make your own cookie cutters

Make cookie cutters in custom shapes this year.

Step 1: Materials

sheet metal (hobby store)
tin snips
pliers for bending metal
file for smoothing edges
nuts and bolts
drill
clamps
safety glasses

Comments

[guyzo35]

LOVE the simplicity. I went for a few more complicated shapes (per the interests of the person I made them for), and improvised the bends with misc. screw driver shafts or dowels. The nuts and bolts I found at work, and the sheet metal is from the Depot. Thanks for the idea!

[foobear]

wow!! nicely done! very cool

[ThinkLem]

My cookie cutter came out great! Thank you for the tutorial. Time to put it to the test. http://thinklem.com/CookieCutter.html

[farmerboyk]

Hm...dont the screws interfere with shaping things?

[the dashing hero]

whats a meeple?


hi

[farmerboyk]

http://moourl.com/meeple There like...clay figurines?

[sunshiine]

I love this idea. Thanks for posting

[joe342]

you should look me up my name is dylan sprouse and i like cookies and donuts

[sunshiine]

Crispy creme anyone? 99 Really? How is Bubba? Have a beautiful day dylan.
Sunshiine

[busyb1]

There is a kit by R&M "Make Your Own Cookie Cutter" specifically for this purpose. Includes 1" aluminum strips, double stick tape and tools. Also comes as a refill kit with aluminum strips only. Available at cake and decorating supply stores. Works great. No sharp edges and no worries about contaminants or lead or rusting.

[thepelton]

Drill bits might work for bending mandrels as well. You can find them in sizes from 1/32 inch to 1 inch, or sometimes larger.

[Culturedropout]

Cool idea. You could make Star Trek crew member cookies. The ones with the red icing would get eaten first. XD The only concern I have is that a lot of sheet metal and hardware has traces of lead in it or on it. I think you can get an inexpensive test kit at most hardware stores that will indicate if something contains lead, via a color change or something. There's a possibility of other toxic metals as well, but lead is the only one I know about a home test for. The best approach might be to cut up an old cookie sheet, spatula, metal bowl, or other object already known to be food-safe. Also, keep in mind that older solder contains lots of lead, so if you're going to solder them, be sure you use the newer, lead-free variety.

[simplemail1]

http://mp3tons.ru

[gedda]

Futurama reference! HA!
And a great 'ible'. Just a couple weeks ago I was trying to convince my wife to let me make her some custom cutters using copper sheeting. She said "That won't work." I'm going to send her to this 'ible' and shout "In yo FACE!"

[finbar galdeep]

You should use rivets, or silver solder it.

[goyo]

I used a steel box packing strap I found in back of a warehouse--it was already .5 inch wide, so no cutting into strips and sanding needed.  I welded the edges together, but otherwise I'd say use rivits.

[foobear]

good idea!

[reubyjay]

TIME 4 SOME NINJABREAD MEN WOOT

[Absol]

Thanks for this infromation n_n This may be useful in my project n_n Yay!

[ascii]

I was just looking at my collection of biscuit tins and wondering what I could do with them, and here is the answer. I tried this years ago, with pop cans, and the metal cracked and broke on sharp corners - I notice that you haven't made any really sharp bends, although probably pop cans aren't the best material either. (Also it is easier to get the dough to fall out of a curve than a point.) I notice that commercial cutters have a lip folded over on the top, presumably to make them more rigid and make pressing down more comfortable. Probably one could find a way to fold the metal over a couple of times. Did you use long bolts because you had them, or for some other reason? I have a device I got at a yard sale that punches a hole in light metal and crimps it, which would be good for this, or one could also use pop rivets. Thanks for an inspiring instructable - the best ones are always simple and make you wonder why you didn't think of that.

[foobear]

Cool, I'd like to see what that device is, cause it sounds pretty useful. Yeah, the long bolts were just there handy.

[muroc1947]

You might use pop rivets rather than a bolt to secure it

[foobear]

Good idea. I happened to have these small screws and matching bolts around, so ... why not, I thought. :)

[jtobako]

Have you thought of using a cut-down tin can? You would be limited by circumference, but wouldn't have to use a bolt or rivet.

[foobear]

I did actually try that first. The thing about it is, in order to have a shape with any complication to it, you need a pretty big can so you have a larger circumference to work with. I tried a coffee can, but I found that the tin was so thin that it was hard to file the edges down so that they weren't sharp. If you could find a big can with thick metal, I think that would be ideal.

[jtobako]

Use the top or bottom rim to protect you hand, or fold over the edge. Try the local school or cafeteria for institutional size cans (size 10?).

[jtobako]

Or find some square cans that hold liquids like olive oil, acetone, or denatured alcohol-local school labs, workshops or janitor might have or be willing to save some.

[foobear]

yeah, that's a good idea

[Goodhart]

I really like this. It sure beats paying through the nose as it were, for those tin or aluminum ones.

[KaptinScarlet]

nice instructable, you could also use plastic sheet from a large bit of packaging. Bend it with a bit of heat from a paint stripper, and so forth, that way you could cut it using a craft knife or scissors. Bleach bottle and detergent bottles are thick enough, although you'd have to wash them very thoroughly before use. That said the use of brass is very very nice, and would look great in the kitchen.

[foobear]

Thank you. I had never heard of a paint stripper tool using heat before. But I see it here. amazon. Wow, great idea! Thank you

[WileECoyote]

KITTY!!! Oh yeah, nice instructable, too.

[foobear]

Yes, wherever the attention beam is focused, that is where she tries to be. =)

[U5]

You can also use an old "tin" can. If the shape is simple, you can keep the rim on the "top" to protect your hands. I've also tried using aluminum from a soda can, but the Al was too thin, so I made cookie-cutter earrings instead (Many years ago, no pictures, sorry). But if you want to try an intricate design, Al with some sort of backer might be just the ticket.

[foobear]

Yeah, at first I tried a coffee can, thinking I could avoid the need to solder or weld the metal together. But it was very thin and tough to make smooth edges, I only seemed to make the edges sharper with the file. then it dawned on me I don't have to weld it, just use screws.

[GorillazMiko]

Awesome, great idea! I bet Shifrin would like this, he cooks a lot.

[Shifrin]

Wow this is Cool, I think I'll giv it a try!

[flatfootpenguin]

I have the same safety glasses. man are we cool

[flatfootpenguin]

the old ones not the new ones

[foobear]

They need to bring back those thick black 1950's scientist ones. Those were the best.