What can be cut with a hacksaw for metal

How to cut metal with a jigsaw

An electric jigsaw can serve as an alternative to a grinder in cases where you need to work with a profile, pipes, sheet metal. It is this material that gives the highest load on tools and files. Be prepared to take breaks from work and frequently change consumables.

The maximum thickness of metal that household and semi-professional jigsaws can work with is 10 mm.

Before cutting metal with a jigsaw, you need to select special saw blades.

Set of metal saws Dnipro-M T 118 A are made of solid steel and are perfect for straight cuts. Use the pendulum function to reduce wear and prevent melting of the working part.

hacksaw, metal

Getting started: how to turn on the jigsaw and start sawing

  • Working with an electric jigsaw begins with a visual inspection. The tool and power cable must not be visibly damaged.
  • Next, the saw blade is installed (it should always be removed before storage).
  • Before starting work with a jigsaw, adjustment is carried out. First of all, the frequency of movement of the file is selected suitable for the material. If you want to make an edge cut, you need to set the cutting angle. On the Dnipro-M electric jigsaws, this is easy thanks to the inclined sole. If the task allows, the pendulum stroke is switched on, and the amplitude of movement of the canvas is selected.
  • If necessary, a parallel stop or a compass is installed to make holes in the workpiece.
  • If a lot of dust is generated during operation, connect a vacuum cleaner.

How to cut plastic

Soft artificial materials, such as plastic, plexiglass, foam, are perfectly cut with an electric jigsaw. In terms of properties, they are very close to wood, and therefore the same consumables are used for sawing. The only remark: they cut plastic at low speeds, since at a high speed of movement of the blade, the edges can melt.

How to make a curved cut

A curved cut, like a straight cut, begins with a marking. You should definitely connect a vacuum cleaner or turn on the purge to remove debris from the marking.

Sawing of figured products with a jigsaw is carried out without a pendulum motion. A narrow blade with fine teeth is used, which makes it easy to change the direction of travel.

How to cut thin and thick wood

The electric jigsaw was created for working with wood, and therefore it is not at all strange that most of the work is carried out with this material. over, you can cut with equal success:

  • solid wood;
  • lumber;
  • pressed wood.

Different webs are used depending on the thickness of the material. over, they will differ not only in length, but in the frequency and size of the teeth. The thinner the material. the smaller and denser the teeth should be.

To obtain a clean cut on thick wood, use saws with progressive teeth, which are gradually reduced.

7 uses of the jigsaw. instruction from Dnipro-M

The electric jigsaw is widely used for working with sheet materials. It will come in handy in repairs, carpentry or furniture workshop. With a jigsaw, you can cut soft wood, plastic, drywall, as well as complex materials such as ceramic tiles and metal. Depending on the hardness and brittleness of the material, as well as the type of cut you want to get, the technique of working with a jigsaw will have some peculiarities. In this article, we will talk about how to cut the most popular building materials.

How to cut sheet materials straight

The main purpose of a jigsaw is to get an even cut. The easiest way to make it.

The first step is to make the markup, which will serve as a guide when working. If the edge of the workpiece is straight and you just need to make it smaller, use a rip fence. It is a T-shaped device that attaches to the sole of an electric jigsaw.

To reduce the wear of the file, the pendulum stroke is switched on. Move the jigsaw slowly, without jerking. Moving too quickly or jerking will have a negative effect on the cut line, and additional processing (e.g. sanding) will be required.

How to cut circles

Cutting a circle in a workpiece is one of the most difficult tasks for a beginner. But there is nothing incredible in it, since you can quickly learn how to work correctly with a jigsaw.

  • Disable the pendulum stroke.
  • Make the markup.
  • Drill a hole for the saw blade.
  • Install the compass and get to work.

You can make a compass with your own hands. To do this, you need a flat plate and a self-tapping screw. The jigsaw is securely fixed on the bar. Next, the required segment is measured (equal to the radius of the circle), and a self-tapping screw is screwed into the center, which will serve as the axis of rotation.

Types of hacksaws for metal

Yes, modern industry today offers the widest variety of hand-held metal-cutting tools with a drive system. These are grinders, and reciprocating saws, and all kinds of jigsaws. But nevertheless, in the bins, the overwhelming majority of craftsmen have a place for a couple of hand hacksaws for metal, which even today remain indispensable in many situations.

