Rethreading screws

[Lowell W]

Another reason to buy American made tools and toss the Chinese garbage in the...well...the garbage.

I have several sets of the wire strippers/crimpers and have cut bunches of screws without problems. Sometimes they leave a little roughness on the end of the screw which makes you have to start the screw carefully but they always go in. I'd try experimenting with the orientation of the screw in the shear or cut the screw off to length and then, if the end of the thread is trailing, rather than leading, maybe turn the screw 1/2 turn and just nip off the last little bit so it smooths the end of the last thread into the center, rather than towards the outside. Also, once it cuts off, I open and close the tool a few times to burnish the end a little-probably doesn't make a difference, but what the heck.

If you're really fussy, you can dress the end of the screw with a fine file or, better yet, a small diamond stone (or a #400 belt on the belt grinder if you have one), filing or grinding from the end of the thread towards the center of the screw. All you really need to do is move the starting end of the thread back into the major diameter with a smooth leading edge.

Also, make sure you're not trying to thread a coarse thread into a fine thread fitting or a SAE thread into a metric fitting, or V/V.

I usually put a nut on any fastener I'm going to cut shorter, which makes it easier to straighten the last thread after it's cut. Thread chasers are nice but you sure don't need to go buy a set of chasers to cut off a few screws.

Lowell