Oil Filter Cutter Review

If you do any racing or performance driving it can be useful to have an understanding of what ends up in your oil filter. In the olden days I used a thin blade cut off tool to chop them open. Not without a bunch of mess and smoke. The easier way is to use a removable filter that is not housed in a canister like some of the Canton-Mecca filters. These filters just pull apart and are very easy to inspect. Here is a quick review of the Longacres Filter Cutter.

If you can't do that pick up one of the numerous available filter cutters. Aircraft mechanics have been using these things for years and now they are relatively inexpensive. The one I picked up was from Longacres, and picked it up at Amazon. A few different style are made, but the Longacres version looked good and well made and was mid price point. Below are some of the images and comments.

And YES it will open a can of soup in a pinch! (Just use it upside down)

Nice Twirling Surface

One thing that I did like about the Longacre filter cutter is that it did have a nice large surface area to keep the filter flat while the twirling ensues. You can see the marks of the filters rubber gasket on the surface. It's also a good idea to keep a bit of oil on the gasket to make the twirling smooth! Also NOTE the two extra holes. These are for you small filter guys. That's right, Longacre was smart enough to add a second set of holes to allow you to cut smaller filters with ease.

Ball Bearings - The Key to the Future

Some of the cutter just have pins or metal rollers, this one had small ball bearings as the guides. Makes the cutting a bit smother. Again these can be moved to the other holes to cut smaller filters.

Cutter Adjusting Mechanism

While not super robust, it's good. The handle is large and not hard on the hand like some of the cutters with just a small knob. The rest is just a thread rod and the slider, but it does work smoothly.

Cutter In Action - Still Life

Operation is simple, no YouTube Video needed here. Just plop on the filter, tighten the cutter up a bit, just like a small pipe or tubing cutter, and it operatates similar. Twist the filter, tighten up, twist the filter, tighten up and it eventually cuts it apart. No fuss, no muss unless the filter is full of dirty oil.

The Bottom Cut Off

Here is the bottom cut off portion of the filter. The filter was new for this experiment, and you can see how nice and clean the cut is. The edge is a bit sharp so be careful, but otherwise nice job. And the Cutters are replaceable if needed.

Clean Cuts All Around

The top is cut clean too, you can see the small ding where I started the cut. Note the Royal Purple filter has a thick housing and it made short order of it. Some of the 'El-Cheepo' filters feel like the metal is paper thin, and I would expect the quality of the element is about as good.