Making Tin Can Toys by Edward Thatcher 1919

Chapter 3

Making a Biscuit Cutter from a Small Can

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

Select a good bright, clean can about 20 inch 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 en 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 3/4 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 3/4 inch above the rolled rim of the bottom. This simple scribing operation is described in Chapter I.

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.