Disposal Box cutter...don't

[Gary W. Graley]

The old disposal box cutter, used by so many people and discarded way before their time. A brief sharpening will bring back lots of life to these thin razor blade utility knives. I took a couple today and sharpened them up on a 1x30 belt sander, which I turned on it's back so the belt was horizontal and running away from me. Then carefully, read VERY carefully, sharpened about an inch and a half section of the box cutter and rounded down the spine as well. This resulted in a slight convexed edge, then lightly honed it on a block a ceramic sharpening stone and finally stropped on a leather strop. The resulting edge was very sharp, hair whittling actually and I stacked two pieces of 8/9 ounce leather and cut a radius around with it easily. By sharpening it I also removed the abrupt bevel angle that the blades typically come with, so there is less friction while cutting through material. These of course are not Hard Use type knives, but things that you need to cut open.

So, don't ditch those blades, just take a little time and tune them up, they will last you a long long time.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2

 

[Bill3152]

Paper wheel with white compound works as well. Very fast and gets it about as sharp as out of the box.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

That’s the idea, sharpen them up don’t ditch them
Thanks for that sharpening method
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[sodak]

Lol, Gary, you're starting to sound like Paul Sellers! I love his vids as well....

 

[Gary W. Graley]

lol thanks I feel like I’m in good company then, I like his videos too
G2

 

[Bigfattyt]

I regularly sharpen disposable non segmented razors in folding razors.

Honestly, mostly because I can't remember where I stashed my replacement box of new blades....

I usually think "Hm, where did I put those" then sharpen the old one, instead of looking.

 

[CAP55]

Strop them regularly, I use a good old Stanley utility knife to make straight cuts in leather. I strop with powdered Aluminum Oxide on barely fuzzy leather (smooth leather buffed with 400 grit sandpaper).

 

[kreisler]

i sharpen utility blades sometimes too . fun practice

 

[Mister Coffee]

Gary W. Graley Damn, I feel like sharpening something. No kidding, really. I wish I had your skills.

Thanks for posting this.

 

[Mossyhorn]

I sharpen disposable blades as well, Gary. I sharpen my Havalon blades as well as they are not as cheap as others.

 

[Ernie1980]

Another razor blade sharpener here! Most of the time I can just use my KO work sharp CROX loaded leather belt to get them back in shape. When they are really bad I will start at 800 grit and move up from there.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Good to hear and yes, the KO is a good system for things like this. That image I posted, the two layers of leather are thick and not easily cut through in one pass and with the convex edge made it cut through effortlessly
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[FortyTwoBlades]

I've found I get the most aggressive slicing edges on my box cutter blades by touching them up on an American Mutt bench stone or pocket stone. A quick scrubbing action on both sides gets a worn blade back in action in a matter of seconds, and takes less time than swapping it out for a fresh blade in most cases, even with models that make blade exchanging quite rapid.

 

[Bigfattyt]

I mainly use mine for cutting leather because they are thin and take less force.

 

[cudgee]

Another one here who strops disposable razor blades, i usually get 2 months out of a blade, but every now and then you can fluke a really good blade, 4 months is my best.

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

I never thought to do this

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I use a DMT DiaFold (usually a Fine 600) to resharpen utility blades. I have a whole bunch of replacement blades on hand. But I may never use them all, simply because I keep resharpening the one in the handle. I don't often use the utility knife anyway, as most of the box-cutting I do is with the sheepfoot blade in my Case 6375 CV stockman. A VERY thin grind on that blade, and I've thinned the edge even more. I've become spoiled for using that blade on cardboard.

 

[kreisler]

that blade looks wicked sharp!

( but has no lock ... so maybe not safe cutting up a banana box for fun )

 

[cudgee]

I use a DMT DiaFold (usually a Fine 600) to resharpen utility blades. I have a whole bunch of replacement blades on hand. But I may never use them all, simply because I keep resharpening the one in the handle. I don't often use the utility knife anyway, as most of the box-cutting I do is with the sheepfoot blade in my Case 6375 CV stockman. VERY thin grind on that blade, and I've thinned the edge even more. I've become spoiled for using that blade on cardboard.

. Great all round knife.

 

[bgentry]

The reason snap off blades snap off is because of the point. Snap it off and you get a freshly pointy point every time. The point does the majority of the work in many (but not all) cuts with a utility blade. If you're going to sharpen them (which I don't) make sure to get the point pointy again.

Brian.