Dowel Cutter
This is how the little plugs which go inside the popabobbin shuttles are made. What you see is a Stanley No 77 and we purchased it on e.bay from someone in the USA very soon after the shuttles became popular. These dowel cutters stopped being made in 1969 so it is a vintage piece of equipment. As you can imagine it was quite expensive to buy especially after paying import duty. We have also managed to get extra cutters for it so that other sizes of rods can be produced.
When the shuttles were first made we bought long lengths of doweling rod or tried to make the little plugs by hand for the different woods. But this 'old lady' is doing us proud and makes them just the right size. The handle is unattached at the moment as it is not in use and sits behind the lathe.
So imagine my surprise when I saw this on Tim's post, perhaps we should make green shuttles to match! Very clever Tim and it means you will never loose them as they are so bright.
I've been lucky so far and haven't lost my plugs. Tim's green ones are very clever indeed.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting tool!
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I love reading about vintage tools, even if they're ones I would never use myself!
ReplyDeleteIt's like magic to me, someone who avoids "technology", to see what 3-d printers are being used for. Even my 13 year old grandson had to complete a printed project last year as part of his Design Class. I think it's so appropriate, to be using it to make tools for an old craft like tatting. I still use a fountain pen for writing shopping lists.
ReplyDeleteWe cut dowel rods for other things and that cutter seems fantastic. What we do with wood is tape it up tightly and then cut with regular cutter it prevents ends from splitting from a blade. I'm sure this is slower and of course Tim's is super fast too.
ReplyDeleteFrom vintage tools to 3D printing, and both do the job.
ReplyDeleteI love old tools too! I am a former sheet metal mechanic and we had several of the old hand tools in our shop. I enjoyed using them. That Stanley will probably last many more years. These days, I just don't think things are made with the same quality they used to be.
ReplyDeleteWell yes Tim I think this old Stanley was certainly made to last, it is the cutters that will probably become rare to find, but so far we have managed to buy them.
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