StumpHunter
Active member
I know most have seen the guy on you-tube make a cutter but with all the blades out in the open no way was I going to make one to use.. So got to thinking about one that was safe to use. Pulled out some 22 gage sheet medal to make a box the blades could slide into. The box is 2'' long x 1 1/2 wide x 1 1/2 deep, there is a top piece of sheet medal and all were duck-taped together at this time but I will go back and weld it but seems to work great with the tape. I used 2'' long all-threads in size 8 because the the size 8 nuts are 1/8 wide so it set the blades just right for cutting 1/8 zonkers. I slotted the sides of the box so I could turn the blades over and will be able to use all four corners of the blades without having to take the blades apart.
Built a board 11''x18''so I could hold the skins while cutting the zonkers with an 3/4'' clearance between the cutting board and skin. Made the bottom holder adjustable to fit the different skins.
Everything works great but there is a big difference in skins! The dark skin is a craft skin ($6) and the white is from Tandy Leather ($14). The dark skin hair would come off the zonkers once cut but still were able to have about 50% of what I cut usable. The white skin also had places in the hide where the hair would come off once cut but nowhere near as much as the dark skin.
Plan to try some other skins later but this is a safe way to cut zonkers!!
Built a board 11''x18''so I could hold the skins while cutting the zonkers with an 3/4'' clearance between the cutting board and skin. Made the bottom holder adjustable to fit the different skins.
Everything works great but there is a big difference in skins! The dark skin is a craft skin ($6) and the white is from Tandy Leather ($14). The dark skin hair would come off the zonkers once cut but still were able to have about 50% of what I cut usable. The white skin also had places in the hide where the hair would come off once cut but nowhere near as much as the dark skin.
Plan to try some other skins later but this is a safe way to cut zonkers!!
There is a huge difference between skins but personally think it is that EVERY skin is different. Have gotten pre-cut zonks from flyfishing places that was horrible.