Cutting kevlar fabric/cloth

any tips for cutting kevlar fabric/cloth? i recently ordered (actually it was a quirky gift from my mom... ) some of the 5 grm a yard kevlar fabric so i can experiment with some new torch designs. from what i have researched thus far it sounds like pain unless you buy really expensive kevlar shears (an even bigger pain) does anyone have experience cutting this fabric? i was thinking about sacrificing a pair of my sissors to the creative fire gods so that i could cut this kevlar. to prevent fraying does it help to trace the cut line with elmers glue (dry it before snipping) and masking tape? are there any other easily aquired cutting tools that i could use? has anyone tried using big sheet metal cutters or jewelry hand saws? tell me your experiences with kevlar!

I have a pair of scissors that came in a first aid kit and they can cut through kevlar really easily, they're the same ones that people in A&E departments use to cut clothing off injured people.

------------------
King of all things Walrus

[This message has been edited by TheBovrilMonkey (edited 24 October 2001).]

I do have some kevlar shears, but they weren't terribly expensive. I got them (along with a mess of other stuff) from Aircraft Spruce. I don't think you necessarily need fancy scissors for kevlar. Tinsnips would be very awkward, as would be a saw.

I always draw my cut-line in ink and lay beads of Elmer's adjacent to it before cutting. It's an extra step, but I think it makes life easier in the long run.

I use a sharp knife and to hell with the frayed ends!

Just remember that Kevlar has metal threads in it, so anything you cut it with is going to go dull pretty rapidly. So don't piss off your mother/father/wife/roomate/husband by using her/his sewing/hair-cutting/hobby scissors. Or if you do, don't fess up to it.

[This message has been edited by vanize (edited 25 October 2001).]

Kevlar does not necessarily have metal threads in it. I believe that the weave Dube sells has a stiffening wire in it; the stuff I use doesn't have any metal.

i find a stanly knife works best...

frayed ends
should be
tucked under

X

thanks for the info. when it comes to working with kevlar i am a newbie, i've been using nothing but old towels for the past two year. i think i just try a pair of sissors and i'll look around for some of the first aid kind also. hey adam, how much did you get your shears for? when i look around it seemed like it was $60-150 dollar range (i didn't try the aerospace people though...) any other tips for preventing frayed ends? with what i am planning i have alot of surface area that is going to be cut. have any of you used any thing (like heat resistant apoxy, elmers, etc...)to seal the frayed end area? also with kevlar question, do you find that the wear and tear on your kevlar torches is due to misuse (like dropping on cement) or is a given from multipule times of lighting up? was the area of most wear centered around the metal that touches it or near the outer edges? basically i want to ensure if that if i put a ton of blood and sweat into my toys that they will last. i want to take the wear factor from fraying and frequent use into consideration before i make the final manefestation of my fire doodle ideas.

I just use scissors. Nothing fancy. Just scissors.
You should listen to adamrice tho. He's experienced in all this making stuff malarky...

------------------
C@ntus

Melissa--

I don't recall offhand, but my kevlar shears, which are not very fancy, probably cost about $20. You can probably get away with fabric shears or whatever.

There's no question that just burning takes its toll on fire equipment, but abrasion can chew it up more quickly as well. People who like to do "fire-circle" starts chew up their wicks really quickly. All the wear I see is around edges and corners. Which doesn't make the equipment unusable, just unsightly. I've got two sets of wicks that each has at least 80 burns in them. I've been using them less and less, but I can still get a 5:30 burn out of them. I don't have any exposed cut-lines on my wicks (they're folded under). I use the Elmer's to avoid unravelling from the ends, and it seems to be effective for that purpose. But it won't prevent fraying (which can happen along any edge). I don't think you can practically fight fraying with glue or anything else. In theory, one could build a little frame out of angle-brackets around the wick, and that would prevent fraying, but would be a Really Bad Idea.

Wicks don't last forever.

thanks for the info,

I use a stanley knife...

you can stop the weave threading by cutting a slit at each side of the kevlar where you want to cut it off and then cutting accross the middle.

be nice

Ithaca

I use aviation tin snips from Irwin, they are around the NZ$50 mark, i've tried dearer and cheaper ones but they don't work as well as the Irwins which cut it like paper leaving a perfect edge.