          |        |
Wood Magazine
Issue October 1999
Stand back sanding drums,
rotary shaper coming through
I've been a big fan of the Microplane line of rasps, but, when I first saw the Rotary Shaper, I thought,
"This thing can grate a lot of parmesan on pizza night, but if it holds up in hardwood, I'll eat my hat!"
I'll take my hat, well done please.
Like Microplane's handheld rasps, the Rotary Shaper uses a stainless-steel cutting screen to hog away tiny
chips of wood. Only this time, the screen is mounted on an arbor that chucks into any drill for super-aggressive
curve-cutting.
How aggressive? I cut the scallops shown in the photo below in about 10 seconds each. And though the finished
edge isn't satin-smooth, a little hand-sanding cleaned things up quickly.
To see how durable the cutting edges are, I grated a 3x3x24" piece of red oak down to a twig, then tore through
a few pine 2x4s about the same length with no apparent dulling. You can't buy replacement screens, but you may
never need to.
Running at the maximum 1200 rpm, I found the tool a little grabby when first entering my workpiece,
but after a bit of practice it was no problem. I also felt more comfortable after adding a subbase
to my drill press table that kept most of the shaper captured in the wood — one slip could turn a
fingertip into so much cheese.
- Tested by Bob McFarlin
Microplane® Tools
Hand Tools / R2 / Drill Attachments / Hacksaw Blades
Surform® Replacements / Kitchen / View or Modify Shopping Bag
Home
/
New
/
Testimonials
/
About Us
/
Links
Ordering Info
/
Technology
/
Feedback
/
Guestbook
The Microplane®
Division of Grace Manufacturing
Inc.
614 SR 247, Russellville, Arkansas 72802
phone: (501) 968-5455 / fax: (501) 967-0404 info@microplane.com
Surform® is a registered trademark of Stanley
Tools.
Microplane® is a registered trademark
of Grace Manufacturing Inc.
All contents Copyright ©
1997 Grace Manufacturing Inc.