Riverlea Soap: Making of The “Rose Cutter” Tutorial By Rose D Ericson

This is a tutorial that Rose Ericson has very kindly put together to show you how she made the Rose Cutter which she very kindly gave me to test cutting my soap. You can see it in action here. I have split this into two episodes as it was quite long. Sorry to make you wait until next week for the next episode.

List of Materials

1 piano hinge

24 3/16 eye bolts

.20 wire for cutter (this is easy to find, will expound on this in tutorial)

24 3/16 washers

12 wing nuts

12 hex nuts

4 meters ( 14 ft ) of 19mm x 38mm (1x2) ( must be hardwood )

1/16 drill bit

13/64 drill bit

Counter sink

This soap cutter is the result of an unlikely collaboration between a soap maker in South Africa and a wood worker in the United States. Together we were able to create a cutter that works quite well.

As you can see this cutter is a square within a square. Very easy, let's get started. First we will cut the pieces for the inner square you will need 2 short ones and 2 long ones.

The short ones are 23cm (9 inches) Cut 2 of these.

The long ones are a little tricky. Everyone cuts soap at a different thickness. We will map out the cutting wire pattern and find the length.

Tape 2 pieces of copy paper together length wise. Draw a straight line across the bottom. Now make a mark on the far left side. This will be the end of the board. Now, measure 5 cm (2 inches), make a mark, this is your first cutting wire. If you cut your soap 2 cm continue to measure every 2 cm, until you get 12 marks. If your soap is 2.5 cm continue to mark every 2.5 cm till you get 12 marks.(you get the idea) Then at the end measure out another 5cm (2 inches) it should look like this (below). Measure from the first to the last mark this is the length of your long piece. Cut 3 of these. (Yes 3 of them ) This is also your wire map, (DO NOT THROW THIS PAPER OUT YOU WILL NEED IT) !!!

Now let's dry fit what we have together. It should look like this

Next we will take the wire map we have created and transfer the wire positions to the wood. Draw a 12.6mm (1/2 inch) line length wise down the both long pieces. Transfer the dots (from the wire map ) so that both long pieces are identical. It should look like this.

Mark the dots with an awl or a nail to get ready to drill the holes and pre- drill where we will put the screws. It should look like this, remember to put the pencil lines to the inside. This will ensure the greatest accuracy especially if you are drilling by hand.

Now measure the inside of the cutter and cut 2 more pieces. These are the braces. Take your drill, pre-drill the sides, counter sink and screw them into place.

Add your screws and we are ready for the next step. Now we will make the second box. Cut 2, one half inch thick pieces of hardwood to 46 cm( 18 inches) Now mark a line at 11.5 cm (4 1/2 inches) on both pieces. You will also need to cut 4 pieces at 10cm (4 inches.) These will become the handles. Here is what it should look like. Before you attach the sides make sure to glue the handle up first. It should look like this.

You can be simple and just cut a 90 degree straight cut or you can……Cut a 45 degree angle on it. Both ways are perfectly fine you pick.

Glue the ends up and let them dry a little before you attach them. So take a break. Time for tea!

When the ends are ready go ahead and attach them to the sides of the cutter. Line up the sides with the line you drew at 11.5 cm (4 ½ inches.) This will leave you enough room to tune the strings.

Remember at the beginning of the tutorial when I told you to cut 3 pieces of wood the same length as the wire map. Here is where you will use it. Attach it to the end it will fit perfectly.