plates 45 and or 46 on the other hand which may be formed of a ferrous material should have an outside perimeter diameter less than the inside diameter of the steel housing to avoid a steel to steel contact the shaped explosive charge 56 that is characteristic of shaped charge tubing cutters comprises a precisely measured quantity of powdered form explosive material such as rdx or hmx that is formed into a truncated cone against the conical faces respective to a pair of end plates 45 or 46 an axial bore space 59 through the thrust disc 44 end plates 45 and 46 and explosive material 56 is provided to accommodate a detonation booster 57 the taper face explosive cones of the present invention are clad with a high density pressed powdered metal liner 58 comprising about 80 or greater 80 u2267 tungsten and an approximate 80 20 mixture of copper and lead powders a representative liner thickness may be about 0 050 u2033 as understood by those skilled in the art shaped charge penetration capability increases with a an increase in liner density and b a pressed powder liner material a pair of such conical units are assembled in peak to peak opposition along a common apex truncation plane p j with respect to fig4 the axial span 60 of the charge between the liner base perimeters 68 adjacent the inside wall of the housing 20.