Characteristics of a good box cutter?

J

jalapeno

Joined
Jan 16, 2017
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Retractable utility knives with those trapezoid-shaped replaceable blades work pretty well for cutting up boxes. Box cutting is something I do often, to cut cardboard down to size that will fit in the curbside recycle can.


To replace such a knife with a pocket-carry folder, where box cutting is one of the primary uses, and where I expect to regularly resharpen it, what are the important characteristics of such a knife?


I'll throw a few of my thoughts out there and you guys can correct me where I'm wrong.


It seems like having a relatively thin, flat blade is important (especially for thick corrugated cardboard) so that the spine of the knife doesn't bind due to a lack of "kerf" for it to glide through, and having a point shaped tip that allows pierce-then-slice cuts would also seem to be important.


But beyond that, is there an ideal contour for the cutting edge (straight, concave, convex) that also is an easy contour to resharpen?


I suspect the utility knife blades are the trapezoid shape they are, not because it's the ideal shape, but because it is easy to mass produce the blades with no waste in stamping out the blanks.


I'm willing to buy a few different ones, and probably need to, so that at least one is sharp at all times.


How about serrated edges for box cutting? I've used a scalloped-edge bread knife before, and it works fine, but where it really shines is in cutting styrofoam.

Any advice appreciated.

Edit to add, $100 is my limit per knife, and closer to $50 preferred.
 
I have to deal with a lot of cardboard and also have to pull staples. I ditched the depth gauge.

olfa_18mm_util_knife_cl_9021us.jpg
 
Probably a thin wharncliffe is most simmilar to the blade shape you describe. Actually those trapezoid / rhomboid blades are very well shaped because they are so thin and have a wharncliffy tip.

I like american tanto tip for cutting cardboard. I like wharncliffesnand tantos because you can use the tip or intersection of the edges on the tanto to slice cardboard on a flat surface.
 
Most box cutters come with blades that can snap off easily and provide a fresh edge. The shorter trapezoid ones are made that way so you can flip it around and get two new fresh blades out of one. That steel is also a lot harder so it stays sharp longer, but doesn't need to survive resharpening and such. I worked at a warehouse once and started carrying other knives to process boxes, but nothing worked as well as a box cutter. I did find the Kershaw Leek worked really well, but I had to sharpen it regularly. Another guy I knew used the Havalon stuff, where he could just replace the blades.


Edit:...also serrations are not an improvement for cardboard processing.
 
I always have a Swiss army knife in my pocket. I use the small blade for cutting up cardboard on a regular basis. Thin blade makes it easy.
 
One of my first jobs was in a warehouse. Always used a box cutter. Still use a box cutter to take down boxes....never found anything that was as cost efficient as one.
 
Characteristics of a good box cutter?
Click to expand...
A: Thin blade, thin blade and . . . thin blade

one of my favorite table pounding topics.

I like these and used mine today (exerpt from an old post)

Anything else is just playing.

IMG_3269_zpsqrp6pdht.jpg


The first Gerber folder has Stanley’s thinest box knife blade at about 0.4mm. (I have to take a diamond grit file to the slots in the blade to get it to fit around the set screw in the knife. Just a touch; not big deal). I resharpen the blades so I don’t have to do this very often. The blade is some how designed different; shorter in length and for a nonretractible handle. I don’t break these in use so a thicker blade is unnecessary.

Obviously the second Gerber has the Carbide edged blade in it for high wear resistance when cutting abrasive junk.

See here for other recommendations and more of the same.
 
Other blade shapes / serrated / concave-hooked-hawkbill

These three seriously suck for cutting cardboard. Besides being too thick the belly on the blade kicks the edge out of the cut. I was particularly surprised that the littlest one Cold Steel Super Edge did this. I had to literally make three passes when cutting two ply corrugated in one straight slice/cut because the edge kept rising up. Granted I wasn’t sticking it all the way in because I didn’t want to damage the contents of the boxes but basically it boils down to these being uncontrollable night mares for box cutting.



