Tips for finding old stack cutters?

Hi all! I have been lurking on your site for quite some time and learned a lot and finally am asking my own question!

I run a very small stationery shop with my husband and after going through a handful of the cheap import paper cutters we finally found an old Martin Yale 2500 Ream Cutter. It has been perfect for us for the past 2 years but the blade is at the end of its life and our blade sharpener has been unable to find any replacement blades or parts. They suggested a few brands that are much easier to service and purchase parts/blades/cutting sticks for but I haven’t had any luck tracking something down that fits our needs or is close enough for pickup. I am here to ask if you have any suggestions as to where you find unique equipment like this in your area? For reference, we are in the western Maryland area and travel frequently to Richmond, Va. so anywhere from central Pennsylvania to southern Virginia is within reach for us.

Thank you so much for any tips or suggestions you may have and for all of the resources I have already gained from your discussions! We are quite desperate to find something that will improve our work flow as we have to shut down for the better part of a week every time we need our blade sharpened. Being able to have a sharp spare ready to load would be a dream.

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What’s your budget and your required cut size? Most of the more affordable equipment is going to be found at auctions (eBay, WireBids, HighBidsWin, etc.) and some will also be found at used equipment dealers. Cutters are still a popular item and there are many companies throughout the country to sell and service new cutters. These companies often have a supply of trade-ins or refurbished machines on hand that are available for significant discounts.

Brad.

Hi Brad! Thanks so much for the help. Ideally we’d like to stay at $500 or below but have flexibility to go higher if needed. The current cutting space we have is 17” on a ~23” blade. At the moment the absolute minimum cut size we’d need is 11-12 inches but the option for larger materials is nice to have.

There’s a Triumph for sale in the classifieds section of this site. Seems like it would suit your size and budget needs. For the money you could also probably find a larger manual cutter… but it would weigh 800-2000 lbs and require a significant effort to move and house.

Brad.

A cutter like this would do as well, but I would never spend 1400 on one like this- and it is not close to you, either:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Challenge-Machinery-19-Manual-Hand-Paper-Cutter-...

But if you type in 19” Challenge cutter on Ebay, Craigslist, etc, enough times- one is bound to pop up eventually

St Louis for 800:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Challenge-Paper-Cutter/292166144972?_trksid=p204...

Texas for 800:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Challenge-Machinery-Co-HL-Size-193-Industrial-Manual-Hand-Paper-Cutter/162390990823?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D45041%26meid%3Dda34df2891074836ba0f094b77f3f1c5%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D361067303183

Chicago for 550:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Challenge-Paper-Cutter-Model-HL-SIZE193/282379781303?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D45041%26meid%3D0b17f27992404ae09298766416513ac6%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D162390990823

And hydraulic, in South Carolina, for 650:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHALLENGE-SIZE-193-MODEL-HBE-HYDRAULIC-INDUSTRIAL-PAPER-CUTTER-19-3-8-208V-3PH/232406810072?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D45041%26meid%3Df3dbf5e673864014a22e46d37fb02469%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D282379781303

Brad, I noticed the triumph as well and have gone through the classifieds here but figured I ask before assuming that 7 hours was necessary to travel. We do like the manual cutters especially since we often cut bound journals, notepads, etc. that aren’t as easy to keep in place and trim as a neat stack of printed sheets. I’ll continue to watch the classifieds section here in hopes that something closer will pop up but thank you for the recommendation of looking at used equipment dealers and companies for trade-ins or refurbished ones.

HavenPress, Thanks so much for sharing the links. Unfortunately with ebay most items of that size are for local pickup only and places like texas, chicago, st.louis, and south carolina would take several days to get to and back. I’ll keep checking and hopefully with time something in our needs and range will pop up.

Well look, as I said, those are all far from you- but these pop up in every region. Including mine and yours (N/E Corridor, East Coast). So, you’re likely to find one on Ebay and be able to drive to it. They can be moved in a small minivan or regular truck, so if you have either of those it is doable. Hell, I took the arm off one and moved it in a ford explorer once with a piece of plywood, some ratchet straps, and timbers.

Good luck.

-Mark

Well look, as I said, those are all far from you- but these pop up in every region. Including mine and yours (N/E Corridor, East Coast). So, you’re likely to find one on Ebay and be able to drive to it. They can be moved in a small minivan or regular truck, so if you have either of those it is doable. Hell, I took the arm off one and moved it in a ford explorer once with a piece of plywood, some ratchet straps, and timbers.

Good luck.

-Mark

York, PA: https://york.craigslist.org/for/d/challenger-paper-cutter/6213249821.htm...

Mt. Joy, PA: https://lancaster.craigslist.org/for/d/industrial-paper-cutter/617779502...

You may have luck using a website like “searchtempest.com” to search many Craigslist areas in one go.