The cutting part of a hacksaw for metal is a saw blade. It is made necessarily removable, as a gear in metal saws is considered a consumable.

A hacksaw for metal is a saw capable of cutting high-strength metal workpieces. A distinctive feature of these saws is the use of fine-tooth blades. The toothed height is 1-1.5 (mm). The thickness of the canvas is within (0.7-1.3 mm), and the width reaches 12-25 (mm). The text will talk about how to choose a hacksaw for metal.

Of course, there are blades for metal and with a larger gear (2-2.5 mm), but they are already designed for installation on machine tools. Such blades are thick (within 2 mm) and wide (25-55 mm), they are made mainly of strong rapid steel.

Hand saws for metal are used in cases where you need to cut a small amount of workpieces. Of course, the performance of hacksaws is noticeably inferior to driven counterparts, the same grinder or saber saw. But hand saws are not without significant advantages:

  • Autonomy and portability
  • Ability to work without noise
  • Absolute security

If you choose the right blade for the hacksaw, the gear will provide a high-quality cut, while remaining sharp for a long time.

How to choose a hacksaw for metal.

Construction type

There are several types of hacksaws for metal:

  • With frame construction
  • With one-sided blade fixation

The design mainly determines the scope of the saw.

  • Frame-type hacksaws are considered traditional. The frame is also called the “machine”. The frame is represented by a C-shaped profile. Such hacksaws make it possible to fix the canvas from 2 sides.

A well-fixed and correct tensioned web acquires high reliability and durability. In this case, the risk of breaking the gear is reduced, and the edge remains sharp for a long time.

Frame saws are the vast majority of metal saws. These models have an extremely ergonomic handle. Additionally, they have a web tensioning mechanism. These are comfortable, reliable and durable saws that were used even in series production in the past.

  • Metal hacksaws with one-sided blade fixation are represented by a handle and a gear holder. It is rational to use such saws only when working in hard-to-reach places.

The saw blade is attached to one side only. At the other end, approximately farther than the middle of the blade, the gear does not overlap. Thanks to this moment, a narrow and at the same time sufficiently long cutting edge becomes available, which can creep up where the usual saw does not move.

How To Cut Metal – Ace Hardware

The principle of operation of a hacksaw with one-sided blade fastening is practically the same as that of a reciprocating saw. With such a hacksaw, you can easily cut the breech of a jammed lock. The free edge of the canvas freely crawls into narrow slots.

A separate category of single-sided hacksaws for metal is the so-called “circular saws”. Hacksaws of this type are equipped with a blade of increased thickness, which makes the gears incredibly strong and durable. It is convenient to make curly cutouts with a circular saw, by analogy with a gear of an electric jigsaw.

How to choose a hacksaw for metal, taking into account the saw blade.

Varieties

Hacksaws for metal today have many constructive embodiments. Saws are primarily classified by blade length. There are the following types of hacksaws for metal:

  • Standard (300mm)
  • Short (150 mm)

Of course, in order to expand the assortment, many hacksaw manufacturers offer solutions with non-standard lengths. You can find saws for blades of 200 and even 400 (mm). But saws for non-standard blades were not widely used. Such a tool is mainly bought by connoisseurs of branded products of a certain brand.

  • Saws for 300 (mm) blades are the gold standard. Long blade lengths have a positive effect on productivity. The longer the cut, the faster the cut will be completed.

Full-length hacksaws are usually used behind a locksmith’s bench, holding the workpiece in a vice.
Yes, hacksaws for metal with a length of 300 (mm) are not without drawbacks. As the length of the cutting edge increases, the likelihood that the blade will burst increases. Additionally, a long toothed tooth is prone to uneven tooth wear. In this case, only the central part becomes bald first, while at the edges the teeth remain sharp and high.

If a workpiece made of high strength steel is cut with a 300 mm hacksaw, then it is highly desirable that the frame be cast and not springy. Otherwise, the risk of blade breakage increases.

  • Shortened hacksaws for metal use a short 150 (mm) blade. But there are also saws for hacksaws 200 (mm). They, by analogy with 150 mm, fall under the category of “short”. The main purpose of short saws is to work in confined spaces.

A short hacksaw for metal is usually worked in place, that is, not at a locksmith’s workbench, as is the case with 300 (mm) saws, but at the location of the workpiece to be processed. It is convenient to cut pipes, cut various bolts and gratings with a short saw.

