Trick to cutting softwood plugs?

[Victor Robinson]

I'm refurbing my deck and need to cut 3/8" tapered redwood plugs. I'm using a Veritas plug cutter at a slow speed (around 450 rpm). The plugs keep breaking off and getting stuck in the cutter when I raise the quill. Frustrating and a pain to remove...just about impossible without destroying the plug.

Help! I must be doing something wrong here...got hundreds of these to make...

[Al Launier]

Assuming you have a sharp cutter, have you tried increasing the speed & tried a change in your feed rate?
Why not drill these plugs in a redwood board that is sawcut to the thickness that matches the length of the plug? Place the redwood boad on top of another board to minimize "breakout". If you do this you won't be bothered using a screwdriver, etc. to break off the plug.
Or, drill all your plugs in whatever thickness your board is & then use the bandsaw to cut off the plugs, many in one cut.

[Martin Wasner]

Are you doing face grain or end grain to make the plugs?

[Tom Ewell]

I bore a series of plugs overlapping the waste cuts (while still cutting full diameter plugs) I don't bottom out the cutter nor cut through the stock.
Once a bunch are cut I throw some tape overtop the group and run through a bandsaw leaving most of the plugs stuck to the tape.
Occasionally spray the cutter with some lube. (I use Bostik Dri-Coat)
Most of the plugs stay put while cutting but some still get stuck in the cutter.

[Rick Fisher]

I bore a series of plugs overlapping the waste cuts (while still cutting full diameter plugs) I don't bottom out the cutter nor cut through the stock.
Once a bunch are cut I throw some tape overtop the group and run through a bandsaw leaving most of the plugs stuck to the tape.
Occasionally spray the cutter with some lube. (I use Bostik Dri-Coat)
Most of the plugs stay put while cutting but some still get stuck in the cutter.


My Technique is almost identical to Tom's except I never thought of the tape and usually I end up picking them up off the floor .. Tape is a good tip.. :)

[Victor Robinson]

Thanks everyone.

I think I've boiled it down to two issues - the redwood I'm using is old [salvaged] and extremely dry and brittle - that's problem #1. I'm not having the same issues on other softwoods I have laying around the shop. Secondly, I may have more runout in my quill than I previously thought. I last measured it some time ago and it was a perfectly acceptable 0.0015. I'm seeing some visible wobble of the chuck though which is probably causing enough movement to break the plugs combined with the brittleness of the wood. Ugh, don't want to troubleshoot that runout right now but I'll have to figure it out.

I tried some dry lube on the cutter which definitely helped, but I'm still getting stuck on every third or fourth plug.

As for "harvesting" the plugs, yes, I like to use the bandsaw - hadn't thought of the tape trick before but sure makes a lot of sense. Thanks Tom!

Martin - these are face grain plugs.

[Richard McComas]

This may not help because I have not use it for softwoods. I have the same plug cutter. When I first use it I had the same problems you're having but in hardwoods. I upped the speed to as fast as my DP goes and it works great.

[Martin Wasner]

As others have already said, higher speed is better. I use compressed air to blow the chips out of the cut, (also works awesome on hole saws).

Are these tapered plugs? Run out will be less of a factor

[Victor Robinson]

Thanks guys - the higher speed took care of it! I'm running it at 1100. Appreciate the wealth of experience here on SMC as always.

I don't understand why LV would recommend a max speed of 600 but whatever...:rolleyes: