One of the modern tools that is used in repair or construction, or just in the office, is a clerical knife. This is a unique type of knife that has a narrow specialization, but at the same time, a wide range of uses. In this article we will talk about what this tool is for, how to buy a stationery knife and what you need to look for when buying.

Appointment of a clerical knife

The tool is needed primarily to cut paper, cardboard or plastic. Therefore, it is very often used in the office or in the repair of premises, apartments and houses. In the office, with its help, you can cut paper much faster than with a knife, in the same way, handling cardboard or any other stationery material. During repairs in an apartment, for example, in order to glue the wallpaper on the walls or ceiling, it is necessary to properly adjust the wallpaper, cut it out, and work with it. Therefore, in such cases, a clerical knife is also used.

The advantage of using a clerical knife as opposed to a knife, for example, is the following point. When using scissors, it is necessary to make constant movements in order to move / move apart the scissors blades. This leads to the fact that during the cut, wavy cuts and irregularities can remain on the surface of the paper. But in the case of using a clerical knife, such a moment is excluded. Yes, there is a possibility that using a clerical knife, the cut line may also be uneven, but not as much as it is with scissors. Thus, the clerical knife is more convenient and easy to operate in most cases.

Also, with a clerical knife it is very convenient to level the glued wallpaper, which has "tails" at the bottom. It is almost impossible to trim these tails with scissors. Using a clerical knife - this is done in one motion.

Design and features of the tool

Like any other knife, a utility knife consists of a handle and a blade, however, in this case, the blade is retractable, and therefore you can set its overhang to any convenient length. By the way, the rest of the blades for a clerical knife can be hidden in the handle - so, removing the back cover of the handle, you can find a small compartment with spare blades. However, this is not the case with all knife models.

The knife body itself can be made of plastic or metal. In addition, these materials can even be combined with each other. The surface of high-quality office knives, as a rule, is also rubberized for more convenient work with the tool. Index finger notches and other design features may also be present.

But, the main attention when buying a tool is to pay attention to the blade. The result of working with the tool will largely depend on how well and responsibly this part is made. So, a quality blade should be made of durable, stainless steel. There should be several marks on the surface of the blade, which indicate its division into special sections. With the help of these sections, you can extend the knife to a certain length, and on the body itself there must be a device with which you can fix or hide the blade.

Also, before buying a clerical knife, you should definitely know the length of the knife, because its purpose will depend on it. For one type of work, a small knife will be enough for you, for others you will need a knife with a sufficiently long blade.

Consumer analysis of stationery knives

Today, you can buy a stationery knife without any problems. However, purchasing, for example, a Chinese-made knife, you run the risk that after a while it may simply break or crumble. Therefore, in this material it is worth highlighting the highest quality, and at the same time, affordable stationery knives that will definitely not let you down.

Knife "Steel". This company is actively releasing the instrument we are considering. Therefore, it is worth noting that almost any model and any version of the stationery knife of this company is of high quality and reliable, at the same time - affordable. Knife handles are made of metal and plastic, covered with a rubber layer. The blades of the stationery knives are made of high quality stainless steel. There are options with a single-sided or double-sided blade, completely different lengths. The average price of this option is from $ 1.5 to $ 3.5.

Intertool stationery knife. It is also a fairly popular version of the knife, which is quite affordable. By the way, a clerical knife from Intertool can be attributed to a semi-professional tool. The body of the knife is metal with rubberized inserts, there are additional functions of blocking, fixing the blade. The knife comes with a set of spare blades. The price of the instrument is about $ 4-5.

Proline professional stationery knife. This option can be safely attributed to a professional type of cutting tool - high-quality trapezoidal blades, metal body and additional functions give the knife advantages over other models. Because of these advantages, you can accurately cut any suitable material - paper, cardboard or plastic, etc. The price of this knife is $ 9-12.

A stationery knife is an indispensable thing in the household of real housewives and needlewomen, who know how to create beauty with their own hands. This small but incredibly practical and multifunctional tool able to easily work miracles in your home. It is a small knife with a folding blade, which, if necessary, can be easily replaced with a new one.

Initially, its main purpose was paper cutting. But very quickly such a convenient tool significantly expanded the scope of its application and is now considered almost the most necessary, in fact, irreplaceable thing, both at work and at home.

History of invention

Such a convenient multifunctional tool was officially invented not so long ago - in the middle of the 20th century. But its simplest predecessors existed in the 17th-18th centuries. and were used by Europeans to open received letters. Modern version with replaceable blades invented by the resourceful Japanese Okado.

The main goal of the inventor was to create a practical paper cutting tool that could be used successfully for a long time without the need for sharpening. Okado succeeded in fulfilling his desires wonderfully, because the knife he invented has found wide application in various fields of activity. The same Japanese also created the first company for the production of stationery knives - "OLFA" (abbreviation for the combination of "breaking off fragments"), which still remains iconic brand.

