cutter

belg

Member
Hey guys I saw a cutter on a website that cut strips of cardstock or thin balsa sheets but it did not give the name or supplier. It looks like a small plastic block with a x-acto blade mounted in it and was adjustable to run along the edge of the material at different widths. Can anyone help with this? Hope the description makes sense to someone. Thanks Pat
 

Matthyro

Will always be re-membered
I have a real old xacto set that came with one of those. I tried many times to cut strips of balsa wood when I was into model aircraft but gave up on the thing because the silly blade would wander along the grain and the strip of balsa cut was useless.
Now I may try to use it on cereal board but now use one of those knives with break off blade sections. The xacto knives I have don't get used anymore.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
What you're looking for is the "Balsa Stripper" by Master Propeller Co. I bought mine from Micro-Mart... I think.:rolleyes:

Don
 

mhdishere

Member
Belg,
I have one of the cutters from micromark and I couldn't live without it! It works great on balsa, and on thin basswood too (1/32 inch). I've cut 1/6 balsa into boards with it, and also 1/8 and 3/32 balsa into VERY thin strips. Micromark claims you can put another type of blade in it to cut basswood, but those blades don't fit the tool.

Things I've noticed about it:

Keep a SHARP blade in it.

The blade should be positioned so the back of the blade is straight up-and-down and the point should JUST touch the surface you're cutting on so it'll cut all the way thru the balsa.

Apply even pressure both downward and against the wood.

Go slowly with it.

When you buy balsa look for very straight sheets, no waves in the edges. If you mess up an edge turn the sheet over and cut from the other (finished) edge. If you mess up the other edge use a straight-edge and xacto knife to cut a new edge on the sheet. Also check the sheet to make sure the grain is parallel to the edge. For the record, I buy my balsa in Michael's.

Don't try to use the took to cross-cut against the grain. Trust me.

You'll mess up a couple sheets of balsa getting the knack, after that it'll work great. Hope this helps!
 
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