What is the best way to cut PVC pipe (6")?

[Dick Sylvan]

What is the best way to cut PVC pipe (6")?

[David G Baker]

If the the PVC pipe is "NOT" thin wall, I use my miter saw. If it is thin wall I use a regular hand saw designed to cut wood. If you use a miter saw, be careful, I have had pipe turn into shrapnel. There are plier type cutters but I doubt that you want to spend the money for one if you only have a few cuts to make. Making a jig to assist in making the cut straight may help if you cut the pipe by hand.
Oh yea, I forgot about using a band saw like Bill suggests.

[Bob Aquino]

If the the PVC pipe is "NOT" thin wall, I use my miter saw. If it is thin wall I use a regular hand saw designed to cut wood. If you use a miter saw, be careful, I have had pipe turn into shrapnel. There are plier type cutters but I doubt that you want to spend the money for one if you only have a few cuts to make. Making a jig to assist in making the cut straight may help if you cut the pipe by hand.
Oh yea, I forgot about using a band saw like Bill suggests.

Amen. Same thing happened to me. It is very brittle stuff. Probably best to do it with a handsaw or portable saw.

[Brian Backner]

Another way to cut PVC pipe is by friction. I remember watching a DWV installer working in a trench just outside my neighbor's foundation. He was moving like the proverbial one-armed paper hanger. When I asked him what he was going, he told me to hold on for a minute until he was done.

Basically, he had to cut a length of 4" PVC drain pipe that came though the foundation wall. To cut it with a saw would have required a much larger excavation. What he did was to loop a length of mason's line under the saw, wrap both ends around some 1" diameter dowel scraps for handles and then to "saw" the cord back and forth under the pipe. Eventually the cord develops enough friction and heat that it starts to cut through the pipe. Once you start however, you can't stop as allowing the cut to cool would trap the cord in the reformed plastic thereby making it impossible to restart the cut.

I tried it once on a piece of 6" I had laying around. Gave a very clean cut, but what a workout!

Brian

[Tom Veatch]

...
I tried it once on a piece of 6" I had laying around. Gave a very clean cut, but what a workout!

Next time, try one of these. It'll be a lot less labor intensive.

[Doug Shepard]

I used a jigsaw then squared up the end against a 12" disc sander. This was on S&D PVC.

[Ken Garlock]

Next time, try one of these. It'll be a lot less labor intensive.

Man alive, I'll bet that would go through a neck in one pull.

[David G Baker]

Brian,
I am going to give the string cutting a try. I have used stainless steel cable to cut a few things but never thought about cutting PVC that way. Interesting.

[Bill Lantry]

I think I'd cut it (long) with a sawzall, and then cut it clean on the bandsaw. It would take a while with a regular saw...

Thanks,

Bill

[Jeff Lien]

I start the cut with a handsaw, then finish it off with a jigsaw, works great !!

[Eddie Darby]

Hacksaw does the trick for me.

[Tom Veatch]

One of these has worked well for me when the cut can't be made on the bandsaw.

[Dick Sylvan]

One of these has worked well for me when the cut can't be made on the bandsaw.

Do they cut reasonably fast?

[JayStPeter]

There's some answers in a recent thread http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=63244

[keith ouellette]

If the lengths are no longer than your table saw you can start the cut and then roll it with one end against the fence (thats what I did with 4") but the shrapnel thing I read in the preceding posts has me a little concerned.