Identifying a paper cutter
Hi Guys,
Got this really old paper cutter (made of iron) that I think is from China. This was said to be rotting away in a warehouse for a couple of decades. Anyway, I cleaned it up and it won’t give me an accurate cut as it’s a manual cutter and the measuring devices have been long gone. Also, finding it hard to look for blade replacement as the blade that came with this have been chipped.
Any leads will help. Thank you. :)
x: Sorry, I don’t know why photo rotates when uploaded.
Woyinaj
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I don’t have a big cutter myself, but from multiple discussions here I was under the impression that most places that sharpen blades will be able to fabricate (or know someone who can) a new blade for a cutter if given access to the necessary measurements.
clamp pressure is important, you need a lot to hold the paper from pulling away from the back gauge. You will never get an accurate cut if the blade is not sharp. kimaboe is right, most companies that sharpen blades can make or get you a new blade.
Kimaboe and Dickg,
I have had the blade and it’s spare sharpened but still doesn’t work well due to the chipped parts. The place where I had it sharpened doesn’t know where I can have one fabricated as well.
Woyinaj
if you don’t take your blade to someone who sharpens cutter blades the blade can be ruined, I speak from experience, had a sharpening company take the temper out of the blade, the first cut was ok, then the blade wouldn’t cut at all, the edge of the blade rolled over, looking down the blade you could see it. an expensive lesson.
I have an old paper cutter where the only measuring device is the marks etched into the bed behind the blade, and the hash marks are too thick to be useful. So I bought a see through acrylic ruler and had a friend cut it at exactly the ZERO mark. Now I just place that on the bed and let the back-gauge push it forward (always forward!) and I can see the slight mark in my cutting stick through the ruler. The ruler was off by a tiny bit so I added a bit of tape and now it’s incredibly precise.
Speaking of fun tricks like that, I use a Standard measurement decimal incremented ruler with a rare earth magnet stuck to the 0. The magnet holds the ruler in place up against the back gauge as I back it up or move it forward so I don’t have to worry about it being up against the gauge or reach under to make it so.
The decimal readings are generally thinner than the score line on my cutting stick but it’s pretty dead on.
I like the use of a “plastic” rule .
I have a collection of beautifully re shaped steel ones !