My New (Old) Plug Cutter

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mcitinner1

Lifer
Apr 5, 2014
4,043
24
Missouri
I picked this up at a resell shop in Dutzow Missouri, along side the Katy Trail today. I found it on Craigslist. I'm going to take the blade off and clean it up, but I'm debating what I want to do about the rest of the cast iron. Do a serious clean up restoration, or leave it as is? I know collectors always like original condition. I'm leaning toward a light wire brush clean up to get the dirt off, and using it like it is. I looked for George's pic of the one he reconditioned, but couldn't find it...Again.
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mcitinner1

Lifer
Apr 5, 2014
4,043
24
Missouri
I found it obviously....Then the edit time limit cut in before I could add anymore. I forgot what happened when we cut down the time limit for editing, but it seems too short, ALOT of the time. I think I like the cleaned up look more. What do you all think?

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,063
6,119
Central Ohio
I would do a light wire brush, then apply a thin coat of mineral oil, then wipe off with a soft cloth. It will shine it up some, but let the "patina" come through. It is cast iron, which is somewhat porous, and the oil will soak into the metal..... much like cast iron skillets. Nice find! I like it!..... :puffy:

 

drezz01

Can't Leave
Dec 1, 2014
483
6
That looks fantastic! I am highly jealous; I have an affinity for old things that have acquired an honest patina. I would try to do a sort of arrested decay restoration of it. Clean it up enough that it's functional and in good sterile condition but not stripped down to bare metal.

 

mcitinner1

Lifer
Apr 5, 2014
4,043
24
Missouri
I'm pretty sure the two are close to the same size. The GRISWOLD is 18" long and weighs 7lbs. 5oz. The word TRIUMPH is down the small end under the handle and GRISWOLD is on both sides of the arch. I'm going to go look at another one tomorrow made by the McNeal & Higgins Co.

 

gmjabsky

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 3, 2015
152
0
I think my local antique shop has one, I wasn't sure what it was before this educational post. Hmmmm

 

fnord

Lifer
Dec 28, 2011
2,746
8
Topeka, KS
Stan:
I've got to go with Beef and Drezz on this one. No collector will deny you making the cutting edge sterile. But minimal cleaning should be done from that point on.
The patina is everything. (Otherwise, my years invested in "Antiques Roadshow" and "American Pickers" are for naught.)
It's fabulous and you made a great find.
I'm going to guess this beauty chopped more plugs of chewing tobacco than pipe tobacco down through the years.
Fnord

 

tbradsim1

Lifer
Jan 14, 2012
9,093
11,009
Southwest Louisiana
Stan clean the cutting edge and leave that old sucker alone, it's a beauty in its natural state, anyone can have a sandblasted then shiny painted cutter to what avail.?

 

mcitinner1

Lifer
Apr 5, 2014
4,043
24
Missouri
The story about this tool just got much cooler. Griswold was a very well known manufacturer of cast iron products. They started in 1865 and their cookware is collectable to this day. In 1883, they started making tobacco cutters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griswold_Manufacturing

 

jerwynn

Lifer
Dec 7, 2011
1,033
12
Wow!! Way cool! It made me start wondering if there is some kind "kitchen gadget" that is similar in function, maybe smaller and less expensive. Absolutely love the antiques tho! Congrats!

 

ericthered

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 29, 2014
511
2
Suffolk, VA
Awesome find! As far as cleaning it up is concerned, I would say it would depend on if you were going to use it or not. If it were mine and I was going to use it, I would make sure that all surfaces intended to touch tobacco were clean/sterile, and that there was no chance of 100 year old rust/paint flaking off onto my tobacco.

 

mcitinner1

Lifer
Apr 5, 2014
4,043
24
Missouri
make sure that all surfaces intended to touch tobacco were clean/sterile, and that there was no chance of 100 year old rust/paint flaking off onto my tobacco.
It's definitely going to be used to cut plugs. I think the rest all goes without saying. I'm almost done with the blade, and I've started cleaning it with a brass brush and will scrub it with some food grade oil, but I think sterile is more than it needs.

 

mcitinner1

Lifer
Apr 5, 2014
4,043
24
Missouri
All done with the clean up. Now you can see traces of the factory paint scheme. In the first picture you can even see one little spot of red paint and some gold on the G and R. They started making tobacco cutters in 1883. There are no marks on this one to date it, as far as I can tell.
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georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
A heads-up to all who are interested in owning a functional cutter (as opposed to a man cave decorative antique):
Getting old choppers to actually work the way today's pipe smokers ASSUME they will takes a bit of refurb & enhancement.
The blades they were originally equipped with were thin and flexy, designed to cut off lengths of sold-by-the-inch rope in general stores. That's it. They were not designed to slice plug into neat 1.5mm slices, loaf-of-bread style. That requires a much stiffer blade that's flat on one side like a sushi knife, and sharpened to where you could almost shave with it.
Such a blade must be custom made when intended for a particular model of antique rope cutter, of course.
Then, once you have a good blade, the entire surface leading "up to" it from feed side must be made level. That means cutting free the staked brass piece that receives the blade's edge (it's there because iron would instantly destroy a razor edge), grind it to dead-flush and reinstall; and then fabricate an equally level platform for the plug to rest on while it is indexing forward. Not doing those things will make slicing a plug a tedious, frustrating process with a messy result. (Delaminated leaves, thick & crumbly slices, etc.)

 

mcitinner1

Lifer
Apr 5, 2014
4,043
24
Missouri
George you're absolutely right about the blade. Some of the rust pits in this blade were too deep to sand out and not end up with a VERY thin blade. I need to figure a way to get one made. But COME ON!! You coulda said it's a cool thread! Laughing...

 
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