Star Cutter and Board

[adamziegler]

I have been looking for one of these for a while now and finally got one. I spent most of the day doing some light restoration on this beautiful antique with the intention of finally having a good tuck cutter and rolling board.
I sat down to use it and realized that this is meant for a smaller ring gauge then I plan to roll. It works great, functions fine and the restorations I did really to clean off the age in corrosion that was preventing it from working properly. Unfortunately I'm probably not going to keep it and have to pass it along.

 

[Knucklehead]

I have been looking for one of these for a while now and finally got one. I spent most of the day doing some light restoration on this beautiful antique with the intention of finally having a good tuck cutter and rolling board.
I sat down to use it and realized that this is meant for a smaller ring gauge then I plan to roll. It works great, functions fine and the restorations I did really to clean off the age in corrosion that was preventing it from working properly. Unfortunately I'm probably not going to keep it and have to pass it along.
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For some reason I thought each of the arcs used a different ring gauge on the star blade. Turn the blade for a larger gauge, is that not the case?

 

[adamziegler]

For some reason I thought each of the arcs used a different ring gauge on the star blade. Turn the blade for a larger gauge, is that not the case?

All basically the same arc radius. It's the central hub the star is on that seems to limit size.



I took the star off in that picture. You can see the range of motion is limited by the upper left corner interference. The hub that the star sits on protudes past the cut line and comes down into the foot of the cigar.

Maybe I am missing something?

 

[deluxestogie]

The lower blade on my tuck cutter is removeable. It can be flipped over. There are two sharpened coves, each of a different radius. The sharpened bevel of one cove is on the opposite side of the steel from that of the other cove.

Bob

 

[adamziegler]

The hub that the star sits on protudes past the cut line and comes down into the foot of the cigar

@deluxestogie , tracking that the lower blade has two sizes. That still does not address the hub the star sits on coming down into the foot of the cigar.

 

[adamziegler]

 

[deluxestogie]

The only thing I can think of is to try removing the star blade, then place flat washers on each of the pins, between the handle casting and the blade. Also, from the image, my impression is that the star blade's cutting edge bevels are facing the lower blade, instead of the star blade's flat side facing the flat side of the lower blade. Flipping the star blade to present its flat surface to the flat surface of the lower blade may or may not make a difference in how the star blade sets against the handle, but may provide a cleaner cut.

Bob

EDIT: Another option would be to cut a new star blade of thicker steel.

 

[johnny108]

Could something like this be modified to work (I wonder)?
The star blade looks thin enough that sheet metal could be used, cut with tin snips, but it wouldn’t hold an edge very well.

 

[adamziegler]

flat surface to the flat surface

The last owner actually had this wrong when they sent it and had bevel to flat. I did fix this before I re-assembled.

flat washers

I intend to try this. One limiting factor is that the central hub/pin the star is is on also acts a stop that keeps the cutter from opening all the way. Ideally the pin would be flush with the cutting plane of the cigar foot, but this won't work. I need to see if a small amount of protruding pin is enough to keep this working.

Could something like this be modified to work

I was thinking about an alternative blade design and some additional stop block with about 1/4" thickness that would limit the range of motion of the cutter. Maybe even a blade with a different pin location.

I honestly was a bit surprised that after all the years of seeing these star cutters online that this has not come up. I wonder if different sizes of cutters were made?

@MarcL had a post with a bunch of pictures at one point of historic rolling equipment , but most of those pictures are broken.

 

[McNatsarim]

Mine, which also needs restoration just arrived in the mail today and I'm still at work. It's been a couple of months, how is all this going?

 

[adamziegler]

Mine, which also needs restoration just arrived in the mail today and I'm still at work. It's been a couple of months, how is all this going?

woah.... it has been a couple of months. I honestly don't know where the time went. The restoration went well and took a couple hours one afternoon. There is something missing from my setup that causes the hub to smash the foot on anything over a ~42rg. One member was going to send me a photo or two of their cutter... another member offered to buy it from me and I was in the process of packing it up when I woke up here.

I really cant believe this was back in august.

 

[deluxestogie]

Today, on my tuck cutter, I measured the clearance to the upper blade's center hub. It is ¾", which is 45 ring. My tuck cutter was a beautifully restored gift, so I don't know its age. I wonder if the date at which an antique tuck cutter was made might reflect the typical ring gauge of its day. Fat cigars are a relatively new thing. Another possibility is that too wide a variance in the size of cigars for a particular tuck cutter might introduce enough of a cutting problem that the tuck cutters were manufactured in different sizes.

One possible approach would be to design a new upper star (or disk) blade that has a larger diameter—if that would fit at all.

Bob

 

[McNatsarim]

I could have sworn I responded to this earlier but I'll say it again.
I just got my star cutter and board in the mail a couple days ago. This new to me information about maxing out at a 45rg is pretty defeating as I want to build 60rg once I begin to understand this craft! So now, where I didn't wake up thinking I would be selling my new to me wonderful piece of history, here I am. So I shall clean it up, take better pictures and properly list it and then buy a brand new cutter from Leaf.
Can someone confirm the new, out of the box tuck cutters from LO can cut a 60rg?

Sorry if you're reading this again. I was so positive I already posted about this.

 

[adamziegler]

leafonly can cut a 60rg?

Just a general note... LO is the competitor to WLT that this forum is attached to.

In general, there are not many cutters out there sized for 60rg, but I have seen a technique used to get the job done.

 

[deluxestogie]

Enjoy displaying your piece of tobacco history. Then purchase a 64 RG stainless, guillotine cigar cutter for a few dollars.

https://www.jrcigars.com/item/vertigo-cigar-cutters/big-boy-64-ring/3VCUBB.html

They come even bigger.

Bob

 

[McNatsarim]

Just a general note... LO is the competitor to WLT that this forum is attached to.

In general, there are not many cutters out there sized for 60rg, but I have seen a technique used to get the job done.

My apologies if needed

 

[McNatsarim]

Enjoy displaying your piece of tobacco history. Then purchase a 64 RG stainless, guillotine cigar cutter for a few dollars.

https://www.jrcigars.com/item/vertigo-cigar-cutters/big-boy-64-ring/3VCUBB.html

They come even bigger.

Bob

Thank you sir! I didn't know a large one was an option

 

[McNatsarim]

Here's a Pic of my cutter I'm refurbishing. Sandblasted it, used gun bluing and then olive oil. Why? It's what I had and I really like it! When it's finished I'll post again

 

[McNatsarim]

Here she is!

 

[deluxestogie]

"Jan. 1 '84"

You know. The only century there is. This is similar to the "Year 2000" computer problem, which resulted from the decades long programming habit of providing only two digits in the code for representing the year.

Bob