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April 12, 2006 9:19 AM   Subscribe

"This item has become very popular following the ban on use of scissors on aeroplanes." Relax, Officer, it's just a thread-cutter.
posted by serafinapekkala (29 comments total)
 
Demure, yet deadly...the needlepoint assassin.
posted by serafinapekkala at 9:21 AM on April 12, 2006


Will it work on this thread?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:29 AM on April 12, 2006


I don't leave home without my yarn cutter, a slightly beefier sister product.



Yarn cutting pendant, bamboo needles instead of metal ones, plastic darning needles...the undercover knitting agent's job has become much more difficult since 9/11.
posted by padraigin at 9:31 AM on April 12, 2006


Um, what's your point? Scissors are potentially deadly; a threadcutter is harmless. Makes sense to me.
posted by amro at 9:31 AM on April 12, 2006


...the undercover knitting agent's job has become much more difficult since 9/11.

*Nods to other conspirators: Our plans are working.*
posted by three blind mice at 9:35 AM on April 12, 2006


WGP: probably not. that would require a virtual thread cutter, and they're hard to find. (mine, I think, is somewhere in the basement. I may never find it.)

I've used one of these thread cutters for about 10 years, or since my then-toddler dug through my sewing basket, found my scissors, and poked holes in the sofa cushions. I use thread snips (which look like small sheep shears) for heavier threads.
posted by jlkr at 9:42 AM on April 12, 2006


padraigin, that thing could be used shuriken-style!
posted by NationalKato at 9:46 AM on April 12, 2006



padraigin, that thing could be used shuriken-style!


Just call me a kninja :)
posted by padraigin at 9:51 AM on April 12, 2006


Maybe because the blades get dull and their is no way to sharpen them, so you just move on to the next section?
posted by mullacc at 9:59 AM on April 12, 2006


s/their/there
posted by mullacc at 9:59 AM on April 12, 2006


Purely decorative. All the blades are the same. The one in my picture has wide spaces to access the blade; that's what makes it a yarn cutter versus the thread cutter in the link, which has smaller "petals".

But man, it would be cool if the different cutting areas were for different uses. Like a Leatherman for little old ladies.

I cannot seem to figure out how to use mine for opening bottles. That's one task that would take the yarn/thread cutting pendant to a whole new level of badass.
posted by padraigin at 10:01 AM on April 12, 2006



posted by GuyZero at 10:14 AM on April 12, 2006


It breaks the guidelines.
posted by agregoli at 10:53 AM on April 12, 2006


Its true, I didn't believe it until now, 9/11 changed everything.
posted by sfts2 at 10:56 AM on April 12, 2006


Will this company go belly up now that the restrictions have been lessened?
posted by Pollomacho at 10:59 AM on April 12, 2006


Scissors are potentially deadly

Now there's a good one!
posted by wakko at 11:13 AM on April 12, 2006


9/11 changed the face of mending clothes, forever.
posted by fire&wings at 11:22 AM on April 12, 2006


I've had a Clover cutter for years - that, plus blunt needles, have allowed me to cross-stitch on airplanes. The individual sections do get dull. But it is pretty!
posted by candyland at 11:24 AM on April 12, 2006


Pick up the pieces of your weapon, the glave. Avoid all boulders.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:32 AM on April 12, 2006


Even prior to 9/11, it was impossible to carry my daisy cutter onto planes.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:51 AM on April 12, 2006


So I should carry this instead of my polycarbonate or ceramic blades?
posted by Smedleyman at 2:14 PM on April 12, 2006


As of a year ago (last time I looked) the thread cutters were technically not allowed by the TSA. But I think they slip through pretty frequently. I didn't want to risk losing one, so I used a different trick to cut yarn on my last flight: bring dental floss, and use the little floss cutter. It works!
posted by litlnemo at 2:36 PM on April 12, 2006


The TSA isn't specific at all with regard to thread cutters; throwing stars are specifically relegated to checked luggage only.
posted by padraigin at 2:49 PM on April 12, 2006


Thread cutter? Pfft.

These would work much better, I think.
posted by yellowlightman at 3:04 PM on April 12, 2006


Aha, but can you run with these?
posted by Smedleyman at 3:41 PM on April 12, 2006


Has anyone informed the Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society?

These might come in very handy someday for them :)
posted by symbioid at 4:39 PM on April 12, 2006


Looks like the TSA doesn't care about the thread cutters anymore. Last year they had a document that listed them (under some other name like "blades inside an exterior decorative shell" or something else -- actually something that describes the thread cutters much better than that, I just don't remember exactly) as forbidden, but they have loosened up on a bunch of things since then and they don't seem to list the thread cutters in the link padraigin posted.
posted by litlnemo at 1:49 PM on April 13, 2006


It's nice that the TSA is relaxing some of those crazy post-9/11 restrictions. I mean, how hard is it to stop someone who's coming at you with a thread cutter? Just flick them in the forehead or something.
posted by purplemonkie at 2:51 PM on April 13, 2006


Gadzooks! I left my thread cutter on my autogyro!
posted by crunchland at 3:15 PM on April 13, 2006


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