Rug wools were originally available in skeins or balls that had to cut into strands at home. Even into the ready-cut era of rug wool, many latch-hookers cut their own strands from balls or skeins of yarn. It was usually cheaper to buy uncut yarn, especially when buying in bulk or buying a shade that wasn't available in ready-cut packs. Some sort of cutter was essential when recycling old knitting yarn from knitwear or crochet into rugs.

This implement is the St George Wool Cutter (Patent Applied For). I can't (yet) find any record of a patent, or the patent application, for this design. The metal section is 5 inches long. It's a nice simple idea - a wide section that you wound your yarn onto, and a narrower section that closed guillotine style. Both sections had sharp edges to slice the wool like scissors. The drawback was the need to sharpen it, but in a day and age when knives and scissors had to be sharpened this probably wouldn't have been a problem. This is a reflection of our modern "disposable society".

Below is a pair of offset scissors used for trimmig the pile on a finished rug. They can also be used to "sculpt" the pile.