Bolt Croppers

[minimowog]

got this pair of proper old school bolt croppers, handles are made by HK Porter in Boston, jaws are made by Record in good ole England.

Got me thinking where would they have been assembled? and why, surely they could have made jaws in the US, or handles in England, anyway, pictures

 

[madison069]

I take it that cropper means something else in England?

 

[neophyte]

My guess would be that HK Porter exported bolt cutters to England at some point in the past when that type of forged frame was still produced in the USA. When the original jaws went the way of the dodo, the owner replaced the jaws with more readily available Record jaws.

 

[Chuck122]

That is the coolest thing ever

 

[reptilezs]

the record cutter head is aftermarket. they fit on hk porter handles as well as their own

 

[1982fxr]

I take it that cropper means something else in England?

crop·per 1 (krpr)
n.
A person who works land in return for a share of the yield; a sharecropper.


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crop·per 2 (krpr)
n.
1. A heavy fall; a tumble.

2. A disastrous failure; a fiasco.

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[Perhaps from the phrase neck and crop, completely.]


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.



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cropper [ˈkrɒpə]
n
1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Agriculture) a person who cultivates or harvests a crop

2. (Engineering / Mechanical Engineering)
a. a cutting machine for removing the heads from castings and ingots

b. a guillotine for cutting lengths of bar or strip

3. (Clothing, Personal Arts & Crafts / Textiles) a machine for shearing the nap from cloth

4. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Agriculture) a plant or breed of plant that will produce a certain kind of crop under specified conditions a poor cropper on light land

5. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Breeds) (often capital) a variety of domestic pigeon with a puffed-out crop


come a cropper Informal

a. to fall heavily

b. to fail completely

 

[1982fxr]

Iuntil I just looked that up I thought it was derived from "cutting" down crops--i.e. cropper (because it cuts). Learn something everyday

 

[minimowog]

i had never thought of someone changing the jaws, thought they would have been original, bolt croppers/cutters all the same to me

 

[3baygarage]

I've seen many of that model over my years of estate sale travels because they were built to last. That is one tool where a cheap import is no substitution. You can probably cut the white metal cheapies in half with that.

 

[chrisa7164]

I have a pair of those myself..I've had them for about 20 yrs and I bought them from a man who was in his 80's. Mine have H K Porter cutting jaws.