# Wire Soap Cutter



## wt168048 (Dec 8, 2015)

Has anyone here made their own wire soap cutter?  I'm thinking about trying to make my own but was going to see if anybody else has and if so if they could post some pictures of their cutters.

thanks


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## BrewerGeorge (Dec 8, 2015)

I'm going to make one very soon.  I'm tired of knives messing up my soap.  I would have made one before, but I've been struggling with the concept of how to get a tight wire.  Had a bit of a Eureka moment last week and have begun to design a DIY cutter in my head.  The Eureka idea is to use a hack saw for the moving arm part of the cutter and replace the blade with a cutting wire.  The hacksaw comes complete with both the tightening mechanism and the strength to keep the tension for less than ten bucks.  All I have to do is build a base and mount the saw frame on a pivot somehow.  The only real drawback is that the hacksaw is going to be 10 inches long, which is truthfully too long, but that's a minor quibble for what will be a sub-$20 cutter, IMO.


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## dixiedragon (Dec 8, 2015)

I think the hack saw could be awesome b/c it could be used for cutting long strips from a log and also for cutting bars.


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## BrewerGeorge (Dec 8, 2015)

Forgot to mention that I did a proof of concept with my old hack saw and a piece of wire I had laying around.   Worked great.  This is going to happen.


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## KristaY (Dec 8, 2015)

BG, the hack saw idea is brilliant! I can visualize it perfectly and see it working well. I also agree with dixiedragon that it should work for a slab mold too. I don't use my slabs often just because of the difficulty making nice cuts. 2 birds, 1 saw!


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## Relle (Dec 8, 2015)

wt168048 said:


> Has anyone here made their own wire soap cutter? I'm thinking about trying to make my own but was going to see if anybody else has and if so if they could post some pictures of their cutters.
> 
> thanks


 
I didn't make this, dh did. It has one wire on it to cut.
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=30888


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## cgsample (Dec 8, 2015)

I've been pondering this idea too.  Wondering what the most available, cheap and tiny wire I could use, I though of steel fishing leader.  The smallest wire is still about a 30lb test, should work for soap?

Still pondering the tension mechanism.  Not going to buy guitar parts.


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## galaxyMLP (Dec 8, 2015)

BrewerGeorge said:


> I'm going to make one very soon.  I'm tired of knives messing up my soap.  I would have made one before, but I've been struggling with the concept of how to get a tight wire.  Had a bit of a Eureka moment last week and have begun to design a DIY cutter in my head.  The Eureka idea is to use a hack saw for the moving arm part of the cutter and replace the blade with a cutting wire.  The hacksaw comes complete with both the tightening mechanism and the strength to keep the tension for less than ten bucks.  All I have to do is build a base and mount the saw frame on a pivot somehow.  The only real drawback is that the hacksaw is going to be 10 inches long, which is truthfully too long, but that's a minor quibble for what will be a sub-$20 cutter, IMO.




A possible fix for the extra long length might be that instead of using a traditional hack saw, you could use a coping saw (first I thought of a jewelers saw but they are too small). They are smaller and meant to hold smaller blades although they can't withstand as much stress as a hack saw can. They are only about $6 from amazon so it may be worth it. Then again, a wire cheese cutter is only $10 and you can get the replacement wires for about $1 each and 40¢ shipping!

Great idea with the hack saw though. Never though of it!


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## Arimara (Dec 8, 2015)

I've used a cheese slicer. Not the best way of cutting soap but I can't get a soap cutting set.


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## Steve85569 (Dec 8, 2015)

BrewerGeorge said:


> Forgot to mention that I did a proof of concept with my old hack saw and a piece of wire I had laying around.   Worked great.  This is going to happen.



We need a Homer Smilie so when I read these I can just post up a DOH!!

Brass craft wire and an old hack saw. Shouldn't be too hard to come up with a jig for depth of cut control.:think::think:


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## CaraBou (Dec 9, 2015)

Here's mine.  I don't know how long it took him to make it but when he was done, he wanted to make another one 

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=41117


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## CaraBou (Dec 9, 2015)

Relle said:


> I didn't make this, dh did. It has one wire on it to cut.
> http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=30888


Dang Relle, that's a gorgeous cutter!


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Dec 9, 2015)

Very much so. Like a guillotine!


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## BrewerGeorge (Dec 9, 2015)

galaxyMLP said:


> A possible fix for the extra long length might be that instead of using a traditional hack saw, you could use a coping saw (first I thought of a jewelers saw but they are too small). They are smaller and meant to hold smaller blades although they can't withstand as much stress as a hack saw can. ...


Thought about that, but I don't think it would keep the wire tight enough.  I'll play around with them when I go to Lowes to purchase the supplies.


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## dixiedragon (Dec 9, 2015)

cgsample said:


> I've been pondering this idea too. Wondering what the most available, cheap and tiny wire I could use, I though of steel fishing leader. The smallest wire is still about a 30lb test, should work for soap?
> 
> Still pondering the tension mechanism. Not going to buy guitar parts.


 
The makers of my wire cutter use guitar string, and their suggestion was to ask a guitar shop to save some broken strings.


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## vmakkers (Dec 9, 2015)

I'm going to chime in with my experience attempting to build a wire soap cutter. I have very minimal wood working skills, like middle school woodshop status, and I gave up on trying to build my own cutter. I looked at 

http://goldfinchsoaps.weebly.com/blog/diy-wire-cutter-soap-mold

I drew out plans, and was going to go with the Bud's cutter style arm with the bolt instead of using hings on a framed base. I ordered some guitar wire and pegs off Amazon and it all seemed like it wasn't going to be too hard to do. 

Somethings I learned along the way were, there was a reason the blog put their soap cutter on a wood board base instead of a frame. Making a frame perfectly even and straight is harder than you think the first time around. I tried twice and it still wasn't sitting flat. Using a wood base board is way easier and saves a lot of time. 

I got as far as making the base with the slot for the soap to sit on which wasn't bad. But after trying to make the second frame, I decided it wasn't worth my time or materials anymore. I spent probably $40 in wood from Home Depot not including the bolt, wire lug, and other things necessary tools to finish the project and I would have probably wasted more money on wood than it would have cost me to just purchase one from Etsy. Creating the arm part was going to be pretty similar to creating the frame base and at that point, I was over making a wonky wood frame. 

I think a log splitter would have been easier to attempt as my first wood working project, but this cutter def. isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Using the hinges instead of bolt will save you a lot of time. I had to cut down the arm piece where it pivots so it would have clearance underneath but using the hinge would eliminate that need.


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## Arimara (Dec 9, 2015)

dixiedragon said:


> The makers of my wire cutter use guitar string, and their suggestion was to ask a guitar shop to save some broken strings.



That makes sense. Steel Stringed guitars are still a thing.


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## Relle (Dec 9, 2015)

CaraBou said:


> Dang Relle, that's a gorgeous cutter!


 
Thank you, I'm happy with it, I think the wood is a bamboo bread board.



The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Very much so. Like a guillotine!


 
Aren't all soap cutters essentially a guillotine.


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