CHAPTER III

MAKING A BISCUIT CUTTER FROM A SMALL CAN

CUTTING THE CAN TO SIZE FOR BISCUIT CUTTER—PUNCHING A HOLE IN TIN—FORMING THE HANDLE—FOLDING—MAKING A SUGAR SCOOP BY THE SAME METHOD

A biscuit cutter is about the simplest thing that may be made from a tin can. It is an excellent thing to begin with as it is so simple and involves three very essential operations in the tin can work: cutting the can to size, forming the handle, and lastly, soldering (see Plate VII, _a_).

Select a good bright, clean can about 2½ inches in diameter; a baking powder can or a small soup can will do.

Tin cans are usually made up in two ways. One method is to solder on flanged ends, such as condensed or evaporated milk cans, and the other method is to roll the edges of the can together at each end, using no solder. When looked at closely, the two different types of can are easily told apart. A rolled rim can should be used for the biscuit cutter as it is stronger than the can with the soldered ends.

=Cutting the Can to Size for Biscuit Cutter.=—The biscuit cutter should be about ¾ inch deep at the cutting edge. Set the dividers to this dimension and proceed to scribe a line around the can parallel to the base and ¾ inch above the rolled rim of the bottom. This simple scribing operation is described in Chapter I, page 22.

The method of cutting into the can and around the scribed line is very simple and is also described in Chapter I.

When you have cut the can down to the required dimension, it should appear as shown in Fig. 6. The biscuit cutter may be slightly out of shape after the cutting operation, but this may be easily remedied by placing the biscuit cutter on a small round anvil held in the vise and by tapping it gently with a flat wooden mallet, turning the cutter slowly around on the anvil during the hammering as shown in Fig. 7. Be sure to turn the biscuit cutter slowly around and around the anvil as it is hammered with the mallet. It will soon become round if hammered gently.

Next take a small flat file, one with very fine teeth, usually called a smooth milled file, and with this smooth down any roughness left by the metal shears at the edge of the biscuit cutter. The method of using the file is shown in Fig. 8. It should be held lightly against the work when filing. (Never try to file a piece of tin with a large or roughly toothed file as the coarse teeth will catch on the tin and tear or bend it out of shape.)

Do not try to file the edge of the cutter to a knife fine edge; simply file away the metal raised by the shears when cutting. If it is cleanly cut and filed to the original thickness of the tin, it will cut biscuit dough very well, as the tin is thin.

=Punching a Hole in Tin.=—A hole should be punched in the top of the biscuit cutter to admit air, as the biscuit dough is apt to stick in the cutter by the vacuum formed unless an air vent is provided. A small hole about ⅛ inch in diameter will do, but a series of such holes may be punched in if desired.

A punch may be filed up from a wire nail or a regular punch or nail set may be used.

The biscuit cutter is placed over the end of a block of wood held in a vise as shown in Fig. 9, in such a manner that the top of the cutter rests directly on the wood. The punch is placed in the center of the cutter, care being taken to see that the wooden block supports the tin directly under the punch, and then the punch is struck lightly with the hammer until it cuts through the tin.

It may be well to try the punch on a scrap of tin to test it. A clean round hole should result. The punch cuts out a tiny disk of tin and drives it into the wood. The end grain of a wooden block should always be used for punching on.

If a nail is used for a punch, the original point should be filed away. Nail points are usually made in the form of a square pyramid and if these points are driven into a piece of tin a jagged hole will result; such a hole may be used for making a grater for the kitchen, but all other holes should be round and smooth.

To file up a nail for a punch proceed as follows: Place the nail vertically in the vise jaws so that the point projects slightly above the jaws. File the point entirely away until you are filing the entire diameter of the nail and squarely across it.

Then reduce the diameter of the nail at the end you have been filing by filing smoothly around it as shown at _A_, Fig. 10. See that the edge _B_ is clean and sharp and the nail punch is ready for use. The nail used for a punch should always be somewhat larger in diameter than the punching point, as this will provide for a stronger punch and one not so likely to bend. Regular punches are usually made much thicker in the body than at the point, as may be easily seen by looking at one. If desired, punches may easily be made from nails to cut round, square, or triangular holes.