Of the shortcomings of hacksaws with a short blade, only the minimum productivity can be noted. These saws cut very slowly.

Many craftsmen note that breaking a short blade is an order of magnitude more difficult than breaking a 300 mm gear. For saws with one-sided blade fixation, reinforced gear options have been developed with increased width and thickness.

  • Additionally, you can find universal saws. The frame in these hacksaws has a telescopic design. That is, both a 150-millimeter gear and a 300 (mm) blade can be fixed in the frame.

Of course, the telescopic mechanism assumes that the frame is hollow. This means that the saw can only be used for cutting soft metals (copper, aluminum, bronze, lead, zinc, etc.), as well as steels with a minimum level of strength. The fact is that the hollow frame will certainly spring. When cutting high-strength steel or alloys, the spring blade will quickly break!

What other types of hacksaws are there for metal.

Varieties of saw blades

For any metal hacksaw, you need to buy a set of saw blades. Classic saw blades for metal cutting are made of H6VF high-speed tool steel. In the past, high-quality blades have always had a hardening (heat treatment) of the gear and the rest of the blade body.

But hardened high-quality hacksaw blades have 2 weak points:

  • High price
  • Increased fragility

For many craftsmen, it is the fragility of canvases with full heat treatment that is critical. The fact is that a hardened blade will not work reliably in every saw. The hacksaw frame must be cast. Only in this case, the saw will not spring, which allows high-strength hardened blades to reveal their potential.

If the canvas that has passed the heat treatment springs up, it will burst almost immediately.!

To make the blades more durable, the cutting part began to be heated not completely, but only at the very edge, where the teeth are concentrated. Yes, the blades became more elastic, but the use of high-quality tool steel in the base of the cutting part did not allow making the blades much more affordable.

The engineers also had to work on the task of making the saw blades cheaper. As a result, the so-called bimetallic canvases saw the light. Such gears are made on the basis of composite materials. The body of the blade itself is created from the cheapest carbon steel, and the gear is the same tool high-speed cutter X6VF or equivalent steel grades in terms of properties.

In this case, a narrow and thin cutting edge is fused onto the massive body of the blade.

Bimetallic blades have become a real breakthrough in the world of metal-cutting tooling. Such blades are very flexible, which is why they stop bursting due to the spring saw blade. In addition, the serrated edge made of hardened HSS makes it possible to efficiently cut even high-strength metal alloys. At the same time, the canvases belong to almost the most affordable value segment.

Of course, the topic of bimetallic canvases was not without a fly in the ointment. Such canvases are often faked, offering tinted stamping under the guise of branded products. Gear of counterfeit bimetallic blades, usually the cheapest, almost immediately loses teeth, especially when cutting workpieces made of high strength steel.

Features of cutting laminate

In order to understand how to properly cut lamellas, you need to pay attention to the multilayer structure of the material. At least three layers are cut at the same time:

  • The front surface is covered with a durable and hard melamine or polyurethane film, which peels and crumbles if you try to cut the material with a blunt blade;
  • Wood grain paper layer. Quite easy to cut, but may leave a fringe from fluffed paper;
  • Compressed wood fiber bottom layer. You can cut without any problems with any sharp tool. A huge amount of fine dust is generated.

If you use the simplest tools, such as a knife or a guillotine, you can cut the laminate on the floor by placing a thin plywood board, maximum 8 mm thick. For marking, they usually use a carpenter’s square.

To cut the laminate evenly, the panel must lie perfectly horizontal. The small thickness of the plywood lining does not in any way affect the quality of the cut, but if you try to lay a one and a half meter lamella on a stool or stand, then the plane of the end of the cut line will be inclined to one side. As a result, the seam between the panels is almost twice as wide as on the snap joint.

Modern replacement for the cutting knife

Cutting laminate with a knife is simple, but physically quite difficult, so it is best to use special tools or an electric tool. With a laminate thickness of more than 6 mm, it becomes difficult to cut the material with a knife due to increased efforts.

Laminate cutting with a renovator

A relatively new tool for the home workshop. The unusual design is that the renovator has no moving or rotating cutting edge. Instead of a saw or a hacksaw blade, the renovator has a small flat attachment. During the cutting process, a thin metal plate with teeth vibrates along the cut line, thanks to the vibrations, the cutting process is safer and less traumatic.

