Plug cutters

[Doug Jones]

Which brand do you use? I bought a Wolfcraft 3/8 taper plug cutter and not sure I like it. Could be the wood I'm using, hackberry.

Is the brand Micro any good?

Thanks, Doug

[Gord Graff]

Hi Doug,

I've been using the Lee Valley tapered plug cutter for a number of years now and I really like them. It seems to me that if you're running into trouble you might want to try and slow the speed of your drill press down. It's worked for me when the plug cutter gets dull. Hope this helps.

All the best
Gord
http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/drilling/05j0501s2.jpg

[Doug Jones]

Thanks Gord,
I slowed down the speed and the plugs started to come out as should be. I am still curious to other brands that work well. I thought I even saw a type that had a self eject.

[Ted Shrader]

Doug -

I have had decent luck with the Wolcraft cuters I have. Maybe the wood is chewing them up?

Speed, as you noticed, makes a difference.

Regards,
Ted

[Lee Schierer]

I inheirited a set of plug cutters from my Dad. I wasn't happy with the results the first few times I used them even though they were relatively new and my Dad took good care of them. I spent about 30 minutes sharpening the four of them with a small diamond hand file and what a difference it makes. While I'm sure that some brands come properly sharpend, the lesser known brands could generally use some help in the sharpening area. I sharpened mine a few years ago and they hold their edge just fine, but were never really sharp in the first place.

Craftsman shaper cutters were, and may still be, notorious for not being very sharp. I have several sets that my Dad had to sharpen out of the box. While better quality tools are readily available today, that was not always the case, so many of us purchased what we could get and what we could afford. The down side was we had to spend some time tuning them up for the best perfomance. A honed "cheap" router bit does an excellent job, but requires a little more up front time investment. Buy the best you can afford, but when you have to buy a lesser brand be prepared to spend some extra time in getting it right or dealing with the frustrations of a less than perfect cutter.

Lee