I’ve owned ToughBuilt’s compact bolt cutters for quite a few years now (since 2011). They’re uniquely designed with handles that lock into place for use and fold out of the way for storage and transport.
With bolt cutters, longer handles mean greater leverage, but that also means greater bulkiness and size. These bolt cutters have collapsible handles, which make them far more portable than ordinary cutters.
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I recently needed to cut some wire shelving, and didn’t want to use power tools. Out came my 18″ compact bolt cutters. I posted about these awesome cutters before now, right? A quick check of the ToolGuyd archives, and all that came up was an old draft. Whoops! It seems that they weren’t easily available for a while, and so I abandoned the draft for a while before forgetting about it.
A quick revealed that ToughBuilt still makes these, and they’re easy to find. But I also discovered that they’re now available under Olympia Tools branding – and for less money too! Olympia isn’t quite a household name, but they’re better known than ToughBuilt. Olympia markets a couple of tools I’d never touch, but also some really innovative ones, such as these compact cutters.
Olympia Tools’ Power Grip bolt cutters are available in the same sizes as ToughBuilt’s – 14″, 18″, 24″, 36″, and 42″.
I have the ToughBuilt/Olympia compact folding bolt cutters in 18″ and 24″ sizes. I passed on the 14″ size as it seemed a little too short to be effective. The 18″ size offers great bang for the buck, and offers a good compromise between size and leverage. The 24″ is beastlier, but when it’s folded down it’s still much more manageable than full-sized 24″ bolt cutters.
The 36″ and 42″ sizes weren’t available when I first learned about these compact cutters, but that doesn’t mean much, as I don’t have any use for cutters this long.
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The 18″ is my go-to, and the 24″ is… well, I don’t know where it is right now. Maybe it’s playing hide and seek with my non-folding 24″ WorkForce cutters. As an aside, when I purchased the WorkForce cutter from Home Depot, I really wanted HK Porter bolt cutters, but I couldn’t justify spending $50 to $60 vs. $15 to $20.
At the time, these cutters were only easily ordered from Menards, and even then it was a special order. So what did I do? I doubled up on the sizes to make the most of shipping.
I gave a pair of the cutters to a cousin who works in heavy rescue equipment sales. He’s still a firefighter/rescuer, and is also certified for training. The last time I asked about the compact bolt cutters, he mentioned absolutely LOVING them. I thought that I was a fan of the fold-down handles, but it seems he’s even more enthusiastic.
I don’t know if I would trust these in life-or-death situations, but they hold their own against other bolt cutters for things like cutting bolts, chains, wire rope, rods, and other types of things you would use bolt cutters on.
The grips are comfortable, the jaws are strong, there’s even a jaw gap adjustment knob. In my experience, the handles are extremely rigid when locked into position for use. One of my concerns was that the pivot would be a weak point, but that turned out to be a silly concern.
Although I am hesitant to mention that the bolt cutters can be opened and deployed for use in a butterfly-knife-like flip-out motion, Olympia’s promo video shows this multiple times. If they’re okay showing it, I suppose it’s okay to do. Just be sure to wear safety goggles and don’t swing the bolt cutters open if anyone is in reach.
Pricing (as of the time of this posting): $21 for the 14-inch, $35 for the 18-inch, $50 for the 24-inch, $100+ for the larger sizes.
If you ask me, the 18-inch Power Grip cutter is going to be a good starting point, unless you know you’ll need a shorter or longer model.
Buy Now(Olympia Power Grip via Amazon)
Compare(ToughBuilt branded via Amazon)
mikedt
Bike thieves everywhere are shouting hallelujah. 🙂
Trent
I live in the city and hear you loud and clear. This makes thievery way easier for the local thugs.
KokoTheTalkingApe
No bolt cutter works against U-locks with the solid steel bar. For those you need a cheap cordless (redacted.)
Dave
I have multiple pairs of 3 sizes-all are great and get much more use than my old long-handled ones because those won’t fit in toolboxes and are never with us.
fred
Just from a geometry standpoint – the 18 and 24 inch sizes would seem to take the most advantage of the fold-up design. Once you get to 36 or 48 inch then the head assembly might be a bit overshadowed by the handles. Anyway – we might put a small bolt (screw) cutter like a Knipex 71 22 200 (my favorite) in a toolbox – but the longer ones were consigned to the truck or Knaack Boxes. BTW – seeing you comment about HK Porter – I’m reminded that we had a few older ones – but in more recent time we switched over to the HIT (e.g. #900) and Jet (e.g. 220019 rebar cutter) brands. We also had a few Knipex 71 82 950 cutters for rollout. We also used to use a Hit 22-TRC threaded rod cutter – which with the appropriate dies could cleanly cut 1/4, 5/16, 3/8 and 1/2 inch threaded rod.
Stuart
I remember seeing the HK Porter at $60. Now it’s $50 and possibly made overseas. I have a pair of mini HK Porter bolt cutters that I’m pretty sure were made overseas as well.
I have had Knipex bolt cutters on my wishlist for a long time now, but could never justify them. I don’t use my two cheapo mini hard wire and bolt cutters enough to warrant the upgrade.
pete
i would rather keep a cordless grinder in my tool bag personally. I have yet to find a lock that i haven’t been able to cut lol
Mike
I didn’t realize Olympia was still in business! They were one of the last tool companies that made general purpose drift punches of decent size that didn’t cost $40. I loaned out my last one, an 8″ nickle plated one with rubber shock handle, and of course it disappeared. I just checked their website and even they no longer have them. I guess everyone just wangs on their screwdrivers instead nowadays.
Unless you are constantly cutting hardened steel, it’s hard to justify spending the extra money for the HK Porter bolt cutters vs. the China brands. I have an 18″ AllTrade cutter that I’ve used for 20 years to cut allthread and steel cables and the jaws are still going to be serviceable for many years. Cutting locks? That’s where you would see the difference.
What are the dimensions of the bolt cutters when folded?
Stuart
Neither company mentions the fold-down size, but eyeball measurements suggest a ~33% or more reduction in length, at least for the smaller sizes.
fred
What I’ve always found to be irksome about most bolt cutters is that their jaw geometry is not really meant to cleanly cut bolts – buggering up the threads. They don’t work so well on hardened rebar which can damage their jaws. They crush rather than cleanly cut stranded cable. And, ounce used on threaded rod – you need to clean up the cut if you expect to thread a nut onto it. In general they are the jack of all trades and master of none – other than maybe cutting the occasional padlock on a gym locker. Yet we still use them – perhaps because they are just good enough.
Brent
What size material will each size cut. (Stupid question considering hardness variances) Rough- Steel/Hardened steel/Stainless steel/Aluminum/Copper recommendations would be helpfull.
Stuart
I sent them an email and hope to find out. This info doesn’t seem to be provided by either ToughBuilt or Olympia at the moment.
Robert
Fred,
I agree with that. In a sense, I view them as kind of a demolition tool with a refined purpose. When you just have to cut through a cable, chain, padlock etc, and when neatness isn’t a priority, that’s really their focus.
If I had to cut through a threaded rod or something, I’d reach for a reciprocating saw or standard hack saw before resorting to this. When you need quickly cut a cable tie or something however, these are as simple as it gets.
fred
Robert:
You are spot on, but your perspective on what tool to use may also be colored by how often you do the job and how repetitive that job is when you are doing it.
We used manual rebar cutters and benders made by Jet. They were fine for us on residential and small commercial jobs. On a big commercial building (e.g. skyscraper) site there would be a rebar crew – with a fabrication table – machinery to do the bending and electro-pneumatic cutters.
We did a fair amount of threaded rod cutting for pipe and raceway hanging. We cut unistrut with portable band saws (sometimes mounted – e.g. Milwaukee 48-08-0260 table) or on big jobs we trucked out a DoAll saw. Even with the band saws we still had HIT manual threaded rod cutters that use a die to stabilize the cut leaving a cut end that’s ready to go – much better than the band saw making us a bit more productive.
We also chose manual HIT cable cutters (not bolt cutters) for cutting steel cable for overhead door installations and the occasional guy wire we did. Our electrical sub – typically also used Greenlee or Klein ratcheting cable cutters. If he was doing these jobs on an industrial or utility scale – the tools might have been hydraulic.
Brent
Just got the 18″ at Costco for $15.99. Heads up for anyone wanting a pair 🙂
Benjamen
I went to Costco today to look for these, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. I was pretty bummed.
Toolfreak
Saw these at Sears a year or so ago when they were new. Haven’t seen them back in the store since they sold the first sets they got in. Pricing was nuts, like $59.99 for the 18-inch.
I’d probably get a set for $15.99.
Toolfreak
Sears is now selling red Craftsman branded versions of the folding bolt cutters:
14-inch version for $19.99:
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-cm-14-in-compact-bolt-cutter/p-00941964000P?sellerId=SEARS&prdNo=9&blockNo=9&blockType=G9
18-inch version for $29.99:
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-cm-18-in-compact-bolt-cutter/p-00941965000P?sellerId=SEARS&prdNo=7&blockNo=7&blockType=G7
24-inch version for $39.99:
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-cm-24-in-compact-bolt-cutter/p-00941966000P?sellerId=SEARS&prdNo=6&blockNo=6&blockType=G6
I saw a set of the 24-inch in store, and the red color is much darker than it appears on the site images, about the same as the darker red color on the China-made Craftsman tools and cases. Too bad, they look better in brighter Craftsman red.
Doesn’t look like Sears will be selling the 36 or 42 inch versions, but Sears does sell the Olympia Tools cutters online if you want those.
Stuart
Thanks for the reminder! I spotted these online the other day but haven’t had a chance to head to a local Sears to see if they started carrying them yet.
I haven’t used mine in a while, but with a wire shelving install coming up, they’ll see a bit of use.
With similar pricing, any of the 3 brands are good buys. ToughBuilt had great customer service when I first bought these, and Craftsman usually has a good replacement policy, as long as these continue to be stocked items. I can’t speak about Olympia’s customer service.
Toolfreak
My local Sears only had one 24″ cutter in stock, and that was just sitting on the shelf under the pliers because they didn’t have anywhere else to put it. Not sure if any stores have the full set yet, but I would guess the larger stores will have them out soon for the holiday buying season if they don’t already.
After inspecting the ones I bought, and looking at the images online, I have to say I’m pretty disappointed in the Craftsman versions of these since they lack the eccentric jaw adjustment bolts of the Toughbuilt/Olympia versions. Sears cheaped out and there are just regular non-adjustable bolts on these. This makes it impossible to get the cutting jaws aligned correctly to do the job the tool is designed for, either when new, or if they needed sharpening later on.
I would definitely pass on these for now and get the Toughbuilt/Olympia versions. Hopefully this gets fixed and the Craftsman ones come with adjustable bolts in the future.
Jeremiah
Just got a set of these from menards branded as masterforce. The 24″ is on sale thru 12/24. For $20.