Advantages

All in one

This simple tool is popular with both office workers and professional craftsmen in the field. design, construction and repair. But in the house, he is able to replace a number of similar, but often quite expensive instruments. This is the main advantage of the clerical knife. They can cut wallpaper and polystyrene, linoleum and drywall, cut pictures from paper and strip electrical wires. For all these works, you can use special tools, but within the framework of single manipulations it is more economical and more convenient to use a clerical knife.

No sharpening

Usually, any type of such knives is produced with special cutoffs on the blade, allowing you to easily break off the blunt part and continue to use the same reliable tool. The simplest models are equipped with a removable part that allows you to easily replace worn out blades. All this provides perfectly accurate cutting of any elements.

Security at the highest level

When working, you can always choose the most successful blade length, which is provided by a special regulator. By means of the latch, the favorite position can be securely locked, which guarantees maximum safety. Unexpected loss of the sharp part is simply out of the question. Special metal guides provide good resistance to increased loads and eliminate the likelihood of injury.

Types of stationery knives

There are many different variations, but most common 2 types of their classification:

• by body material;
• across the width of the removable blades

It is these parameters that are taken into account in the first place when choosing such a thing that is useful for the home.

Body material

Plastic is valued cheaper than metal, but a significant disadvantage of such a case is fragility, as well as a high probability of sudden chips and injury. Therefore, if you want to purchase a safe knife, it is better not to save money and opt for a metal case. This type of tool will be reliably protected from the blade, which guarantees a minimum risk of injury when working with it.

Blade width

Blade width it is worth considering, focusing on the type of work, since excessive loads when choosing the wrong type are fraught with damage to the tool and possible injuries. A 7 mm stationery knife is suitable for cutting decorative figures and various decorations from paper, but this is a completely unsuccessful option for working with wallpaper.

There are three most popular types of blade widths: 7, 9 and 18 mm. The 7mm knife is only suitable for cutting thin paper. Such a knife will either not cope with thick cardboard at all, or it will leave oblique cuts and holds. 9 mm knife considered universal for use in many construction and finishing works, but can also be used as a stationery. It cuts well both thick cardboard and thin leather and even linoleum. An 18 mm knife is called a construction knife, since it is used exclusively in such works.

Right choice

You can buy a knife at any office supply store. If, for your purposes, work not only with paper, then in the store of building materials and tools you can buy a large knife, which is ideal for working with wallpaper. First of all, you should focus on your goals for using a clerical knife. But when choosing such a tool, it is also important to take into account other important nuances.

• The knife should fit comfortably in your hand. Therefore, it is important to choose the model that is suitable for you in terms of weight and dimensions.
• The knife should be safe for you. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the blade feed mechanism is working properly, which should slide out easily and smoothly from the body.
• The blades must be made of high quality stainless steel, otherwise they will simply become unusable very quickly.
• Plastic clips can break quickly. Therefore, it is better to choose a model with reliable screw fixings.
• If you choose a paper knife, then it must certainly move easily along it, without leaving any clues behind. The cut should be even, without burrs.

Safety at work

• It is necessary to work with this tool especially carefully and exclusively on the working surface.
• For work, it is worth pulling out only the required length of the blade and by all means fixing it.
• In the case when all work with the use of a knife is completed, by all means retract the blade into the body... This will protect you and those around you from the likelihood of injury.
• How to break off the blade of a clerical knife and not get hurt at the same time is a question that many hostesses ponder over. Pliers are best used for this purpose. In the device of such knives, a lid with a puzzle is certainly provided, ideally corresponding to the size of the piece that is broken off. This allows you to break a worn-out element along a clearly marked contour without fear of possible injury.

The stationery knife will become your faithful assistant in various works on furnishing the interior of your home. Replaceable blades, which are easy to purchase and replace if necessary, ensure long-term operation and allow you to save profitably. This useful purchase for your home will help you to embody more than one creative idea of ​​design, and our shopping club WESTWING will always tell you where to get inspiration.

Stationery knife - a kid who becomes a good helper at home or in the office. Most of the objects we use in life have an interesting history. But we rarely think of her. The stationery knife is no exception, so we simply could not remain silent about it.

In the form in which we are used to seeing a clerical knife, it appeared not so long ago, approximately in the middle of the twentieth century. But his great-grandfathers existed much earlier, but had a different appearance. Previously, a clerical knife was used only for opening letters, this was treated as a ritual, so a letter opening knife was more of an accessory than a household item. When brought on a silver platter along with fresh letters (you already feel this luxury, right?), The knife was decorated with precious stones, gold and silver. But times have changed, boasting about a knife is no longer necessary, so the paper knife has changed. Now the stationery knife looks like we are used to, but has more purposes and types. We will tell you how to choose a clerical knife and what to do with it in general!

What to look for when choosing a stationery knife:

Body material

The material from which the body of the stationery knife is made is plastic or metal. The first, of course, has a lower cost than metal. But both of these materials have their pros and cons. The metal body of the knife will last much longer, because plastic has never been famous for its durability. But a plastic knife will be lighter. The metal body is also good in that it firmly protects the blade and makes the knife safer. If you have not heard the stories that plastic sometimes broke in the hands of a person, and the blade dug mercilessly into the hand, then you are in luck. But this only applies to low-quality plastic, where manufacturers save on material.

