Mother of Invention

Spring-loaded wire cutters

By Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor

In 2011, our Technical Advisors Bruce Niederer and Don Gutzmer were packing tools for a trip to Mystic Seaport where they would once again provide guidance and instruction to families participating in the WoodenBoat Show’s Family Boatbuilding event. They recalled from the previous summer that spring-loaded wire cutters were very helpful for removing the twisted copper wire used to temporarily hold stitch and glue boats together after the joints cured. Unfortunately, none that were spring-loaded could be found.

We took a pair of conventional wire cutters (no spring attached) that we had on hand to the maintenance area to find an appropriately sized spring. Back in our shop, we sanded the cutters to expose bright metal and glued the spring ends in with G/flex 655 Thickened Epoxy Adhesive.

That was two years ago and the spring-loaded wire cutter is still one of our favorite tools and works fine.