Plug Cutter Possibilities

[Knucklehead]

50/50 dark fired/red VA plug-ish

I think I may want to make a dedicated plug cutter to slice more consistent flakes once I get the plug making down.

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It looks like you have a good start with the knife in your photo. It already has the hole for the bolt. Paper cutter shown.

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[Matthew Evans]

It looks like you have a good start with the knife in your photo. It already has the hole for the bolt. Paper cutter shown.

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I was thinking of something similar, though I'll make a new blade. I'm thinking of a guillotine style blade, lever handle, possibly a cam or shackle to change the directional force. I've got some good thin spring steel and tool steel that should provide an excellent blade, especially with something as soft as tobacco.


I like that cleaver for lots of things in the shop. It gets used for small hatchet work, scraping, slicing and riving. It's blade is a bit on the thick side for taking thin slices, and it's double beveled rather than single.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Looking at overpriced antiques over the years, I have the impression that a plug cutter needn't have a shearing edge like a paper cutter. The power of it comes from the simple fact that the blade is anchored at one end.

 

[Knucklehead]

Looking at overpriced antiques over the years, I have the impression that a plug cutter needn't have a shearing edge like a paper cutter. The power of it comes from the simple fact that the blade is anchored at one end.

You got me wondering so I googled tobacco plug cutter and there are some very nice images of antiques.

 

[deluxestogie]

The old plug cutters used by small merchants everywhere to slice a measured chunk of plug for sale to retail customers typically had cast iron frames, with a cast base and cast arm. The entrapped blade moved only vertically, providing a clean cut. In studying the photos of the old ones--both open and closed, I have the impression that they functioned much like a lever-arm cheese press, with the blade holder moving like a lever-arm piston. The handle arm's pivot point (fulcrum) is offset, with the blade holder's pivot point attached between the fulcrum and the user's hand. This is a second class lever.

Given that plugs are not infrequently as solid as a hockey puck, the handle arm (and the bottom frame) needs to be quite long, in relation to the width of a plug.

Bob

EDIT: A paper cutter is also a second class lever, but without a separately moving blade, cuts from one side of the plug toward the opposite side, applying diagonal stress on the plug.

 

[Levi Gross]

I made this plug cutter today with some old parts I had laying around. It’s not a fancy antique cutter which I would love to have but it does do the job intended very nicely.

 

[BarG]

It looks like you have a good start with the knife in your photo. It already has the hole for the bolt. Paper cutter shown.

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Are you supposed to chew the plugs, you know like a plug of baccy.

 

[bbfarmky]

I just purchased this one but have not tested it on a plug yet. The curved channel causes the blade to travel in a smooth slicing motion and I am hoping will work well. Honestly the only concern I have is the curved base if a plug is wide enough for that to matter. At the moment I only have a small chunk of a plug that would not really suffice as a test. I can tell you is does a bang up job on vegetables and meats though.

 

[FantomBadger]

I just purchased this one but have not tested it on a plug yet. The curved channel causes the blade to travel in a smooth slicing motion and I am hoping will work well. Honestly the only concern I have is the curved base if a plug is wide enough for that to matter. At the moment I only have a small chunk of a plug that would not really suffice as a test. I can tell you is does a bang up job on vegetables and meats though.
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As I’m sure everyone read, that is a biltong carver. Biltong is a South African variant of jerky, but the cuts of meat, silverside and topside if beef are used, legs, backstrap, fillets from game, are spiced differently.

Biltong is often an inch or more thick and cutting cannot be done with a dull knife. Where I’m from everyone still has their biltong carver they made in the 8th grade woodworking class at school. Mine is still going strong.

 

[bbfarmky]

I got the Bitlong slicer and to be honest, I love it but not for cutting plugs.

It did okay but not great. It certainly has the blade and leverage to cut but there are less than desirable attributes:

1. Not being flat and square to rest against, there is nothing but instinct to gauge an even slice.
2. The curved bottom was okay probably but may have not helped a little bit. Also this was a standard market plug of 2.25"x2.25"x1.25" so it would be smaller than plugs made from a 3x3 tube mold.
3. Probably due to some of the combined factors, it the cut seemed to lean in back towards the plug at the top slightly.
4. The lighting and the angle was difficult to see how much I was going to bite off before slicing (this part is probably more me than the slicer).

All of that being said, this was a 2020 tin of GL Pease Spark Plug which is more of a cake than a plug. Looked like it had leaf flakes in it too. So after the slice the "flake" just kind of crumbled onto the tray. Not a real problem and still rubbed and smoked well but definitely not a thin, flat flake.

All of that said, it is an absolute beast for chopping vegetables and meat coins so I am not sorry I bought it. It will likely just be in the kitchen instead of the workshop.