Basswood Stripper (oz15490)

About this Plan

Basswood Stripper.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "Hey Steve, Here is my design, photo and drawing of a device for cutting 1/16 stringers from basswood. The grain of Basswood is peculiar so a #11 blade wanders all over the place. This is how I solved the problem.

I recommend a Logan 270 blade for this device. Other Logan blades 268 and 269 would also work. I have not tried it, but I am sure a single edge industrial razor blade would also work.

Here are two more photos of my Basswood Strip Cutter [pics 003, 004]. I epoxied the 3/4 inch PVC pipe end onto the angle aluminum to give me a better grip.
Thanks, John Jennings"

Planfile includes build article.

Quote: "I got tired of breaking the 1/16 Balsa square stringers on my models. While plundering through the Balsa at Hobby Lobby, I discovered some 1/16 X 3 X 20 Basswood planks. The weight difference between Balsa and Basswood was not that great and the Basswood was considerably stronger. I bought a piece of Basswood to experiment with. I got out my trusty Master Airscrew Balsa stripper, set it carefully and went to work. Some of the resulting stick was 1/16 wide, some of it was 1/8 wide and a little bit of the stick was really thin. The #11 blade tip wandered a lot!

I tried breaking off about ¼ inch of the #11 blade tip and tried again. Same results. There had to be a better way. I tried using multiple passes with a #11 Exacto and a straight edge. Same result. The fibers of the Basswood seemed to turn the blade tip. It was obvious that I needed a strong blade, a way to keep it from flexing and a way to space the cuts accurately. I had some 1/16 X 3/4 aluminum bar stock left over from another project. I had a piece of approximately 1/8 X 1 X 10” aluminum angle that I got from a glass shop. In other words, I used what I had on hand, cutting the aluminum pieces to length with a hack saw and filing the edges.

Except for the Logan 269 mat cutting blades (100 for $20 from Amazon) and the thickness of the spacers, substitutions can be made for everything else.. These blades are flat with no backing, ¾ X 1 ¾ with a hole in the center. They seem to be a little thicker than single edge razor blades. They hold an edge very well and cut through hundreds of feet of mat board. One can probably buy a single blade at a local picture frame shop just to try this.

I laid out the hole locations on the on 1 of the 3 pieces of ¾ X 2 ½ aluminum spacers with a ruler and a scratch awl. Then tapped the awl lightly with a hammer to center punch the hole locations. If you do not center punch, the drill wanders all over. If you know you will only use this for 1/16 stringers, you will only need 2 of these pieces of aluminum. I thought I might want some 1/16 X 1/8, sticks, so I made 3 aluminum spacers. I glued these 3 pieces into a stack with a glue stick. When I was through, I parted the aluminum strips with a wood chisel.

Using the ruler, I carefully lined up the bottom edge of the spacer stack to just clear 1/16 from the bottom of the aluminum angle, then glued the stack of spacers to the aluminum angle. I clamped this whole stack to the edge of my workbench, using a pair of small C clamps. The holes for the screws have to be the right size but fractional size drill bits will do. I had a drill index, so I used it. Use what you have.

I put a piece of scrap wood under the pile so I would not drill into the workbench. After applying a few drops of oil, I drilled the #29 holes through the whole stack. The #29 bit was so I could tap the hole for the 8-­-32 machine screws I used. A drill press would have been nice, but I didn't have one. Holes can be drilled in each piece without stacking. They do have to line up. The holes still came out reasonably straight. After separating the spacers from the angle piece, I drilled the 3-­- 2 ¼ X ¾ spacers with a #19 bit for clearance before separating them. A 5/32 bit will work, instead of a #19 for clearance of the #8 screws. A 3/16 bit will be a little loose, but acceptable. Numbered bits and taps are available from Lowes..."

Supplementary file notes

Planfile includes build article.

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