TOTT: Day Four

Posted on by Dr-Omega

Tools of the Trade

Day Four: Olfa Art Knife

A few years ago, I spent each day in January writing about a different tool I use in my maskmaking. As I am currently redesigning my entire website in the new year, I thought it might be nice to revisit this project.  Each day in January 2021, I’ll share a different item that I use in my studio. I hope some of these can help other people who are interested in making wrestling masks. 

So while I do most of my fabric cutting with Kai Professional Shears, and do most of my parts trimming with Olfa SCS-1s, when I’m cutting vinyl or leather for the various plates ion my masks, I almost always use an Olfa Art Knife. More specifically, I use a special handmade version that I bought a couple of years ago at Design Festa, a big arts and crafts show in Tokyo. A wood turner I met makes these awesome handles, inside of which is a standard Olfa Art knife. I find that the chunkier handle is much easier on my hand when I’m cutting vinyl for an hour or more. This is one of my favourite tools I own.

The Japanese made Olfa blades are top of the line. The 45 degree angle is excellent for cutting. (A lot of folks use the standard Xacto #11 blades that are commonly found most anywhere, but I find the metal that Xacto uses to be too brittle, and I’m constantly breaking the tips off those blades. I do use them when I’m just cutting paper, since I don’t have to bear down nearly as much as when I’m cutting vinyl and leather.) Olfa blades are durable and sharp; they just slide through vinyl like butter. I also like how they come in a handy little plastic case that keeps them safe while sitting next to my tool jar. Plus, there’s an empty section of the box, and when you open the top, there’s a little slit that aligns with the empty compartment. This means you can use the same box as a container for blades that have gone dull, keeping your fingers safe and allowing you to easily dispose of the blades when the box is full.

There are a few other knives I use regularly. First is the VViViD retractable, which uses a 30 degree snap-off blade. The handle is very comfortable. I use this knife when I’m cutting very small details and need to make lots of sharp turns.

Next is another Olfa knife, one with a snap-off 9mm blade. (I can’t find this exact knife online, but this one is similar.) Nice slim and sharp blade, I keep this one next to my cutting table and use it to make rough cuts in my vinyl, separating the parts I traced patterns on from the larger body of material.

Last is a cheapo snap-off knife, probably from Harbor Freight. I use this to quickly cut down pattern paper.

I always like to try out new knives, so I have a bunch laying around that get varied levels of use. 

The top one is a standard metal Olfa art knife, which is what I used until I got that wooden grip version.

Next is a Fiskars SoftGrip Craft Knife, which accepts standard Xacto blades. The grip on this one is very comfortable.

The green knife is an Excel Blades Fitgrip Knife, which also takes Xacto blades and has a nice grip on it. It’s inexpensive and comes in several colours. I keep this one next to my computer, which is where I frequently cut my patterns (for some odd reason.)

Lastly is the Xacto Craft Tools #1 Knife, which has a nice ergonomic grip. (But I find myself reaching for the Excel Fitgrip more often!) This knife also comes in a variant that has a swivel blade, but I’ve never gotten the hang of it.

 

Finally we have these Fiskars knives with a more radical form factor. All of these slip over your index finger, allowing you to naturally grip the shaft right above the blade. These are, top to bottom, a standard #11 blade, a swivel blade (again, I don’t really know how to use these effectively), and a rotary cutter (which I can’t find a link for). Jade Masks frequently uses the top one, or a similar equivalent.

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