Hooked bill


Cold Steel Super Edge is top in this photo


My next favorite after the Gerber box knife takes a bit of doing but is dirt cheep for stellar performance. Cold Steel Kitchen Classic three inch paring knife and a Mora knife sheath. Buy the knife to get the sheath.
I have two. One polished edge and one toothy edge. Toothy would be good for boxes.



And finally . . . I don’t have one yet but I think one of the best high quality folders you could get would be a Spyderco Chaparral. Thin blade and decent handle.
 
Thanks for the replies. I should have added that I'm new to this and don't know a lot of the lingo. Wharncliffe is a new term to me, so I looked it up and got even more confused. It seems to have a baseline definition meaning a straight-edge blade with a slowly curving spine that drops to a point near the tip and generally a full flat grind. But it seems some curved blade edges, and/or hollow-grind blades are called that too, or they are called "modified" wharncliffe.

I found a couple knives that meet the baseline definition, and a quick sidebar question: various knives take a jump up in price when they have a handle material called G10. Is that the same G10 used for circuit boards (a fiberglass/epoxy mix)? If so, does it get "fuzzy" from the fiberglass as the handle wears or gets nicked up? It's a cheap material so I'm not sure why the premium is so high.

I found several wharncliffe knives, but they have either been discontinued, or are out of my price range, or are longer than I want. But I did come across this not-yet-released Spyderco Delica 4 wharncliffe:http://www.spyderco.com/forumII/viewtopic.php?t=71110 Great video of the prototype in the first post.

The only trouble is, nobody knows when it will be available, and it seems a lot of people have pre-ordered it so there may be no inventory to order for some time.
 
You want it thin and you want it flat in the edge. The reason for this is that it prevents the edge from slipping off of material in use, particularly as the edge begins to dull. To minimize binding, cut at a skew to the cardboard rather than perpendicular. This keeps the board from pinching back on the blade, and greatly facilitates the cut as a result.
 
Are you having to cut the cardboard itself a lot, or is it a case of cutting the tape, and sometimes along seams?

If you have to cut lots of cardboard, any (relatively) thin flat-ground blade will work fine.
A high carbide steel for wear resistance would be great.

If it's a case of tape and seams/folds mostly, any knife you want to carry should work just fine. :)
 
I carry a knife but always reach for the box cutter to do the recycle bin breakdown. If I get the least bit of resistance it's a quick change blade model and I just change out the blade or flip it around. They are always sharper than I can keep the knife in my pocket so for me the box cutter is a bit safer.

I will +1 that Cold Steel Tuff Lite suggested above. It works good when I've used it
 
Wowbagger said:
The first Gerber folder has Stanley’s thinest box knife blade at about 0.4mm. (I have to take a diamond grit file to the slots in the blade to get it to fit around the set screw in the knife. Just a touch; not big deal). I resharpen the blades so I don’t have to do this very often. The blade is some how designed different; shorter in length and for a nonretractible handle. I don’t break these in use so a thicker blade is unnecessary.

Obviously the second Gerber has the Carbide edged blade in it for high wear resistance when cutting abrasive junk.

[photo omitted]
Click to expand...

Wowbagger: I've never seen those Gerber folding utility knife handles before. Thanks for pointing them out. You resharpen your utility knife blades? I never even thought to do that. Might have to try it. I presume the steel is pretty soft? Should be fairly straightforward on my Edge Pro as long as I can figure a way to clamp the blade in place where the stones clear the clamps. Approximately what angle are they usually sharpened at, from the factory? I'd guess a higher angle than the Edge Pro can reach so I'd have to re-profile to a lower angle.

Anyway, part of my objective here is to keep in regular practice with my Edge Pro. But...I really have caught the bug and do want to purchase some knives (but none of the high-dollar antimatter tritanium steels though) ;)

On the carbide blade in your photo, I have carbide grit jigsaw and reciprocating saw blades but it's Hard to tell from the photo...is that blade similar to those with the grit, or does it actually have a long narrow slab of carbide brazed on similar to the way carbides are attached to a tablesaw blade?
 
ScrewPop makes a nice slim utility knife with tool-less blade changing.
 
