The Putty Peeler

Never thought that a painter's delta knife would be traduced by 'putty knife' by google and that it turned out to be the right term. Weird sometimes, language!

So, all you need this time is this putty knife and a dremel or other speedcutting stuff.

To make what? To make a tool to survive in the gastronomic jungle: The Putty Peeler! Made in a few minutes, nice & effective: with this tool you can slice almost everything in regular chips without the loose of gallons of blood, fingers or whatever. It's the knife that strikes over the product, not vice versa. I picked the basic idea in a cheese factory in the mountains. The brains were not mine...

Wanne peel cucumber? You'll do it!
Wanna peel potatoes? You'l do it!
Wanna slice carrots? You'll do it!
Wanna make potato chips? Just do it!
Wanna reduce your stepmother in tiny slices? Go for it! (Maybe you should freeze her before, or try to have some conversation.)

I use it mostly to cut chips off concrete-hard mountain cheese. Full of flavour, delicious!

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Step 1: Cut your putty

Choose a putty knife, they exist in a large number of sizes and are used by painters to plaster walls etc.
Cut a U-section in the base of the delta, with the base of the U towards the handle.
Wear safety googles!

CescoAiel says: Oct 18, 2012. 7:21 AM

Nice and simple, but how does it differ from a normal handheld cheese slicer?

bricobart (author) in reply to CescoAielOct 18, 2012. 3:15 PM

Never saw a 'normal cheese slicer'! Do you mean something with a thin wire?
I suppose the only difference is the origin, this one's a hack! ;-)

vitensenter in reply to bricobartNov 29, 2012. 1:49 AM

The "normal" cheese slicer (ostehøvel) was invented and patented back in 1925 by the Norwegian carpenter Thor Bjørklund. It comes in many shapes, suitable to slice hard cheese or soft cheese, peel cucumbers, potatoes or carrots. All Norwegian homes have at least two different versions in their kitchen drawer. To see how the can look like, google "ostehøvel". You can buy it from Amazon or Ikea :)

vitensenter says: Nov 29, 2012. 1:34 AM

The cheese slicer (ostehøvel) was invented and patented back in 1925 by the Norwegian carpenter Thor Bjørklund. It comes in many shapes, suitable to slice hard cheese or soft cheese, peel cucumbers, potatoes or carrots. All Norwegian homes have at least two different versions in their kitchen drawer. To see how the can look like, google "ostehøvel".

pposthoorn says: Oct 18, 2012. 10:24 AM

So basically this is a tutorial to make your own cheese cutter? :P (Or kaasschaaf as we call it in holland)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_knife#Cheese_slicer

bricobart (author) in reply to pposthoornOct 18, 2012. 3:21 PM

Yep! Waarom makkelijk doen als 't ook moeilijk kan? ;-)

diy_bloke in reply to bricobartNov 9, 2012. 1:28 AM

Yep, got the words right out of my mouth, add to that that aputty knife is more expensive than a Cheese cutter....
On defense i must say that cheesecutters are not widely available everywhere. Only seen them on a day to day basis in Holland (kaasschaaf) and norway (Ostehøvel)

FrozenIce says: Nov 7, 2012. 1:17 PM

Gruyere cheese... yum :) Switzerland has the best chocolate and cheese :) Dont hate on me Belgians!

bricobart (author) in reply to FrozenIceNov 7, 2012. 9:56 PM

I don't care about chocolate! WE have the beers!!! ;-) ;-)

RobTurrentine says: Oct 18, 2012. 2:14 PM

I like the idea about drilling holes to make a grater. I love melted cheese and still after 50 years of cheese grating experience I manage to scrape my knuckles. How about taking apart a grater and attaching a handle? Does anyone have a master solution to the cheese grating issue? It could change the world.

linny in reply to RobTurrentineOct 22, 2012. 1:43 PM

"Does anyone have a master solution to the cheese grating issue? It could change the world," .
Uh, just a thot: try freeeeezing your cheese at least slightly / for an hour before grating it. Please let me know how this turns out as you do not specify what cheese we are talking about..
Thanks.

linny.

RobTurrentine in reply to linnyOct 22, 2012. 5:06 PM

I like that idea but my main issue is when the piece of cheese gets small it is likely to slip. Ice cold cheese is slick. I've been using latex gloves and they help. I'm talking about cheddar, mozzarella, Monterrey jack, that kind of cheese. I'm thinking of some sort of holder for the cheese to keep my hands away from the cutting surface and I just haven't seen anything.

I like the rotating device with the handle but it doesn't hold a lot and you have parts to clean where it's hard to get into the crevices. I've also heard that break easily.