Blade width

The blade in office knives comes in different widths:

Different blade widths are suitable for different types of work. At this point, we will make a break and tell you more. A utility knife with a 7mm blade is only suitable for paper... If you want to cut cardboard with such a knife, this idea is doomed to failure. In this case, either the blade will not withstand the load, or the cut turned out to be like tearing that unfortunate cardboard with your hands.

The 9 mm blade is versatile, both in the office and for construction. Such a clerical knife perfectly cuts paper, cardboard of different densities, copes with light loads in construction.

And here is the knife which has a blade width of 18 mm is only used in construction work, because for home and office it is too big and there are no such heavy loads.

When we figured out the technical issues, now let's move on and learn deeper how to choose the right knife.

Rules for choosing a stationery knife:

A stationery knife is not just chosen by office workers, builders and even people whose activities are related to creativity (we will talk about this a little later). This is because a clerical knife has several advantages that other knives are hard to compete with.

Advantages of a stationery knife:

• One instead of ten... It will be difficult to cut off the foam or an extra section of wallpaper with ordinary scissors, because it will not turn out smoothly. It is also inconvenient to cut flowers from colored paper with a butter knife. The stationery knife is used in different fields, therefore, in order not to buy dozens of different knives, you can buy only one!
• No sharpening required... always require sharpening, because sharpening steel does not last forever, unfortunately. So, a clerical knife does not need to be sharpened. When the blade becomes dull, you just need to break it off at a special mark. Then the knife will become as sharp as it was in the beginning.
• Safety . What incidents happen with ordinary knives or scissors, we will not tell, otherwise you suddenly want to check. A stationery knife is safe. You can adjust the length of the blade, which is necessary for certain actions. The mechanism tightly fixes the blade in the body, so the chance that it will fall out and damage your hands is zero.

This is how we imperceptibly got to the second question of the article: what to do with a clerical knife after we have chosen and bought it?

Application of a stationery knife:

Stationery knives can be found in tabletop sets, but often this little helper is forgotten and put in a distant drawer. But why? Instead of leaving jagged cuts with regular knives and scissors, you can simply use a utility knife. All straight cuts and safety knives!

Recently, for about six months, I was carried away by cardboard. Naturally, it constantly needs to be cut, I work mainly with packaging cardboard, which has many layers, so you need a knife all the time.

My MK is dedicated to the same "dummies" as me, i.e. beginners to work with paper in large quantities, in different techniques: modular origami (if the modules are cut independently), all types of cutting, modeling, cardboard.

Lately, on the eve of the New Year, many have undertaken to cut pictures, postcards, make vytananks, paper tunnels, often for the first time. I hope that my master class will help save money and materials, since due to ignorance, you can throw out a lot, as I almost did myself.

Experienced craftswomen probably know all the secrets, but after interviewing my closest circle, I realized that for many, these secrets were a revelation. So don't throw your slippers at me, this MK is for "KETTLES" !!!

To begin with, I'll just show you how the knife is disassembled, you also need to know this.
We take a knife, remove the cap from it. We pull, we are not afraid.

The cover is removed. Now pull the knife adjuster in the direction where the lid was, and remove the blade from the knife.

remove the blade from the pin ...

put a new blade on the pin, and repeat all steps in reverse order, i.e. collect the knife.

The knife is assembled!

and now let's move on to the main secret, the ignorance of which almost ruined me in the eyes of my smart and experienced husband;)

A bit of background.
I have a knife, I cut modules, and at some point I realize that the knife is hopelessly dull. What to do? I went to the store, bought just such a box with replaceable blades and came home.
And then the most interesting thing began ... I went up to my husband with a request to replace my dull blade in my knife. I realized from my husband's eyes that I was saying something wrong. The pause dragged on, the husband struggled with visible effort, as if not to say something offensive. But I was already beginning to guess that the dull, apparently, not a blade ... but your humble servant.
My husband then interrogated me for a long time: You really didn't know THIS ??!?!?!?

What did I not know ??? We'll find out now ...

The husband got up from the sofa, went to the closet, took the pliers and, with one magic movement ...

turned a completely dull blade into a VERY sharp one!

All the magic is to grab the blunt end of the blade with pliers and, with a quick and easy movement, break off the blunt piece along the notch on the blade.
ATTENTION: THE KNIFE IS AIMED somewhere to the side, away from the face (just in case, so that some shard does not suddenly fly into the eye, you never know the blade is defective)

And I had no idea what these notches on the blade were for. It turns out that the blade is very easy on them, it breaks off in one movement and we can continue working without hindrance. We do not change the blade, we save time and money. The money, of course, is small, a package of 20 blades costs about 25 rubles, but the time spent on disassembling and assembling a knife is several times more than on simply breaking off a piece.