You need to work as a renovator without haste

The design of the renovator is such that the cutting insert is moved far beyond the main body of the tool. It takes a long time to cut the laminate with a renovator in the usual way, when compared with a jigsaw or a grinder. But for trimming the edges of an already laid laminate, the capabilities of the renovator are simply invaluable. You can cut the edge of the laminate even if only a few millimeters are left to the wall. One of the options for cutting laminate is shown on

Rotaviser for cutting laminate

How can you cut laminate at home

Depending on the thickness and material of the laminate board, you can use several options for cutting tools, which are certainly available in the home workshop. The idea of ​​cutting the laminate using only the strength of your hands is good if you need to repair or replace one or two lamellas. In other cases, it will be extremely difficult to do without a power tool.

A traditional set with which you can accurately and accurately cut laminate is as follows:

  • Hand saw with a blade for cutting metal;
  • Circular saw in hand-held or table-top design;
  • Guillotine cutter in floor or table version;
  • Construction grinder for cutting rebar or grinder;
  • Renovator or vibration cutter;
  • Electric jigsaw;
  • Special knife for cutting fiberboard.

The easiest option is to make a special cutting knife for cutting laminate flooring. The design of the blade differs from the clerical and ordinary knife by the presence of 2-3 teeth on the leading edge of the edge. Such a cutter is usually made from an old saw for wood, the cutting edge is sharpened from opposite sides. In order to cut the laminate, it is necessary to attach a joiner’s square, apply a cutting line to the lamella surface. Then the film is cut with an ordinary knife, and then the square is changed to a locksmith’s ruler, and the rest of the laminate is cut with a cutter along the laminate.

Vinyl cutter

The cutting line is not too smooth, but at the same time there are guaranteed no chips and paper fringes on the edges.

How to cut laminate flooring at home

In order to accurately and accurately cut the lamella, it is necessary to adhere to two basic conditions. First of all, you need to correctly mark the cutting line. For these purposes, only carpentry squares are used. Any markings using laser beams and pointers mounted in a jigsaw or renovator can not be used.

The second condition is a low feed rate of the cutting tool. The more the cutting edge presses on the laminate material, the more the teeth deviate from the direction of travel. Productivity increases, but surface quality decreases dramatically.

If you cut the material with a grinder or a circular saw, you will also need to maintain a constant pressure on the tool. This is the only way to cut equally evenly along the entire length of the panel.

How to trim laid laminate flooring

Very often, when laying the floor, a situation arises when it is necessary to align and cut the ends of the laminate in the direction of laying the lamellas. The situation is complicated by the minimum distance from the wall to the end surface. Usually the gap does not exceed 10-15 mm, which is too small for the laminate to be cut with a hand saw or jigsaw. In this case, they resort to using a renovator.

In order for the cutting line to be flat, the laid lamellas must be loaded with additional oppression. These can be books, sandbags, sports equipment. This should be done in order to avoid material lifting during the trimming process.

It can only be cut exactly with a side stop

If you need to cut the protruding ends of the lamellas in the center of the room, for example, for arranging the transition from laminate to tile, then a metal profile is additionally laid parallel to the cutting line, you can use an aluminum corner or a long metal locksmith’s ruler. They will serve as a guiding support for the cutting edge of the renovator.

Laminate cutting with guillotine

The tool is a lot like a cutting knife. The design of the tool is shown in the photo below.

Universal tool for any type of laminate

The cutting part is fixed on a steel frame. a stand, and the cutter itself can rotate around the hinge at the end of the device. The cutting line is straight and flat, but the material, especially at the edges, can deform due to the high pressure on the surface of the laminate. In order to cut with a guillotine, no special preparation is required. The cutter is commonly used to cut vinyl boards and lamellas.

Cutting laminate with a grinder

It is one of the most successful tools used for cutting and cutting building materials. The high speed of rotation of the cutting wheel ensures the highest quality of the laminate cutting. In order to cut off a part of the laminate panel, it is enough to lay the material on the edge of a table or workbench, fix it, and with a little effort smoothly make an incision along the marking line. Thanks to the enormous power, laminate can be cut to any thickness.

