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Accessories

getting great results with a

Plug Cutter

For projects assembled with glue and screws, I like to hide the scre-wheads with wood plugs. However, most store-bought plugs are cut from dowels. The visible end grain soaks up stain like a sponge, making plugs very noticeable. Face-grain plugs are less noticeable, but hard to match the grain and color of the wood.

The best solution I've found is to make my own face-grain plugs, using cutters like you see pictured here. Making your own plugs allows you to use the same wood as your project, which helps the plugs "disappear."

Plug cutters come in a range of sizes. The most common sizes range from to 1" in diameter but can go up as large as 3".

STRAIGHT CUTTERS

Straight cutters are the most common and give you a plug with a consistent diameter (drawing on opposite page). They come in two designs — cylindrical and fluted.

Cylindrical. The cylindrical cutter (far left photo below) works well for cutting plugs. Its knifelike cutting edge slices through wood smoothly, with little chipout, heat buildup, and vibration.

Not only does this cutter come in various diameters, but cuts a range of lengths too (up to 2").

Fluted. The other design for a straight cutter uses four cutting legs called "flutes" (similar to the center cutter pictured below). Each of these flutes has a cutting edge that aggressively cuts through the

FLUTED CENTERING PIN

Cylinder-style straight cutter gives clean sides with little vibration

Spur cuts smoother and cooler than fluted cutters

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workpiece. They do a great job when sharp. But when the flutes start to dull, they can mangle the wood, which can lead to plugs that aren't perfectly round. The plugs then fit poorly in the hole, there are gaps around the edges, and even the sides get a little burnt.

That's why I prefer to use cylindrical-styled cutters when I use straight plugs for my projects. It simply produces a better-fitting straight plug. However, no matter which design of cutter you use, any runout on your drill press will affect the diameter of the plug, resulting in chipout and visible gaps around the edges.

TAPERED CUTTERS

So, to solve those problems, I use tapered plugs most of the time for a couple of reasons.

The first is that a tapered plug can be tapped into a hole for a snug fit, with no visible gaps around the edges. The second reason is that a tapered cutter leaves very little chipout along the sides of the plug. This reduces the chance of seeing a gap around the edges too.

Tapered cutters only come in the fluted design. Although it looks similar to the straight one, it cuts

ShopNotes No. 93