At some point over the winter I got the brilliant idea to see if I could acquire a used tractor tire to use as a flower planter to hide a stump in the front yard. I only just a couple weeks ago managed to track down one from someone who didn’t want a fortune for it (dude, you’d have to pay to have it hauled off to recycle it, I’m not paying you $50 for it), and Friday set out to cut out as much of the sidewalls as I could using my reciprocating saw (Dewalt 18volt cordless). Only to have the blade melt the rubber rather than cut it. Oops. Thats not going to work.
At that point a little light bulb went off, and I remembered a post over on Rural Revolution where they had cut a similar tire with their Saws-all, and had a similar problem. They’d managed it using a different type of blade, so I shot off an email asking for the specifics of the blade in question, and got a response nice and quick (THANKS AGAIN!!!!). For anyone wandering across this post with the same problem: the blade you want is THIS ONE, or similar type toothed blade. Finer teeth just melt the rubber. Even this one will melt the rubber if you’re unlucky, but it does cut it.
Did you know there’s about an inch of metal wire in the very inside of the sidewalls of those tires? That was NOT FUN to cut through, I think when I do the other side of the tire I’m going to see if I can just punch through without having to cut in from the edge……
Yes, I said when I do the other side. My poor little saw ran through two batteries cutting its way around the tire. But it did it. My hands HURT now though. Its not even really the arthritis either. I’ve cut wood and PVC pipe with the saw before, but this tire takes the cake. That hurts.
Gonna look cool as a planter though, WAY better than the random stump and weeds. Pictures when I’m done!