One hand can only cut with a special support foot

How to use a hacksaw

You can cut soft wood panel with almost any cutting wheel. A disc with a diameter of 110-125 mm and a thickness of 0.8-1.5 mm is best suited for cutting a laminate with a grinder. Various kinds of diamond and boron nitride wheels on a metal basis cope with the task a little worse.

In order to cut the laminate, a small machine with a power of 300-500 W is enough. With some experience, the cut can even be done with one hand.

Choosing a blade for a hacksaw

When choosing a hacksaw for metal, special attention should be paid to the toothed blade, because the smallest flaws can negatively affect the quality of work in the future. The web must be free of cracks and corrosion and must also be smooth. When checking, you need to bend the canvas and release it. it must instantly restore its original form.

It should be noted that canvases exist at 32, 24, 18 teeth per inch. The more teeth there are on the blade, the faster and better the sawing of the material and vice versa. It is desirable that a hacksaw for metal has the ability to install the blade at an angle of 90 degrees in order to cut bulky sheet materials. If this is not possible, then the cutting depth is limited by the height of the hacksaw itself. There are models in which the web mounts are made at an angle of 45 degrees.

The blade can be made of various materials, and you need to choose it based on what kind of alloys you will be sawing. Better to choose bimetal or hardened canvas. The black blade, as a rule, is of very poor quality and it is enough for only a few movements of the hacksaw, then the teeth begin to crumble, potholes appear, and it is impossible to work with such a blade anymore.

The hardened blade looks like a nickel-plated stainless steel with dark teeth. It is the dark color that speaks of their hardening. Bimetallic blades for hacksaws for metal are painted in some color (yellow, red, etc.) or even bicolor. Such canvases will last much longer than budget black ones. After that, it remains only to make sure that the length of the blade corresponds to the length of the hacksaw, this is indicated on both the tool and the blade.

Varieties of hacksaws

It is difficult for the average consumer to understand all the variety of hacksaws and saws on the market. However, despite this, they are divided into three types, depending on the purpose of the instrument:

  • Hacksaws for wood. This tool is a carpenter’s hacksaw, which is used for sawing logs, boards, wooden blanks, chipboard and fiberboard sheets. A hacksaw for wood, as a rule, has a wide beveled hacksaw blade, along the edge of which the cutting part is located. The cut takes place in a straight line, thanks to the teeth set to the right and left. And straight teeth are needed to remove chips, which makes it easier for the blade to pass.
  • Hacksaw for metal. This is a narrow file that has fine teeth. The canvas is attached to the C-frame at both ends, and its tension is adjusted using a special screw. There is a rubberized or plastic handle on one side of the frame for a comfortable grip.
  • Concrete hacksaw. This tool has a construction that is similar to the device of a saw for wood, but has larger teeth. Some teeth may have tungsten carbide brazing, which makes it possible to cut foam and sand concrete blocks.

The most important characteristics of a hacksaw are the following. For hacksaws of different types, the length of the blade can be 300.700 millimeters. Depending on what size of the workpiece will be sawn, and a hacksaw is selected with the appropriate blade along the length.

You need to know the pitch of the teeth, since by this indicator it is determined with what thickness and hardness materials the hacksaw blade will cope with. For example, teeth with a pitch of 3.5 millimeters are suitable for cutting soft wood, and 5 millimeters for cutting hard wood. Also hacksaws are two- and three-sided to adjust the sharpness of the cutting part.

Choosing a hacksaw for metal

Any tool, be it a hacksaw for wood or metal, you need to be able to choose. Remember that you can rely not only on the recommendations of the sellers, but also on your own strengths. Avoid buying budget tool options and the most expensive models when you are not sure why the tool is so expensive.

This tool should be practical, so that when making a move in any direction and at different angles, you can perform all actions easily, for example, cutting metal not only with standard movements, but also completely vice versa. Choose the size of the machine yourself: for standard blades or for universal functions, which will help you easily install blades of any size into a hacksaw.

When buying, look at the metal hacksaw frame first. It can be ordinary; made of composite super-strong materials, which is distinguished by a long service life and the ability to cut even alloys of increased hardness; and with the ability to change the angle of inclination of the toothed blade for working with hard-to-reach places.

Pay close attention to the handle of the hacksaw for metal, because you will have to hold on to it constantly while working. The handle should be comfortable, fit perfectly in the hand, and be equipped with special finger rests. The handle should have a minimum of hollow plastic parts, because a real man will break such a handle at the very first attempts to work.

