied by hundreds of them being cut down, it's not not fuck all. and it's funny.