hacksaw vindicated

I tore apart another hacksaw blade. But, being the try-it-and-see sort of guy I am, I tried a third. A different hacksaw blade. And wouldn't you know, the problem was the cheap-a** blade that came with my cheap-a** saw. I've made three cuts with a better quality blade and no sign of dulling.

On the Other Hand

Maybe a hacksaw is better. I'm always checking and trying things. Had a tight space where the 1" wide dremel cutting wheel didn't really fit. So I used the metal cutting blade on a keyhole saw and quite easily finished the cut. So for the next tube, I tried the hacksaw, and went faster with less dust.

Caveat: I didn't check the blade before I started, but it was ruined when I was done. 3" of teeth were worn away. If this holds true, I'm going to prefer to go through 2-3 dremel wheels (15c each) rather than 1 hacksaw blade.

The incomparable dremel

I had assumed that I would have to use a hacksaw to cut up the bicycle, and was not relishing the thought of the time spent going ree-ree ree-ree on hardened steel. If a hacksaw could even cut hardened steel. I have a scroll saw with a metal blade, but that was a slow screaming terror when I tried to use it on aluminum.

Behold! The indefatigable dremel cuts through hardened steel using only its ordinary emery board cutter. The cutters wear out fast, but they are working!

Tools

These are all the tools I found I needed in my work. I'll try to keep this updated, and not include any tools needed for things I tried but didn't use.

• Power Drill, inc. 1/2" speedbore bit
• Dremel (rotary cutting tool), inc. cutting wheel, and large and small sanding drums
• miter saw
• wood chisel, 1/2" or so
• mallet or hammer
• coarse sandpaper
• machine screws (bolts) with locking washers and nuts, 8/32, several 2", some 1", 1&1/2", and a couple 2&1/2"
• screwdriver
• wrench
• hacksaw
  
• keyhole saw with metal-cutting blade.