It is much better to purchase a regular punch or punches for punching round holes, as these may be purchased for 10 or 15 cents at almost any hardware or 5-and-10 cent store. Several different sizes will prove useful, ⅟₁₆, ⅛, ³⁄₁₆ inches in diameter being the most used sizes. As these punches are made of hardened steel they hold their edges for a long time, but nails are made of a fairly soft steel and when used as punches have to be frequently filed sharp.

=Forming the Handle.=—After the hole is punched in the top of the biscuit cutter, a suitable handle is the next thing to be made. This handle may be made from the piece of tin cut away when cutting down the can for the biscuit cutter. Cut away any rough or jagged edges and then place this piece of tin on the bench or a flat anvil surface and flatten it out with light mallet strokes. Heavy strokes with a mallet will dent the tin.

Trim away all rough edges including the rolled edge at the top and square up the piece of tin as described on page 34, Chapter II. Mark off a strip of tin 1¼ inches in width and 4 inches long. Cut this strip out and be sure that it is square at the ends. Open the dividers and set the divider points ¼ inch apart and scribe a line ¼ inch inside each of the long sides of the strip. The edges of the strip of tin thus marked off must be turned or folded in so that the edges of the handle will be strengthened and will not cut the hand. These edges may be folded over with a mallet or by the use of a folding machine. The mallet should be used for this first folding operation; the folding machine and its use will be described further along in the book, page 120, Chapter XI.

To fold the edges over with the mallet, proceed as follows: Secure a block of hard wood, maple preferred, the block to be about 3 inches square and 6 inches in length. See to it that the block is cut cleanly and squarely across so that the edges at the end are sharp and at right angles. A maple block of this sort may usually be picked up at any lumber yard or carpenter shop, or a maple log may be secured from the wood pile and trimmed up square. One end of the block may be used to punch on.

The block is held in the vise as illustrated in Fig. 11 and the tin to be folded is held on the block in such a manner that the line marking the fold is over the edge of the block. Use either a light wooden mallet or the special forming mallet, and with light blows proceed to bend down at the edge and up to the line as illustrated in Fig. 11, _a_. Begin at one end and work along the line to the other end of the strip of tin. Do not try to turn the tin down at a right angle at once or in one place and then proceed to turn it down at another, but rather hammer lightly along the whole length at the marking line, turning the tin down at a slight angle from the line to the edge and then going back and starting to hammer where you began, turning the tin down at a greater angle and so on until you have turned the edge at right angles as shown in Fig. 11, _b_. Always bend tin over very gently and evenly, never forcing it violently into place.

Reverse the strip of tin on the block so that the part just folded stands vertically at the edge of the block as shown in Fig. 12. Hammer the edge of the tin gently over so that it folds back on itself as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 12.

Do not hammer the tin down hard at the folded edge so that it becomes thin and sharp though doubled. It should be rounded over so as to give a rounded edge. A rounded fold is much stronger than a sharp thin one. When one edge is completely folded over, fold down the other in the same manner, so that both edges of the handle for the biscuit cutter appear as in Fig. 13.

When you have successfully turned or folded over the edges to your satisfaction, then proceed to give the whole handle a semi-circular form.

Place a large round wooden mallet or a piece of 1½ or 2-inch pipe in the vise to use as a form over which to round the handle. The folded part should be inside or next the mallet or pipe form shown in Fig. 14. Press the tin down to the form with the palm of the hand so as to round it into shape; it may be completely formed into shape by this method or the rounded end of the special forming mallet may be used to hammer it into shape if the tin should kink during the bending. The mallet blows should be directed toward the center of the strip so as not to thin the edges too much.

Round the handle over until the ends rest inside the rolled rim of the can or biscuit cutter and you are ready to solder the handle in place.

As the soldering is the most important part of the tin work the next two chapters are devoted to it.

=The Sugar Scoop.=—A useful sugar or flour scoop may be easily made from a small or large can in exactly the same manner as the biscuit cutter, except that the can is cut off slanting instead of square, Fig. 15. The edges of the scoop should not be turned or folded but should be left as cut so as to form a sharp cutting edge that will easily enter sugar or flour. The handle is shaped in exactly the same manner as that of the biscuit cutter.