Thanks,

Rob

bricobart (author) in reply to RobTurrentineOct 24, 2012. 11:59 AM

What about a giant homemade garlic pusher (or how is such thing called) to push the cheese into tiny worms? Or a hacked meat destroyer - you know such a tool used to make burgers.
Just a few ideas... ;-)

linny says: Oct 22, 2012. 1:40 PM

I love that you used your dreml to slice the cutting-slit with!
This tool you have devised, this slicer, may also be "grate" / great for vegetables-- I'm thinking cucumber slices. MMm

bricobart (author) in reply to linnyOct 24, 2012. 11:54 AM

I agree!!! I tested it on carrots and it turned out to be not so efficient - those garden carrots are harder then tent poles! ;-)

Dark Solar says: Oct 19, 2012. 8:39 AM

Fine...peeler from a putty knife...very good. Now let us get on to what's really important: where might one acquire that cheese?!!

bricobart (author) in reply to Dark SolarOct 19, 2012. 9:37 AM

Well, this cheese is called 'Ossau-Iraty' and it's my favourite cheese ever. Made from sheep who grazed in the Pyrenees and matured for months, this hard cheese is extraordinay! And accompanied with 'Patcharan', a spirit made from blackthorn berries, it becomes art...

bricobart (author) in reply to bricobartOct 19, 2012. 9:52 AM

Note: the cheese in the putty pictures isn't matured yet and so it's a bit sticky. There's nothing left from the big ball I bought two months ago. It's not cheese, it's dope! ;-)

rhoaste says: Oct 19, 2012. 6:36 AM

This is a nice idea. Thank you for sharing it. I have to admire your skills at cutting a reasonably straight line with the Dremmel. Although my cutting looks like a shambles in comparison, I have considered getting a 2 axis vice. Used in conjunction with the workstation attachment, I reckon it would be fairly good. I might just give it a try it I can get a cheap vice and scraper from the dollar shop.

bricobart (author) in reply to rhoasteOct 19, 2012. 9:23 AM

Thanx! I never said that it has to be a straight cut you know, a good old zigzag would do a great job too! Good to make potato chips ;-)

cfs0527 says: Oct 19, 2012. 6:01 AM

I'm gonna try this ingenious idea. My grandma had a double slicer she would use for cucumbers. I think grandpa made it for her. Had 2 blades and cut 2x as fast but it was wood and complicated. I will just put a second edge on it and even round and sharpen the factory edge to make sort of an ulu knife

bricobart (author) in reply to cfs0527Oct 19, 2012. 9:20 AM

Can 't wait to see this improvement! Putty Rocks!!!

maxhuey says: Oct 18, 2012. 10:40 AM

Last time I check on the price of putty knife at home depot, it costs more than twice the price of a normal peeler found at the grocery. So where can I get one that is not? I want to do this project just so that i have something different - bragging rights to my rich cousin who has everything :-)))

bricobart (author) in reply to maxhueyOct 18, 2012. 3:24 PM

I like the spirit! Ask a painter if he's got one for free, they always got plenty of them...

snoopindaweb in reply to bricobartOct 18, 2012. 3:40 PM

Yellow Pages.? - HAR.!

motleyjust says: Oct 18, 2012. 7:27 AM

I like the idea and most of the instructions are pretty easy to understand, but
I would prefer having more explanation of how to "Sharpen with a dremel."

maxhuey in reply to motleyjustOct 18, 2012. 10:46 AM

S H A R P E N W I T H D R E ME L

see photo attached

motleyjust in reply to maxhueyOct 18, 2012. 11:34 AM

I saw that, but it doesn't really explain it to me.
I see you have used the sander to scuff up both edges. Is the bottom of both of them scuffed up, too, and how much.
I understand things better when I have both pictures and words.

mikej_w in reply to motleyjustOct 18, 2012. 1:42 PM

There is really two parts to doing this, grinding the angle, and then sharpening. As described, the grinding would be done all on one side (and I think that will be the best way).

To grind the angle, I would do this - bend as shown, and using the dremel (or a file) create a sharp edge at a slight angle, such that the cut surface is parallel to the unbent portion of the putty knife. All of the grinding is done on one side.
If you use the dremel, I would personally do most of the work with the dremel holding the tool like it is shown in the picture. If you are careful, you can grind without marring the other parts of the knife, unlike above. Barely grind the other surfaces where you cut with the dremel to smooth them.

Now sharpen. Sharpening does two things - make the ground surface smooth, and of course, make the new edge sharp. Use the file to do this, hold the putty knife and the file by their handles, positioned close together, and push the file against the new edge, like you are trying to cut the file with the new edge.

When the edge is sharp, then bend the bent part back flat and then to the other side of the putty knife. Adjust the amount that sharpened edge will be exposed, and you should get a really nice slice out of this!

bricobart (author) in reply to mikej_wOct 18, 2012. 3:30 PM

Hi all, many thanx for the comments and sorry that I wasn't that clear in my I'ble. I really made my putty in a rush - less then 10 minutes - which explains the unwilled grinding on the opposite side of the cutting edge...
I agree with mike's way of explaining the sharpening, good job!

cjf says: Oct 18, 2012. 10:01 AM

This is great! Thanks for posting!

bricobart (author) in reply to cjfOct 18, 2012. 3:18 PM

Well it's a pleasure, thanx!

Remag1234 says: Oct 18, 2012. 8:59 AM

Good Hack. A cheese plane would not cost much more and less work. Yes, I'm lazy.

bricobart (author) in reply to Remag1234Oct 18, 2012. 3:18 PM

Me too! Thanx!

GeeDeeKay says: Oct 18, 2012. 7:53 AM

This is a great idea! I would consider moving the cutting edge closer to the handle, so the surface of the putty knife could also act as a collection and/or serving surface. This would allow the sliced cheese and to rest on the "outfeed table" for serving or transport. Also, I might round the corners to reduce ouchies if using it to offer said slices of cheesiness to willing consumers.

Very cool...

bricobart (author) in reply to GeeDeeKayOct 18, 2012. 3:17 PM

Clever! Post a pikkie when you made yours!