Tuesday 7 February 2012

The Goscut

This is a very useful cutter which I am delighted to own. I was given it in the late 60's when I was a  student.It was marketed originally as a Goscut. Labels on later versions refer to the Eclipse firm but this one  has no reference to Eclipse on it. It merely says, patent pending. I  would say that it was a  small design classic and it would be extremely useful for any artist/modelmaker. It  was excellent for thick card. Hardboard was considerably more difficult and laborious.
 It is in effect a pair of vertical scissors. You hold it as if it were a small pistol.Mine came with two other blades and I seem to remember using it to cut thin soft metal.Models do sometimes come up on Ebay. There was  an Eclipse Goscut 2000 on EbayUK recently. It sold for £16.50. Mine seems to be an older model and I'm wondering if it was made by a small firm taken over by Eclipse.
Discussion of how to use a Goscut can be found in the Model Engineer forum here.

DEAR GOSCUT FANS PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGIES THAT I HAVE LEFT MY BLOG UNTENDED FOR SO LONG.I WAS ASTONISHED WHEN I FOUND YOUR FASCINATING AND VERY HELPFUL COMMENTS. I WILL SEE IF I CAN GET THEM PUBLISHED BUT FOR THE MOMENT I NEED TO RELEARN MY BLOGGING SKILLS.
James

21 comments:

D. Henderson. said...

I worked for the company that made this item in the 60's as you thought . The company was R A Stevens and was based in mitcham Surrey . They were the only co. to make it . The company also made the dosimeter badge which is also now under different hands . The company must have sold the rights to eclipse ??

james holland said...

Thanks for that comment. I didn't know the name of the original firm but it was-still is a neat design and something I'm really pleased to own.

Anonymous said...

whilst clearing my elderly uncles house before he moved to a retirement home,i found a goscut in his possesions,he gave it to me and i have found it very useful,I have what is left of the box and there are 3 blades for laminates, plastics and hardboard and the maker was as above 'RA STEPHEN of Mitcham,surrey.

Anonymous said...

Geoff Booth, G8DZJ.
I purchased a Goscut in 1970 for 39 shillings and 9 pence (the price is on the box) and found it a most useful tool and still is. Then in late 1983 the yellow spot blade broke so I wrote off to R A Stephens Co Ltd requesting the cost of a replacement blade. They were very quick to reply informing me that 10 years earlier, marketing of the tool was passed to the James Neill Group, but they still had a small inventory of blades which they had kept for their own use and very kindly sent me one completely free of charge. Of course we are now talking back in the days when customer service really meant exactly just that. For those left wondering, no I don't have a brilliant memory, I just happen to have their letter and the cardboard box complete with tool and three blades in front of me. I can't understand why a similar tool is no longer marketed.

james holland said...

Thanks for that Geoff, sorry I was so slow in posting your comment. I still use my Goscut occasionally and have at least two blades. Glad you have the complete set.

Unknown said...

I've had a Goscut Eclipse 2000 since the 1960's. As others say, it is a most useful tool. I've just dug it out to cut some galvanised steel from on old cowl, and the tool works as well as ever. I can't understand why such a useful tool is no longer available, or something similar has not been made.

Geoff said...

I used a goscut many years go. A friend and I started a small bisyness welding cars etc., we used a goscut cutter to cut 22G mild steel. We used it for at least 2 years without any problems. We even used the curly offcuts in place of gas welding rods, if we ran out of proper rods. There is a similar one on the market, but the anvil part is very narrow (unlike the goscut) so if you are cutting, say 1mm copper or thinner it tends to put a slight fold or bend on both adjsent sides of the work pice, which is very anouing to say the least. You can't beat the old Goscut.
I bean trying to get hold of one on eBay, but not had much luck as of yet. If anybody out there has one they want to sell, please do contact me on 07748174182 ask for Geoff.

David6214 said...