The Cold Steel Tuff Lite would be a reasonable choice with a knife and not expensive. It has a wharncliffe blade. But if you are cutting lots of boxes, I would use a regular utility knife/box cutter.
 
on my Edge Pro as long as I can figure a way to clamp the blade in place where the stones clear the clamps
Click to expand...

If you decide to try the Edge Pro on box knife blades just for fun use the optional magnet for under the blade rest area. That works well for holding the blade. Careful you don’t get cut handling the blade with no handle; very possible as the blade gets stuck pretty firmly by the magnetic pull.

Nah . . . I just sharpen the blade free hand while the blade is in the handle. If you take it out you may as well replace it. Actually the steel is decent. I forget what it is now, these guys probably know, but it will rust (always a good sign).

I have a little roll of “emergency” sharpening tools. I use this paddle. The black one is mediumish and really that is all you need. I some times fool around going finer or polish the edge but I think I have been pretty much converted to just use a toothy edge for cardboard. May last a little longer and is some what more aggressive.



I AM used to looking at highly polished box knives because for a long, long time we stropped the box knives as the sole means of sharpening them. Never let them get dull; just cut a few very large boxes then strop whether it was loosing it’s edge or not. The strop hung there off a nail right where we did all the box cutting before they were carried just outside the door to the dumpster. Some time later we had a guy who would come by and take them for recycle from there so at that point we stopped even putting them in the dumpster. He would come in and take them out to his truck himself.

What angle
I couldn’t tell you. I ALWAYS go shallower than the factory angle so it doesn’t matter. Just knock the corner off that transition between the main bevel and the flat stock. There is a secondary angle that is more obtuse, I guess one could call it a micro bevel . . . more like a secondary angle. I just knock that back and blend it all into the main bevel. The shallower the better for cardboard. I think they have this steeper secondary bevel for cutting other tougher stuff like roofing tiles and carpet etc.

Nah the shallower the better.

PS : I went to the Stanley web site for my favorite thin blades. It says :
The 11-911 blades meet the following specifications:
7 ° +/- 1 ° PER SIDE – GRIND ANGLE
16 °*+/- 2 ° *PER SIDE - HONE ANGLE

does it actually have a long narrow slab of carbide brazed on similar to the way carbides are attached to a tablesaw blade?
Click to expand...

Again these guys can explain it better than I can but I think, in this case, the edge just has a concentrated coating of carburization. Kind of a thick plating process. I haven’t paid much attention. I bought it as a whim . . . kind of a “complete the set” kind of mentality. I do use the heck out of bimetal saw blades so I know what you mean. Maybe it is like that. Probably for the knife edge the carburization is tougher.

PSS: I went to the Stanley web site for the Carbide blade. It says :
Laser deposited carbide lines edge delivering a long lasting blade for the job site

Quick change utility knives work and are efficient. I find them kind of rattley and unsatisfying as an EDC. the play in them between hand and blade is just not precise enough for me so I like the fixed blade box knives or the folders that hold the blade with a screw.
I have the
Gerber 31-000668 Superknife

to; it is a nice folding knife in the hand. It is the reason I bought a Griptillian knife; has a similar handle. How ever the thing to know about this quick change knife and some others is that some have problems with the blade popping out while cutting. I thought this couldn’t be and people were just putting the blades in wrong and indeed mine worked great . . . for a while . . . then developed the problem.

I modded an Opinel #12 and it makes a fantastic utility knife. Huge handle is very useful and still has that famous Opinel thin blade.
This might be an option for you. Be sure to seal the wood with lots of oil. Search Blade forums for how to.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ives-YOU-DID-YOURSELF?p=15549128#post15549128

As far as the Tuff Lite
I have the Mini Tuff Lite. It was my first EDC with a pocket clip. It is a VERY COOL knife but I didn’t care for it for box cutting. I mean it is ok if you can just keep the tip in but the blade is way too thick for just going to town with it and it is kind of niggly to just use the tip. I moved on pretty fast to other knives for box cutting.

 
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned it, but one of my favorite lightweight folding knives for opening and breaking down boxes is the Spyderco Dodo, Plain edge. Obviously a box cutter or utility knife is designed for opening and cutting up boxes and other material, but the Dodo does it in style :)
 
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