I was trimming my headbands with a box cutter for a year before I saw a video from a binder in Chicago

I always thought my edges looked a bit rough, but figured that was just how it went with hand tools. Then I watched this binder from Chicago do a quick demo with a proper finishing knife and realized my whole method was adding extra steps and leaving those tiny ragged bits. Has anyone else switched from a box cutter to a dedicated finishing knife and noticed a big difference in clean-up time?

3 comments

3 Comments

ericj4510d ago

That Chicago binder video was a real eye opener for me too. I wasted so much time picking off those little paper hairs with my old blade. The proper knife just glides through.

burns.jenny10d ago

Wasn't there a whole thread on a bookbinding forum about this exact tool swap? I remember people saying the switch cut their clean-up in half because the blade is just sharper and thinner. Makes total sense now.

harper_foster10d ago

That forum thread had maybe twelve people in it. I tried a thinner blade last year and it snapped on the third cut. Sometimes the old tools are just fine.