Custom Wooden and Stainless Slitter

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I have had some time lately and so I have been diligently working in my shop. That is indeed rare, but I have been making progress. I started a slitter awhile back, but put it down when things went south and just recently took up the challenge. I am proud to say I got everything fabricated yesterday.

Its made of Maple, with all the wear surfaces stainless steel. Since I used 1/4 inch plate, the slitter has a very solid feel to it. No pressing down on this guy, and naturally all that stainless, from screw heads to wear bars are all polished to a mirror!

But I think my greatest achievement was the slitter itself. I was not content with a knife. I took a utility knife type jack knife and abused it to no end, scavenging the knife holder and recessing it in the body of the slitter. By using a spring and some threaded rod and threaded inserts, a turn of a knob on the front of the slitter adjusts the utility knife blade from no cut-to a full 1 inch cut...or anything in between. The other great part is, the utility blades can be changed via no-tools. Just click a button and the utility blade can be swapped out.

The only part I got fancy with was on the beam that allows the fence to be adjusted. Its a full 12 inches, but for a wear bar I cut the polished stainless steel in the shape of a tapering arrow. I let the 1/4 inch plate into the beam, but chiseling it out was a pain in the butt! I messed up in one spot and had to fill in with some epoxy, but so far that has been my only semi-noticeable mistake.

Overall its construction came out good. I just need to sand the wooden parts now, apply a stain, and then get some poly on it. I would like to make a case for this too because its more of a presentation tool then an actual tool. I mean i days worth of work would mar all that stainles steel up! But it is designed to work, and with so many moving parts, I am pleased that it even works, let alone works so well.
 
Don't feel dumb, Bob. I don't know what a slitter is, either. :p

Travis, you'd better watch out, or the Picture Police will declare this alleged slitter is a figment of your imagination. :rolleyes: You've been around here long enough to know all about the "no pics, didn't happen" bit. :D :rofl:

Glad to see you got some shop time, though. :thumb:
 
woop! woop! woop! (police sound)...Sounds interesting Travis...but...

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I wish I could post a picture. I must have got a virus on my computer, I can watch Youtube shows but not hear the sound, and when I go to download my pictures from my camera, it copies them, then puts up a error message. If I go to windows-Explorer, it doesn't recognize my camera is usb-ed in???

Anyway I can describe a slitter. Brent is close. Its looks like a morphed marking gauge. It has the beam and fence, but on the other end is attached a saw handle. On the saw handle is a cutter. Typically it was a round cutting edge and super sharp.

You adjust the fence on the beam to cut a parallel cut in leather, felt or veneer. That is because the fence is a bit deeper then the saw handle. So the fence rides on the edge of the bench, and the saw handle with the cutting edge rides on the top of what is being cut. But there in lies the problem. The old versions always had a sharp edge exposed, where as mine is retractable inside the saw handle. It also has a disposable utility knife blade, rather then a person trying to find or sharpen the old custom made blades.

I got the idea for the slitter in a book on unique tools. Its pretty much an outdated tool for sure, but for the right person...perhaps a dedicated veer person, it would work well. Nice straight parallel cuts in a tool that will never wear out.
 
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