The device works the very same way the the prongs on each end of a rotisseri' rod work. They keep the cork from moving around the central 'shaft'. Otherwise, they would spin when you put sandpaper, etc., up to them to shape them.
Incidentally, I had intended to include a very inexpensive way to make your own brass 'plug cutters' in my earlier post; but just plain forgot. You can buy brass tubing in about any diameter your heart desires at almost all hobby stores, hardware stores,and the big box stores. Simply cut it to length for the the thickness of the material you are going to cut them from, plus some extra to allow for chucking in an electric drill, or drill press. File or grind a bevel aroundonend to form a cutting edge. Now, just above the cutting edge, but well below the upper chucking end, using a cylindrical grinding stone, such as for a Dremel, grind out one side at least half way through the tube, creating an elongate 'gate' on that side. Next, take a piece of dowel with a diameter equal to the I.D. of the tubing, and cut one end off at a 60 degree angle. Push the angled end into the tubing until the 'top' of the angled cut is just at the edge of the 'gate', and square with it. This will have the long point of the angle well below the upper level of the 'gate' and along the backside of the cutter. Epoxy into place, and cut the excess off that projects out of the upper end of the tube. You can cut one plug after another without having to remove them one-by-one as they are cut.
What you have done is create a plug ejection window (gate), an 'automatic' ejector (the dowel), and reinforced the upper section of the cutter to minimize chuck jaw damage (deformation) to this end of the cutter. As you cut into the foam and a plug is forming inside the tube, when it reaches the lower end of the dowel, it begins to force the top end of the plug out through the side 'gate'.
I am not really knocking Sleazy Steve's, but you have to manually extract each plug before cutting the next one, and getting them out can be a PITA due to the presence of the pilot bit built into them. I had one, and had another the same size given to me. As they were such an aggravation, I quit using them and ultimately gave one away. He would make them much more 'user friendly', IMHO, if he left that pesky pilot bit out. Unfortunately, it will not be easy to either cut, or break, it out. I have carefully pursued this option! (I presume it is hydraulically pressed into the solid brass base.) Plug extraction is not a problem with my home-made ones.
The absence of the pilot bit hole through the center does not inconveinence me as I do not like a hook through the very center of a bug. I can take an old hacksaw blade, or a 'cut-off disc' in my Dremel, and cut a groove in what is to be the bottom to accomodate a hook.
Regards,
Frank
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