The symphony of snapping pipes

Crouching in a basement with TOH plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, watching his deft hands spinning Ridgid's Close Quarters Tubing Cutter, I realized I was witnessing the home improvement equivalent of a concert pianist attacking Beethoven's fifth.

Now, Richard's not a bad ivory-tickler himself.

But he can really make a tubing cutter sing. Mere mortals such as myself will twist the cutter around the pipe, turn the knob to advance the carbide wheel a little further, and feel the pipe cleanly snap after about a minute of slow rotation.

With Richard, it takes two seconds. All at once the fingers spin and twist, the tiny tubing cutter disappears in his grip, and then the pipe is cleft in twain. Because the mini tubing cutter is perfect for pipes in tight spaces (it only needs about an inch clearance to make the cut) it takes a particular dexterity to operate it allegro.

But Ridgid's newest cutters have a self-tightening wheel that continues to clamp harder as you simply spin the tool. With practice, it should reduce my cutting times to a respectable 30-second range.

Richard, I've learned, is a hard act to follow.