I have cut several aluminium steerers in the past, either with a tube cutter or a hacksaw, but my friend has a CF fork he wants to cut down. Im assuming the tube cutter is out, and it will be hacksaw. Can i use a normal blade? Do i just tape the steerer prior to cutting and carry on as normal taking care not to breath the dust?

Yep, basically. Dull blade, as fine as possible. Whatever you have will be fine.

Use a tube cutter and you’ll die a horrible death. Best use a hacksaw with a fine blade.

TBH I think you’d be ok with a tube cutter provided you went very slowly indeed. Though usually the wall thickness is such that the depth of the blade might not be sufficient.

Hacksaw it is! Thanks 🙂

You can get hacksaw blades for cutting carbon, I also used to tape over the area I was cutting with electrical tape to reduce the likelihood of any splintering.

As with anything measure twice, measure a few more times and cut once. Take into account any changes in axle to crown height too, and whether you’ll want/need to run more steerer/spacers etc.

I did this for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I used a 32tpi hack saw with two hose clamps as a cutting guide. I cut a shallow mark all the way round, removed the hose clamps and carefully cut through half way, spin it round and cut from the other side. Bit of wet and dry to smooth the edges, and a fine smear of superglue on the cut edge.

It was easier than I though it would be.

@arcing….top plan, thank you

It’s the star fangled nut you need to be concerned about…

(That’s for the STW oldtimers…)