Shank Cutting / Shortening

To make a shank shorter all you have to do is cut it, the hard part is getting close enough to perpendicular to the shank and getting the face smooth to give you a good seal. Complicating matters will be the threads, if you're using a flexible blade(eg hack saw) then your blade will sink between the non-perpendicular threads and you'll be getting a crooked cut. I did the following to get a perfect cut:

Tools/materials:
1) saw
2) file(s)
3) fine grit sandpaper
4) vice

1) With 4 (old) shank nuts, put two on either side of the cut with the gap set at blade with + a hair of extra space so the blade doesn't jam. Two nuts tightened together will prevent them from moving. Have the larger nut face toward the blade for greater surface/guiding area.
2) Make the cut with the vice gripping a pair of nuts. (did i just say that?)
3) File down the cut marks
4) Sand down file marks.

I used a bandsaw which made the cut very quick and minimized the damage to the nuts. They're still usable with just some cosmetic scratching, if you use a hack saw expect more and deeper scratches which may penetrate any corrosion protection (because you'll probably be sloppier than the bandsaw). I did this on a brass shank but there's no reason why you couldn't do this on stainless steel as well, it'll just take a bit more time and elbow grease.

In the pics from left to right:
1) shank ready to cut
2) visible saw marks
3) sanded and ready to go

 

I would have titled this 'Saw Shank Redemption'

 

yes!

 

It's 10pm, the kids are in bed, and i'm laughing my ass off!

 

Just did this on some new stainless steel shanks, works great. The SS is quite a bit harder than brass and takes twice as long (more filing, sanding). After filing i started with 150 grit then finished up with 320.

 

I gotta ask the obvious question...since these are new shanks, why not just buy the correct length and save the hassle?

 

I couldn't find the right length anywhere. They're for my T-tower and with the cooling blocks, insulation, tail pieces i only have a small window of possible sizes. There are more possible sizes with brass/chrome shanks and i found the right size but not in stainless : (

 

Great idea.

 

Ahh, that makes sense. Those towers are pretty tight. I think stainless is a much better choice long term too.