Geoff has one now and there are 4 on the bay at the moment. I won't rush to add mine into the mix.

Balint Kis said...

I was about to sell some of the old tools that I have not been using for years, and the Eclipse 2000 was among them. Honestly, I had no idea what kind of tool this is, it was left over by the previous owners of the house in which we live in.

Then I came across this website and the Model Engineer discussion forum and I realized what a mistake I was about to make. So thanks to you, I decided to keep this "historic item" for myself.

james holland said...

Pleased to hear from you Balint. Now you will find lots of uses for your Goscut!
All the best,
James

theBaker said...

Back in 1974 I worked for the inventor of the Goscut, a man named Tony Goss. He was part owner of a printers in Barnes, London specialising in coloring calendars for children. He showed me his invention and even cut a penny in half with it. He was a very insightful and inquisitive story of man - I wonder what other inventions he tried and what happened to him....

james holland said...

Thanks to you theBaker for that comment, sorry it took me so long to mod it. I have never heard an explanation for the first part of the name.

Ilkka Av said...

I got a "new" Goscut on last friday, this one is going to my daughter as a chrismas present. It was on eBay, sold in a broken original box for £ 16.00 and maybe never used, so clean it was. I am still using my original Goscut, bought maybe 1973 ?? It´s very handy tool, good design and quality!

Unknown said...

I found mine the other day! Probably bought it about half a century ago.

Can anyone remember the separate purposes of the three blades?

james holland said...

Hello Paul,I have no idea. I just guessed that some were for thick, rather than thin material.

Robino said...

I have a Goscut inherited from my Grandad, moved out to Australia with me about ten years ago. Still use it now & again though I've gradually upped the metal cutting firepower at my disposal (compressed air nibbler & more recently plasma cutter). I broke the 'red spot' radiusing blade a while back but the other two OK. Have considered (when I've got some spare time) attempting to 'TIG' weld the redspot blade back together (I need the practice on TIG!) - would no doubt be a lot of grinding to get it to fit properly - we'll see

Unknown said...

I have one with 3blades, red blue and yellow but cant remember which blade is for what. Anyone know ? My son is going to borrow it to cut some tin.

Unknown said...

I’ve had my Goscut since the sixties though not used it much in recent years. We have just dug it out as my wife needed to cut some corrugated plastic roofing. It did the job perfectly.

I still have the box and, in answer to the last question, the red spot blade is used for laminated plastics, the yellow for sheet metals and the blue is a profile blade for circles, etc., mainly for plastic laminates and hardboard but metal up to 0.8mm thick can be cut.

Something that no one has mentioned is the knurled nut, which adjusts the clearance between the blade and anvil cutting edges. The Goscut operates more easily when the blade is a slack fit between the anvils. Tighten the anvils until they just grip the blade by screwing in the knurled nut, then unscrew the nut: for plastic laminates 1/2 to 2 turns; for 1/8” hardboard 1 to 1 1/2 turns; and for sheet metals 1/4 to 1 turn.

boomtown said...

Just got an Eclipse 2000 with a yellow spot No2 on the handle in a box of tools I bought at auction I thought it was for snapping tiles at first until I Googled it and found this site just tried it on 1/8 plywood and it cuts it clean with no burrs or broken veneer like when cut with a saw

JohnCalderwood said...

I have just unearthed a Goscut Eclipse 2000 with the three blades and the instruction leaflet dated 1970.
It belonged to my late uncle and this one was in a plastic bag, so while a lot of his other car working and joinery tools are rusty, this one is in very good nick...

Anonymous said...

See United States Patent US3492724 for a description of the GosCut.
The Britisch patent pre-dates this one.

Personally I still have one, purchased it in the early seventiess after seeing it demonstrated in a DIY TV show on Dutch Television.

Used it minutes ago to cut printed circuit board material.
It is not used much, but after almost 50 years it still works fine.

Thanks you Mr. Anthony Goss!