Be sure to pick up the tool, it should not be loose and flimsy. In a hacksaw for metal, everything should be as strong as possible. This will affect not only the integrity of the tool, but also the ability to hold the serrated blade in the position that you need, not the tool.

The location of the lamb for stretching the hacksaw blade at the opposite end from the handle is considered a classic, but this, on the other hand, is also a problem. As a rule, when the canvas is stretched, it is very difficult to turn this lamb without improvised means. Therefore, the best option would be a lever mechanism for tensioning the toothed blade.

Tools

A hacksaw is the most important tool for a real man. And the most versatile are hand-held hacksaws, because they can be used in urban conditions, in the country, and where there are no power sources. A lot of problems around the house are solved with a hacksaw for metal, which, by the way, does an excellent job with both plastic and wood! Padlock stuck in your garage? Has a nut grown dead on a bolt over time? Is the handlebar too wide on the bike? All this can be fixed by buying a hacksaw for metal.

Hacksaw design for metal

The most common and simplest device for working with metal, of course, is a special hacksaw for metal, which outwardly differs from a hacksaw for wood. A hacksaw for metal is quite often used in construction and repair work, when you need to accurately and accurately saw not very large wooden and metal workpieces.

The design of hacksaws for metal is quite simple: a narrow hacksaw blade is stretched between the two ends of a metal U-shaped bracket. The working part of such a saw is the thinnest blade with teeth, and you only need to work with such a tool with two hands. The blade fastening system is of two types: threaded clamp. in this case, the web is stretched and then fixed with a wing nut, the lever mechanism. when the web is installed and removed using a special lever.

Hacksaws, which use the second method of installing and stretching the blade, are, of course, more expensive than the first option because of their versatility, as well as the speed of installing and removing the blade. The main advantage of hacksaws for metal is that, unlike a power tool, with a hacksaw for metal, you can work in the field, due to the fact that you do not need an electrical network. Among other advantages of hacksaws for metal. simplicity in robot, maintenance and light weight.

There are quite a lot of hacksaw blades on sale. And, of course, the cost of canvases is also different. The price of a hacksaw for metal depends on the type of blade and the number of teeth per inch (bimetal or with hardened teeth). Bimetallic blades rarely break, hardened blades are more flexible and cost more.

Using a hacksaw for metal

To handle a hacksaw for metal, no special skills are required, the principle of operation is quite similar to operating a hacksaw for wood. One of the main tasks is the timely change of the blade, while it is necessary to choose a certain type of blade and tooth pitch.

Sawing process

Before working with a hacksaw for metal, you need to figure out how to fasten the canvas. If the blade is single-sided, the teeth should point down and forward away from the handle. To install the blade, you need to loosen the tension screw, remove the old blade from the pins, put on a new one and tighten it so that the blade tinkles like a string from the click of the fingernail. In this case, the main thing is not to overdo it, so that it does not burst. Experimentally, you can find the optimal tension.

Before starting work, grasp the handle with your right hand if you are right-handed (with your left hand if you are left-handed), the other. by the vertical edge opposite to the handle. Place the blade on the cutting line. Direct it strictly in the direction of the cut line. Keep the tilt angle of the tool small.

The blade of a hacksaw for metal should practically lie on the part, as a rule, at an angle of 30-45 degrees, so that there is less noise, vibration, and the cut line is smoother. Cutting across the metal with a right angle is only worthwhile in emergency cases, for example, when turning the cutting line. The slope angle should be less than the smoother you want the cut line to be.

It is recommended to make the first movements with little effort so that the blade cuts into the metal and does not slip from the cutting line to the sides. Make progressive, smooth movements, press the tool to the part more firmly when moving forward, release the pressure when returning to its original state. When the blade grips the metal, you can work with all your might.

Do the maximum range of motion, from edge to edge of the blade, without hitting the metal with the arc of the hacksaw on the part. It is not worth “marking time”, as the canvas will quickly be erased in one area, and you will be forced to throw it away. Keep the arc of the hacksaw straight, not allowing it to bow to the sides. The cutting direction must match the surface of the hacksaw arc.

Remember that the blade can easily break if the tool is jerked to the side. The properties of the sheet metal are such that it perfectly holds longitudinal tensile forces, but is very fragile in bending.