Just a quick video showing how I used a saw to trim a few inches off of these faux wood blinds in order to make then less wide and shorter. Link to this saw (any chop saw with a decent blade should work) amzn.to/3joXpOJ
I wasn't looking forward to fitting my blinds, then I watched this. Half an hour later I have 3 windows with new blinds. I didn't use a chopsaw, just a hacksaw and it worked wonderfully.
For anyone watching, just cut my faux wood (plastic slatted) Venetian style blinds with aluminium header with DeWalt chop saw. I was hesitant at first then watched this video. Went real slow on the cut and it came out smooth. Tiny bit of darkening of the plastic were I went too slow and it heated up. All said and done happy with the result. P.s. taping the blinds did help, if you're not certain I would spend the extra one minute to tape either side of where you're cutting
Thank you so much. I had a professional come out but blinds didn’t for inside mount but were to small for outside mount. I didn’t know how to give them the proper measurements. I knew to make a mark but wasn’t sure how to do it. Spot on. Thank you ❤
DANGER NOTE: If the top piece is made of aluminum *it will send sparks flying at you while cutting* please be careful and wear some kind of clear face shield if you have blinds with an aluminum piece.
agree wholeheartedly! but wear eye protection anyway... and tape them together.. it takes a minute of your time. Great demo though.. i have one to do tomorrow and will definitely get my chop saw ready. Nice to see it cut rather than splinter.
@@NavyVet4955 I wore protection for my eyes in case wood went in my eye, the sparks surprised me but I should’ve known better. Found a nice Old Stock Brand New Faux wood blinds at a hardware store. You can’t get them with the cord anymore too! Had not choice but to cut it. Glad it worked 😄 It was a little too big so I had to cut it. The wood cut fine but the aluminum piece sparked.
@@42luke93 aluminum does not spark. If you had sparks it was from a ferrous metal that may have been in the material. Aluminum is non ferrous and does not produce sparks. It’s non sparking property is why aluminum and brass tools are used in environments that may contain explosive gasses or materials.
@@NavyVet4955 Unless it was the blade of the saw that was sparking as the aluminum top was cut. Thanks for clarifying. Got the blinds for $20 makes down from $40. Strings to control the tilt too (no wand). Best find of the year!
I've done many aluminum headers... buzzes right through. Just keep it even and remember to remove any of the parts stored in the header. Don't want to chop the tilt wand.
Protip: If home Depot or Lowe's sells the blinds and they are new enough to fit in their templated chop saw, they will cut them free. Just tell them you got them there a while back and are moving them to a slightly smaller window or some such. They've done it for me a few times. If you do this I would tape the edges so they will come out clean and zip tie or duct tape the whole so it's stable. Half what you need to cut and cut off evenly from both ends... If you suffer from the dreaded "CDO" as I do, not doing so will probably drive you nuts eventually.
Helpful. Passed by a hardware store with old stock corded Faux wood blinds by GSP Direct. It's just an inch too big unfortunately for me. On clearance for $20 (50% of $40). Really do not want to pass up that deal plus having a cord.
Update: Tried this with success. I was not expecting the aluminum part on top to spark though which was kind of dangerous (Should have worn a face shield, so please be careful) although I was wearing clear goggles. The main problem I had was that when I cut it, the saw couldn't reach the entire length of the blinds and I had to re-cut it. If you look close you see a little unevenness. But I am proud of my work! Helpful tip: Wrap tape behind the line around the blinds to help keep them still and be more precise, I had to cut 1/4th of an inch off so I only did one side.
Hi, question, I need to cut 1/4" off my blinds. Can I cut just one end? or do I need to cut 1/8" on each end? Also, I have a sliding miter saw, is it better to chop down, or slide? thx!!!
Yes it will but be careful. Metal headers like mine on top sent sparks flying at me. Had clear goggles on but should have worn some sort of face shield.
No! This is a hack job. It’s ok to use a miter saw, but not like this! Use a sharp fine-tooth blade (40 tooth minimum - 60 is better), preferably new. Lay your blinds the saw, align your cut mark on the head piece with your blade, and then carefully align all the ends. Then clamp the blind to the fence so they can’t move. Then slowly lower the spinning blade. Again, go slow every step of the way. Your cutting a $100 blind - why hurry?
You can cut it shorter than that too - just move the inside pcs and the metal bar will still work..if there is a will there is a way - If the made it, you can unmake it and remake it - the principle of Engineering to live by. AND you are not a good blinds cutter man -
