Everybody loves a good party trick, right? Those sweet-and-simple stunts that show off your most fun, most obscure and – sometimes – your most weird skills are a great way to make any gathering one to remember.

Even better? When those tricks are useful as well as cool! You know what we mean— this kind of trick is the one you break out not only when you want to show off, but when a unexpected situation calls for unusual skills, like in the absence of a supply or necessary tool. They’re the kind of trick you suspect would be useful in survival situations, but are also great to know when you just want to make – and win! – a bet.

Now, we of course don’t want to encourage gambling, so let’s make a hypothetical wager. What would you say if we told you there was a way to cut string without scissors, instead using just your bare hands? If you’re anything like us the first time we heard this idea, you’d probably say we were crazy, but friends— it’s not only possible, it’s totally easy.

The expert in this garage-and-party trick? Scott Wadsworth of Essential Craftsman, who demonstrates the trick in the video below. He imagines a scenario where you’re with a friend, maybe before work one day, and this friend doesn’t “realize what a guru you are.” So you take some string, and tell your friend you can cut it with your bare hands. Your friend, of course, won’t believe you, and that’s when you do THIS:

See?! With just a twist of his hands, Scott has cut the string, and indeed he’s done it with his bare hands. Even more impressively, the string is one that, he clarifies at the beginning, is “300 pound test”, a categorization for fishing line which means it can withstand 300 pounds of pressure. Wow!

So does this mean that Scott is a magical wizard with 300 pounds of force in his hands? Not exactly. Watch his explanatory video, then read on below, where we break down this trick for you, so you can do it at home!

We think this trick is even more impressive once you learn the science behind it, don’t you? Granted, it goes by pretty quickly in Scott’s video, so let’s break it down a little.

First, notice how Scott wraps the line around his hands. He anchors the main length of it beneath his foot, then pulls out the length of string he wants. Then, he wraps the string around his hand with a scooping, sweeping motion, crossing the string over itself where he wants it “cut”, like so:

He slides his hand up and down a few times, rubbing the string against itself— and it snaps! But WHY does it work? Well, as Scott says, it’s . . .

Friction, after all, is a force created by resisting surfaces, and in this case, it’s enough to “cut” even the strongest of strings.

What do you think of this crazy cool trick? Have you ever seen, or even tried, anything like it before? Can you think of any scenarios in which it would come in handy? Tell us what you think of this “magic” trick!