Riverlea Soap: Making of The “Rose Cutter” Tutorial By Rose D Ericson part 2

Monday, 27 October 2014

Making of The “Rose Cutter” Tutorial By Rose D Ericson part 2

This is part 2 of making the Rose Cutter by Rose D Ericson.
You can see part 1 here
Measure across the end (front of the photograph). This is 6cm (½ inch) material. This is the hinge plate. The end of the cutter takes all the pressure of cutting so you have to re-enforce it.

We are ready to add the hardware. My goal in making this cutter was to use anything I could find from the hardware store.

Let's add the wire (there will be another post on how to work with the wire as it is quite an art)
Now we will build the base, measure across both ways. You want the size of the cutter without the handles. This one is 14x16, yours may be different if your bar size differs to mine. Cut a 19mm (¾ inch) piece of plywood this size for the base

Now attach the hinge to the back. It should look like this (below)

Next you need a piece of 12mm (½ inch) stock that is 10.2cm ( 4 inches) wide. Remember we drilled the holes for the eye bolts at ½ inch, here is where this is important, this piece should be 25mm (1 inch) shorter than the inside of the cutter. Here is where you will build your soap pad, where the soap rests. Now remember how thick you are cutting your soap subtract 6mm (¼ of an inch.) You will need to cut, or purchase strips of wood this size. Example if my soap is 1 inch then I need ¾ inch strips, if my soap is 2cm then I would need strips 1.4cm ( I think) cut your strips to 11.5cm ( 4 ½ inches.) You will need 13 of them. Using a spacer ¼ inch thickness create the pad. It should look like this.

Now attach the strips to the pad. Try to make them flush and even on one side. For times sake I used a pinner (nail gun) but the first one I did for Riverlea I screwed down I did one like that so you could see. Use a 6cm (¼ inch) spacer to make them accurate .
Now take 12 cm (½ inch) stock that is 6.5cm (2 ½ inches) wide and make this the same length as your soap pad. Draw a ½ inch line across the bottom. Line up the wood to the back of the pad where you made it flush. Now Mark with a pencil, where the strings will go. It should look like this. (Below)

Straighten up your lines and drill a 6mm (¼ inch) hole at the ½ inch Mark where the lines meet.

I used a scroll saw (jig saw) to remove the wood I just followed the line till I got to the hole I had drilled. You could use a coping saw, a band saw, a dovetail saw, as long as you were careful it will work. Take your time, be accurate.

Now attach to the soap pad. Close the cutter and centre the pad so it is square. Open the cutter and use a tape measure/ set square to ensure you are square. Clamp the upright to the base. Now run a long screw into each corner.

There you have it a completed cutter. If this soap pad/ base looks too hard there are a couple of alternatives that you could try... see below
Make the pad and the back at the same time. This is what I did for my first one for Riverlea.

Or if you want to go even easier instead of a back just use L brackets, (also known as corner brackets or shelf brackets - below)

Here is what it looks like with brackets. The silly part is it works great. I made some soap and did a test, this method works just as good as the wood one I made. Its sole purpose is to keep the soap from sliding while you cut and it works really well and is easy.