Making a Shingle Cutter

11-28-99

Hi and Welcome. This shingle cutter is based upon the one published in the October, 1999 issue of Garden Railways. That one was created by Joe Buckler and my version is pretty much the same as his. What I am presenting here is the process to build it and the modifications I have made. Pickup the October issue for Joe's nicely illustrated article. My thanks to Joe for a great idea!

The purpose of the cutter is to cut 1/16" thick shingles from Cedar or Redwood. These shakes can be used for siding your buildings or for cedar shingles. You basically take a piece of wood, 1x4, 1x6 or 1x8, and cross cut pieces about 1" wide. You then turn the piece on its edge so that you are cutting the shingle off of the end and cutting with the grain. This would make shingles 3/4" wide since that's how thick 1x stock is. In order to make shingles of different widths, you would need to plane your stock down to 1/2" or 1/4" before you cross cut it into 1" strips. If you have a band saw you could do it like Joe and cross cut the 1" strips first, turn them on their edge and then cut them to the desired width.

Since all that thinking kind of hurts my head I just take a finished shingle and cut it down with a razor blade knife or snap it with my fingers to get different widths.

Hardware needed:

	6 - #3 x 1/2" Wood Screws
	4 - #4 x 1 1/4" Wood Screws
	8 - #4 x 3/4" Wood Screws
	1 - 3/16" x 1 1/2" Round Head bolt w/wing nut.
	1 - 3/16" x 1 3/4" Round Head Bolt w/2 nuts and 2 washers.
	4 - 3/16" Washers
	2 - 2" Corner Brackets
	2 - 1 1/2" Corner Brackets
	1 - 1 1/2" x 16" Slotted Angle Steel (Galvanized if possible)
	1 - Mouse Trap
	1 - Retractable Razor Blade Knife w/hole in bottom of handle.
	1 - 1 1/2" x 24" Slotted Angle Galvanized Steel.

Not all parts are shown as my plans changed as the project developed.

Wood needed:

	1 - 3/4" x 12" x 16" plywood
	1 - 3/4" x 1" x 10" piece of wood (Wooden Guide)
	1 - 1/4" x 1" x 10" piece of wood (Wooden Prop)
	1 - 3/4" x 1 3/4" x 1" piece of wood (Stop Block)

Wood sizes are approximate and other sizes may work.

I started out building an exact copy of Joe's version with basically the same parts. After I built it I noticed that it can get a little tiring on the hands because it does take a little force to get the cut started. After a little brain work I came upon an idea to make this easier.

Although it is hard to see here, the first thing I did was to draw a square line on the plywood to align the Wooden Guide and for knife placement. Later when I decided to modify it for easier cutting I had to redraw the Knife location line 3" from the bottom of the board. (see next picture) This is because I moved the knife location.

Next I attached the Wooden Guide

When attaching the wooden parts I used a 5/64" drill bit to pre-drill screw holes. I then took a drill bit the size of the head of the screw and drilled a slight impress to counter sink the screws. This is a must to keep the wood from splitting.

I attached the Wooden Guide along the side line making it stop at the knife line using 2 - #4 x 1 1/4" screws. Next to that I attached the Wooden Prop using 2 - #3 x 1/2" screws. To finish the guide layout I attached a Wooden Stop with a 3/16" space between the end of the Guide and the Stop. The Stop overlapped the knife line by 1/8" so that the shake material would have something to butt up against.

In Joe's version you cut the shingles with the knife facing away from you. In my version the knife faces towards you. You will understand why I moved it when we are done.

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