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my question is in the title, so is there a special technic to cut poles so that they stay safe ?
I used to jump with a 155/15'1 with a grip of 14'6 -14'9
and i got to new poles ; 160/16'1 165'/16'5 (too long to jump with them without cut)
so what can you suggest to me ?

hold down...

but if you want to cut it, then a nice sharp, fine tooth hand saw will give you a smooth even cut

Hold down on the pole cutting the pole doesn't change the weight rating and i will cause you to have to buy new poles when you blow through the cut ones rather then just moving up a handhold.

seems kinda pointless to me to cut a pole... no matter if the extra 2 foot is at the top or not its still gonna bend the same way... and someone else might want to use it some day... i preferably like holding down on poles because it seems more balanced to me when i run

Sean/vaulter/naeS wrote:Hold down on the pole cutting the pole doesn't change the weight rating and i will cause you to have to buy new poles when you blow through the cut ones rather then just moving up a handhold.

going down on those poles will only up the weight. every fist down the pole is symmetrical to 5lbs. so a 16'1 150 with two hand grips down from the recomended hand hold would be a 160 instead of a 150

Some of these answers don't seem to address the question, so neither will mine. Of course it will change the characteristics (height and rollover) of the bend to cut the pole; that is the main idea. I don't often see world class vaulters, male or female holding down on their poles. There is an optimum handhold area for a pole, and it could be theoretically safer to vault on a cut pole than to hold too low on a pole and force the bend below the reinforced area.

A hacksaw will do fine, as Gibeault said, but it is hard to cut it 90 degrees. Practice on PVC first.

Here's my disclaimer: I'm not saying it is safe to cut poles or that it improves the pole. In some circumstances it can be according to my limited understanding.

If you are going to cut a pole I would suggest using a miter saw, with a real thin blade, and setting it to 90 degrees, just to make sure it is straight.

I would not cut the poles. If you are a coach and you cut them and someone gets hurt, you may be liable because you modified the pole. The manufacturers put more glass at the tip end to help mitigate the forces put on the pole when planting, so cutting down there would be unwise. Also it will change where the sail piece is located on the pole, causing it to bend differently. Just buy a shorter pole.

RPVA03 wrote:I would not cut the poles. If you are a coach and you cut them and someone gets hurt, you may be liable because you modified the pole. The manufacturers put more glass at the tip end to help mitigate the forces put on the pole when planting, so cutting down there would be unwise. Also it will change where the sail piece is located on the pole, causing it to bend differently. Just buy a shorter pole.

The original poster lives in Algeria, I am guessing liability is less of an issue there.

Ah, good point.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:

RPVA03 wrote:I would not cut the poles. If you are a coach and you cut them and someone gets hurt, you may be liable because you modified the pole. The manufacturers put more glass at the tip end to help mitigate the forces put on the pole when planting, so cutting down there would be unwise. Also it will change where the sail piece is located on the pole, causing it to bend differently. Just buy a shorter pole.

The original poster lives in Algeria, I am guessing liability is less of an issue there.

Yes but what if an American uses his pole?


I say if you can grip 14'6 you should be fine to use the 16'1 gripping down, as the recommended "grip" range is typically within 6-18" from the top of the pole. Why cut the pole? It'll just limit its future use and make it bend funny.

Remember when you cut from the bottom you cut off the extra thick part of the pole that's meant to take a beating from the box.

I think bending funny is what happens when you hold down 2 feet on a pole. To avoid bending funny is the reason for cutting it. You are correct about cutting off the reinforcement against box abrasion. If that is a problem, it wouldn't hurt to put a pvc guard on it.

Cutting 6" off the bottom of a 16 foot pole will preclude any possibility of holding higher than 15' 6" though!