paper cutters

It’s mighty hard to cut paper evenly with a hand lever cutter, that being said it is better than nothing (or tearing). The best moderately priced cutter is made by Kutrimmer. You can find cheaper cutters around, but I particularly like the hold down and the strength of the blade. Having your paper cut at another shop is a great way to get to know others in the trade and can have perks like picking up jobs that the other printer might not care to bother with. You can expect to pay $1.00 per cut at most shops. Since I sold my Challenge cutter I have managed with lever cutters and the occasional visit to another shop -it’s not so bad, but having a really good power cutter can’t be beat.

Paul

Paul…..normally I agree with you, but I have to disagree on this one. Cutting paper evenly on a lever cutter is not difficult at all. I’ve owned several lever cutters: A Schniedewend, a Challenge, and most recently a Par-A-Gon, and all three will slice a full ream of paper just as clean and neat as any power cutter if you keep the blade sharp. ( they would also take your finger off in a heartbeat, but that’s another topic.)

However….. if you are talking about a school-type paper trimmer, you would be right. They are difficult to use, and slow. This is especially so of the cheap trimmers sold in office supply houses. They are of such low quality that they aren’t even of much use in an office setting.

About tearing: Tearing is an excellent method of reducing paper for printing…. especially if you are printing art-prints or other work where a rough edge is acceptable. We routinely tear the edges of paper for books in the “manuscript” style, certificates, and invitations. Done correctly, a torn edge can be an enhancement over a boring, machine-cut piece of paper.

I was working from the bottom up, talking about the cheap guillotine tabletop cutters with no hold down, recommending over that the Kutrimmer. My Challenge was a 19” lever cutter and was fine if you didn’t want to cut a large stack of good sized paper (or a 23” x 35” parent sheet). A large power cutter is the most useful, but a lot more expensive and takes a lot of room in a tiny shop. I will disagree about tearing paper tho. I find it neither attractive nor usefull (unless you don’t have a cutter at all). Faux deckle is not for me - real deckle now that’s were it’s at!

Paul

;) I can agree to disagree on the torn-edge debate. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I do concurr that attempts at faux-deckle on thicker stock are a bit unattractive.

Aesthetic debates are never definitively settled….. since everyone’s taste varies a little.