: My Tom Yost designed SOF is ready for skinning with nylon fabric from George
: Dyson, but I cannot find a hot knife except in the $125 range. I tried
: cutting a piece of the nylon with scissors to see if it would fray, and it
: sure does!
: I would wish to not buy a hot knife at this time and cannot find one to rent.
: Anyone out there have any suggestions how to best cut this material without
: fraying? I am using the Skinboat School's technique that Dave Gentry
: advised to skin this kayak.
: Thanks for any advice,
: Kyle H.

Hi Kyle,

You can buy one of the pistol grip soldering irons fairly inexpensively (don't need the highest wattage, just takes a second or two longer to heat with a lower wattage one) and if you look around they sell a knife like cutter for it that does exactly the same thing as the expensive ones just perhaps slightly slower cutting speed. The expensive ones are fairly high wattage so they don't cool as quickly when cutting. Have a damp rag handy when doing this to remove burnt plastic (nylon is a plastic) from the cutting blade, wipe the blade against the damp rag, don't try holding the rag or you risk a very bad burn and wear preferable leather gloves when doing this. If it's hot enough to cut the cloth it's hot enough to burn skin very quickly.

Bill H.