Plug Cutters

[Bristol_Rob]

Are all plug cutters made equal?

I'm looking for a solid brand recommendation for plug cutters.
I'm in the market for a couple of different sizes. Circa 6mm - 12mm

I'm a buy once, cry once kinda guy

TIA

 

[Doug71]

I have the Veritas ones which I quite like but a few other opinions here

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/plug-cutter.130481/

 

[Spectric]

Wealdons are good, straight or tapered.

https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Plug_Cutters_26.html

 

[eribaMotters]

Are all plug cutters made equal?

I'm looking for a solid brand recommendation for plug cutters.
I'm in the market for a couple of different sizes. Circa 6mm - 12mm

I'm a buy once, cry once kinda guy

TIA

I've got an expensive heavy carbide one, could be a Wealden, and a cheapo job. I get decent results with both but I have to clamp the timber down when using the heavier one.

Colin

 

[thetyreman]

the veritas are good if you have a pillar drill, I now use one called montana which are made in the USA, got them from rutlands but it looks like they no longer stock them, they are self centering so can be used with a power drill, which is very handy.

 

[Insanity]

If you don't want to break the bank, you can't go wrong with Trend. Been faultless for me combined with pillar drill. About £20 each

 

[Ollie78]

No, I had some cheap ones and they were just horrible, they burned no matter how slow I had the pillar drill. There is a reason the the good ones are expensive, Famag are very good but very expensive.
I was looking at the Japanese star-M ones on workshop heaven, then I remembered I have a cnc machine and cut the plugs I needed on that, so didn't buy any in the end.

Ollie

 

[Argus]

the veritas are good if you have a pillar drill, I now use one called montana which are made in the USA, got them from rutlands but it looks like they no longer stock them, they are self centering so can be used with a power drill, which is very handy.

I have set of those cutters. I had given my old pillar drill away..... never used it, so there was a compromise when using plug cutters.

The 'Montana' brand were comparatively inexpensive, but had a retractable spring-loaded centre-point that allowed it to be used in a hand drill. They seemed to copy a pattern by 'Hitachi' that I noted was only sold singly in America some while ago, but not available in the UK. Compared to the 'Montana' cutters, the 'Hitachi' were comparatively expensive.

Anyway, the 'Montana' came in a set set from Rutlands and was quite affordable for small quantities of plugs - quicker than whittling them by hand.

The single draw-back I found with my set, - like Ollie mentioned above, was that, even at moderate drill speeds, they tend to get hot and scorch the wood a bit.
I noted that the tips of the cutting points that rotate into the wood were straight from the machine - not sharpened at all.

The solution was simple and very effective. A set of Diamond paddle-hones (which I use for all smaller blades with tight corners) can get onto the cutting faces and just a few strokes improved the corners immensely and solved that little problem.

So, if you can locate them..... they work well with a few minutes fettling.

Good Luck
.

 

[thetyreman]

I have set of those cutters. I had given my old pillar drill away..... never used it, so there was a compromise when using plug cutters.

The 'Montana' brand were comparatively inexpensive, but had a retractable spring-loaded centre-point that allowed it to be used in a hand drill. They seemed to copy a pattern by 'Hitachi' that I noted was only sold singly in America some while ago, but not available in the UK. Compared to the 'Montana' cutters, the 'Hitachi' were comparatively expensive.

Anyway, the 'Montana' came in a set set from Rutlands and was quite affordable for small quantities of plugs - quicker than whittling them by hand.

The single draw-back I found with my set, - like Ollie mentioned above, was that, even at moderate drill speeds, they tend to get hot and scorch the wood a bit.
I noted that the tips of the cutting points that rotate into the wood were straight from the machine - not sharpened at all.

The solution was simple and very effective. A set of Diamond paddle-hones (which I use for all smaller blades with tight corners) can get onto the cutting faces and just a few strokes improved the corners immensely and solved that little problem.

So, if you can locate them..... they work well with a few minutes fettling.

Good Luck
.

I noticed the same thing, and sharpened them up when I got them , made a massive difference.

 

[Argus]

I suppose that the time was that all tools came with the expectation that the user would carry out a little fettling, shaping, sharpening..... making the thing suit the user and the work done.
Nowadays, we expect it to 'work out of the box'!

In the Monatana example, a wee stage of manufacturing that was omitted, no doubt saved a little production cost.......

 

[Doug B]

Over the years I’ve tried a lot of brands but they don’t seem to last, I’m currently using a Famag which so far has impressed & is a few years old. It wasn’t cheap but I guess it comes down to how many you cut & use, as a regular user the cost wasn’t an issue.

 

[Stevekane]

Ive got an Irwin one that was not expensive, a tubular design with a single cutting flute and its not very good at all, however a really cheap liddles set where the cutters each have 4 spindly cutter “legs” seem to work just fine and Ive cut several dozen hardwood plugs with them, cannot see why they wouldnt last either?

 

[JobandKnock]

I use the Trend Snappy ones, 3/8in and 1/2in - the tube type because I rarely have the luxury of a drill press. Nice thing is that they match the Snappy drill/countersinks which also produce either a 3/8 or 1/2in hole

 

[recipio]

The Wealden plugs are TCT tipped and they have a set designed to match their counterbore bits. They are odd sizes - in metric anyway - but the point is that you will always have a matching set if you use their bits. The TCT is well worth paying for - I have a set over 20 years old still going strong.
If you want an almost invisible plug then I think tapered plugs are better. They 'wedge' themselves in the middle of the plug so for a 10 mm plug you should use a 9.5 mm bit. All plug cutters should be run at a slow speed , around 300 - 400 rpm.