Building tip: Xacto knife blade matrix

In the toolbox is a #1 #2 and #5 and they get used all the time. Don't know how many blades I have used over the years.

Just picked up the extra fine tooth crosscut saw with Mitre box. Really slick, no tearing of soft balsa wood and makes a machine grade thru cut.

I have found Excel blades to be much sharper. Maybe it's just me.

And yes, I have a LOT more respect for them now then when I first started using them.

Just a note that everybody probably already knows---but just in case not: If you do your cutting on a pane of glass (old desk-top glass is best), you will extend your Xacto blades' service lives several fold over using them on a regular cutting board.

Along with the #11 blades I always make sure I have a few of those single-edge safety razors around. They work great for chopping (usually makes a straighter line than trying multiple draws with a #11) and I also like them better for trimming tissue against a balsa edge.

Kim wrote:Just a note that everybody probably already knows---but just in case not: If you do your cutting on a pane of glass (old desk-top glass is best), you will extend your Xacto blades' service lives several fold over using them on a regular cutting board.

Congrats great idea.
I know and use the glass over globalization cutter.

I have one of the big size Hobbico self healing cutting mats for any serious slicing and it makes for a nice level tractioned surface. The printed rulers on the surface are handy as well.

The single edged razor blades are also good for carefully getting behind a unobtainable gasket for removal, and for general gasket scraping/removing. Lowes had a plastic box of 100 blades for about $6.

Another name For good cutters is Fiskars, I have several pairs of there fabric scissors big and small as well as one of there 45mm cutter wheels for trimming tight turns in covering material. Those wheels are super duty sharp BTW, the handle that they mount to has a plastic piece that thumbs up to protect the edge(and fingers) when not in use. I even have a pair of Fiskars hedge trimming shears/limb loppers which again, are incredibly sharp and hold that edge for years.

Another "Ye Olden Days Tip"...the old-style double-edge blades can be cut with scissors to give you two, VERY thin and flexible cutting blades for fine work. Wrap the back side with masking tape to protect your fingers, and you're set to go.

Good post on blades. Glass works well with nice clean graffics.
Dan

anyone use self-healing quilting mats?
i use HK blades, cant tell the difference from exacto. its all ways funny and scarry at the same time when a hobby knife falls of the table and lands straight up sticking into the floor.
have not impaled my feet......yet.

nemo:

What about the cat under the table?

nemoskull wrote:anyone use self-healing quilting mats?
i use HK blades, cant tell the difference from exacto. its all ways funny and scarry at the same time when a hobby knife falls of the table and lands straight up sticking into the floor.
have not impaled my feet......yet.

I know, crazy.

My uncle dropped his once and tried to catch it. He nearly lost the tip of his finger.

nemoskull wrote:anyone use self-healing quilting mats?
i use HK blades, cant tell the difference from exacto. its all ways funny and scarry at the same time when a hobby knife falls of the table and lands straight up sticking into the floor.
have not impaled my feet......yet.

Anyone in the UK is better off using the Swann Morton craft tool, Swann Morton make surgical scalpels, which are also available for crafting use, though I've always found scalpel blades too brittle and liable to snap (dangerous!) The biggest advantage of the craft tool is that the handle is flat, no rolling off the bench and impaling feet (or the cat!) I have always used this tool, in the good old days the handle was brass, now they are plastic and too much pressure can break them where the blade clamping screw goes through. I could never get on with Xacto blades, I always found them too thick and not as razor-sharp as SM, but each to his own!

Wilf