Rick,
Thanks for the info and great tip on the tool. Yes, I can see multiple uses of it. And it omits the need to cut small pieces with a huge rotating blade. FYI, I will join my son today to check on this wound from an incident from clearing out debris from the blade of a table saw that was turned off, but still rotating. Cost him 20 stitches. Fortunately just surface wound, but could have been REALLY worse.
Outside of the tool, your method of creating the ties is much how I have done this in the past...including cutting them to 2 1/4" lengths, not 2 1/2" as I wrote in my earlier post. Yes, it's more work, especially when making hundreds of them, but much cheaper than buying manufactured ones, and keeps me doing what I enjoy in retirement.
I ordered 4 lengths of the screen molding from HD this morning. I'll see if I would prefer cutting them 1/2" widths.
Thanks again,
Michael