Cigar cutter restoration or performance improvement

[Snowblithe]

I finally got around to fixing a gouged cutter and attempting to render usable another one that has never worked when new (I have my doubts the latter tool will work even when sharpened but it’s worth a shot).
I’m sure others have come up with similar methods but here is how I go about it.
Disassembly is just a matter of pulling it apart. I do this by hand but if your are careful you could use pliers but the plastic is brittle.
As you can hopefully see there is a not insignificant gouge in this blade as well its counterpart. I do not remember how it got there but all my other cutters are broken and this is my only hope.

To fix it you have to get rid of all the metal around it as evenly as possible. To accomplish this I wrapped 280 grit sandpaper around a straight stick with a diameter of about 12mm or roughly 1/2 inch. Then it’s just a matter of sanding down the metal only contacting the sandpaper with the blade in one direction (avoid concentrating it one spot to maintain an even radius) as indicated in the below photo otherwise you will shave off all the grit on the sandpaper. Ask me how I know...After I was happy with the beveled side of the blade there was the inevitable bur on the flat side which I took care of with a flat 2000 grit whetstone. I’d recommend as high a grit as possible for this step because removing too much material on this side can result in a loose fit upon reassembly.I would use great caution on reassembly and just use a vise if you have one. Barring that a piece of masking tape on either side of the body to cover the holes and prevent any appendages or digits from inadvertent amputation is advisable here. It takes a good amount of pressure to reassemble and one could easily do some damage. Safety first.
That said. It’s best to properly arrange the blades before covering up as it just easier to see what is going on.
Now this cutter performs better that some fancy Xicar ones I have used.

 

[deluxestogie]

Great pictorial. My two, double-blade guillotine cutters fortunately just need to be cleaned of cigar goo from time to time, which I do with a damp paper towel on one blade at a time, without removing the blades. My greatest nuisance is single-blade, 'V' cut clippers. Although I can fairly well sharpen the 'V' edge in situ, they tend to have cavernous internal spaces within the plastic frames. So bits and chunks of dry tobacco become jammed and well packed. I am afraid to attempt to pull them apart, since I believe that they are assembled, then glued.

Bob

 

[Snowblithe]

Thank you.
I don’t know if I have ever used a V-cutter. And yeah it sounds a bit risky to pull that apart.
The steel of my particular cutters is on the softer side so do require some maintenance. I hope one day to acquire a nice scissor style cutter.

 

[deluxestogie]

V-cutters are excellent for opening cigars less that 46 ring, those with a pointy head, short filler cigars, and especially cigars whose heads have been lovingly made perfectly hemispherical by tucking in little bits of tobacco (which otherwise falls out in my mouth) beneath the artistic cap. It was Zino Davidoff's cutter of choice, but he never smoked today's super fat cigars. The problem with v-cutters is that if the commercial cigar's filler is too tight, I end up cutting it again with a straight cutter, and maybe even cutting it at a diagonal, to increase the exposed surface.

Bob

 

[MarcL]

Solid move and well done.

 

[Snowblithe]

Thank you

 

[Snowblithe]

I remembered what caused the gouge... or, more truthfully, I caused the gouge again by doing the thing I forgot not to do: cutting a doll still wrapped in the paper mold. I had to repeat this process.