TEKTON 8 Inch Bolt Cutter - Heavy Duty Steel Wire Cutter Tool for Cutting Bolts, Chains, and Padlocks | Perfect for DIY, Construction, and Emergency Repairs | Model 3386, Black

Well I bought my first pair of these in 2016, they have been used a lot. I raise rabbits and use them for repairing, building, and modifying cages. To this day they are still as good as the first day I used them, I just ordered 3 more pairs so that when I have help they have a great/awesome pair of cutters,, all other cutters have broke/chipped, and have been thrown in the garbage, Tekton still going!!! Only thing I will tell you is if your using them alot , wear gloves, the handles aren’t blister free lol. Any other complaints about these are BS! I buy the 8” model FYI can’t brag about other models but I bet there just as good! Thanks for this great product Tekton, all other brands of about 8 have failed me , but yours keep on cutting!!!These are classified as bolt cutters but the bolts are going to have to be really really small in order for them to be cut with these. The jaw on these barely open. Plan on cutting bolts that are about thick as a toothpick or possibly two toothpicks, but nothing much bigger. I use these for cuttingOetiker clips which are pretty thin and it takes everything these pliers have and all the strength I have in my hand to cut them. These cutters are best suited for metal that is the thickness of electric ring terminals.For the money it can't be beat. Would have bought directly on Tektons website but it was not available there.I primarily use it to cut hog rings and thick cotter pins... works without issue. I have used it to snap away plastic and other cutting that requires more leverage then a pair of dikes.I bought these to use on a 2 acre woven wire fence project. They performed flawlessly on some tough 12ga wire.I’d definitely recommend them.These bolt cutters gets the job done. As a owner op truck driver I have to cut locks on trailers all the time, I haul for Amazon a lot. from facility to another sometimes you have to wait to use there overly large bolt cutters. Or they simply don’t have one! or can’t find it. Now I got my own no more waiting for some one to cut my lock off the trailer. Best bang for the buck, I deducted 1 star due to the fact these bolt cutters are hard to get open “I don’t get that” not for the faint of heart for sure. My wife can’t open them if she needs to cut something. But if you are big working man these are for you.These Tekton 3386 8-inch Heavy-Duty Mini Bolt And Wire Cutters made cutting our 9 gauge vinyl coated chain link fence a breeze. I originally used heavy duty wire cutters that are longer handled, making it necessary to use both hands when cutting. That was a slow, laboring process as I went down the fence with the chain link fence ties, twisting them on top of the fence and side poles, then putting down the ties as I needed two hands for cutting the tie ends. Since I don't have weeks to tie my 9 gauge fence ties to the fence, I saw this Tekton short handled bolt cutter here on Amazon and decided to try it. I wasn't sure if it would be strong enough to cut vinyl coated 9 gauge fence ties, but it is.With over 300 feet of fence to work on, I needed a cutter that was comfortable in my hand, yet strong. This Tekton 8 inch bolt cutter is both. The weight of the cutter is very light, the grip is super comfortable and long so your hand never touches any metal. The strength of the cutting blades is very strong with nice sharp blades. It is perfect for one-handed cutting. Even 9 gauge chain link fence with vinyl coating cut like paper with these great bolt cutters. Walking along the fence with ties in one hand and these Tekton 8 inch cutters in the other hand made tying the fence down with the fence ties, then cutting the ends a very short job. The bolt cutters themselves are made of drop forged hardened alloy steel that have a compound cutting action that requires less effort on my part. Since these cutters cut through 9 gauge vinyl coated chain link so easily, I'm sure they'll cut through something a little thicker with very little effort.Tekton gives you a lifetime replacement guarantee, that should these bolt cutters ever fail during normal use, they will replace them to the original owner free of charge. Tekton not only replaces the cutters, but they pay for the postage too. I can see these lasting quite a while as they are that well made, and with this great warranty, Tekton knows they are that great too, as they really stand by their product! These Tekton 8 inch Bolt Cutters are absolutely perfect with their long comfortable handle for one-handed gripping, super strong blades, compound cutting action requiring less effort on my part and small and light enough to carry in my pocket. They made a long tedious job of cutting 9 gauge vinyl coated chain link fence around my entire yard a breeze and for these reasons, they deserve a solid 5 STARS!These are great for cutting wire fencing!I've seem to notice that a lot of people buy these things and expect the blades to be very sharp and to cut 10 -18 gauge (twist or flexible type) wire etc. This is not what they were designed to do. They have somewhat flat surfaced blades and were designed to cut small bolts, nails, and thicker non-flexible wire. Coat hanger wire is a good example. They work like mini bolt cutters. These tools don't actually cut, as like a knife or regular "wire cutters". They "cut", for lack of a better term, by exerting great pressure over a small area (the blade surfaces). It is the pressure that causes the wire,nail or whatever to break into two. Please DO Not try to put a razor sharp edge on your Tektons. You will ruin them. I fault the manufacturer for not making this clear in their product description.The previous owner of the house I live in had, for reasons unclear, wrapped barbed wire around one fence. With ordinary wire cutters, I just couldn't get through two strands of 3mm wire. So, I thought a small pair of bolt cutters would do the job.They do, but it isn't easy. I need to apply as much force as I am able for about five seconds, with a little twisting motion in order to get these to cut through. The 14-inch version would have made this process go a lot faster, though they may have been unweildy to use in amongst all the trees and bushes - the 8-inch one was easy to get into the awkward locations to reach the wire I needed to cut.Another minor downside is the latch that keeps the blades together either gets in the way or digs into the palm of your hand. I may need thicker gloves.I'll finish on the high notes: They cut the wire, they did not break, and they were very good value for money.I bought this to cut through the wire used in silk flower stems. Stems have proved very difficult to cut through in the past with the other tools that we had. This tool did it with ease. The jaw opening is 5mm max but in order to get a stem within them, I’d say the maximum stem size which could be put inside comfortably would be 4mm. The stems are mostly plastic with a thin - but tough - wire inside running the entire length of the stem. If the plastic surrounding the wire was bigger than 5mm it would be necessary to trim some of this away first before using the cutter on the wire inside.I purchased 12" cutters, and like other makes and larger sizes, found that the cutting edges were not sharp. I removed the blades and with a grinding wheel I ground a sharp edge on both blades before use. They worked well on cutting wire fence staples (approx 3mm thick) to remove barbed wire, also coped well with cutting 2 strand barbed wire. Blades showed no signs of blunting after days work. Would recommend for this work as not too heavy to carry, although whether or not they would be as good if not pre-sharpened by me or not I do not know.Perhaps someone can say whether they work out of the box with blunt blades?Used these for over 6 months on a job where I had to cut cable basket up above a ceiling constantly, where it was impossible to use a hacksaw and difficult/impossible to use bolt croppers. They have served me well and are still going strong after over a year of ownership. When they do die I will def be buying a new set!I needed to get rifd of an old mattress but the thing was too big to move out of the room. Got this thinking they'd be maasive bolt cutters but nah, hand size. Did the job better than I expected, reduced the entire double king to a garden sack of very cleanly cut springs and foam.Excellent quality, still sharp now and I've used them for all sorts of odd jobs since.