Reinforced cut operating rules

 hand-operated rebar cutting apparatus including first and second discs carried by a shaft mounted on a frame. The discs are pivotable relative to each other and each includes grooves which can be aligned for receipt of a bar to be cut. The first discs is pivotal on a shaft carried by a frame and moves incrementally through a predetermined arc such that the grooves become substantially axially offset from each other. The appartus is attached to a manually operable bender and straightener having a linearly reciprocable slide mounted within a guideway.

 As the slide is reciprocated, the first and second discs of the apparatus are pivoted relative to each other. The apparatus includes a ratchet mechanism for allowing incremental pivoting of the discs relative to each other through the predetermined arc, while allowing reciprocable movement of the slide to its initial position without returning the first and second discs to the position in which the grooves are aligned. The apparatus also includes return means for pivotally returning the first discs in a second direction through the entire predetermined arc during a single return stroke of the slide. When the grooves are substantially axially offset from each other, a bar placed in the aligned groove is thereby cut.