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I was thinking about tools the other day, and what was my most valuable tool. At first I thought it was the Mack # 10 ... 000 sword striper -- since it's made more money for me than any tool I could think of.
I thought about other tools like the cordless drill. What a time saver. But the tool I probably use the most is that stupid little snap-off blade knife.
I even buy my work pants with the pockets in the legs just to accomodate this important tool.
I started using it before I got into sign making when I did painting and decorating for a living. I used it for hanging wallpaper and always had it around for opening boxes, widdling pencils, etc.
When I got into sign painting I discovered it would cut the top off an aluminum pop can to make a nice small paint pot. I favored it over exacto knives for cutting mask for lighted sign work.
When we got into vinyl work, its importance really soared, because we use it to weed, cut, well hell I've even used it to cut cheese and salomi at beer-30.
When I go to the lumber yard I buy a gross of them at a whack and stash them all over the place, so I'm always within a step of them when their needed.
They turn up in the laundry, on the night stand and I even found one in the pocket of my bathrobe ... which encouraged me to write this post.
I salute you "ye olde snap-off blade knife" because without you it would be ... well ... DULL!
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2107 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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X-acto blades snap apart pretty easily too Bill. I snap the ends off when they start gettin dull and it gives 'em new life. When it gets to the point the blade body needs to be cut before it will snap, I toss the blade.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Bill, I love the snap off blade knives and buy them in bulk too, only for other reasons. Mine play hide & seek. I swear I can set down an unopened pack of them & as soon as I turn my back, they open the package themselves, then run & find all kinds of odd hiding places. Still trying to figure out how 1 got in the shop freezer, probably same way the cordless phone ended up in there once too. On a job, there is often 1 in my backpocket.
As for the 1 in your bathrobe... not even gonna think about what role-playing games you & Jane were playing that involved a knife & your bathrobe. Where there handcuffs in the other pocket? Please don't answer that!
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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You caught me Kissy! Jane wanted me to SNAP to attention. Well there's no POINT in discussing it further. Even us old folks want to be on the CUTTING edge of life.
I do know what you mean about those things wanting to wander off. That's why I buy so many and put them all over the place. If you've been using a blue one, all of a sudden it will disappear, so you grab the orange one, but it's down to the last blade......I hate that.
I like it when all the blades are fresh and haven't been snapped off yet. It's a secure feeling. Oh well ... a SLICE of life, ain't it.
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2107 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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The one that annoys me...!! When he doesn't retract the blade all the way into the holder so there is knife edge sticking out, puts THAT in his pocket and then it goes through the laundry!! EVERYTHING in with those pair of jeans is now shredded!! But then I guess that is the new fad that all the kids will pay "extra" for...cuts all over your jeans. I'm surprised he hasn't cut himself, reaching into that pocket later...well, he probably has, but he wouldn't tell me because I bitch about him leaving the blades out!!! Don't you just love it!!
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3485 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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Cut em off at the knees when first purchased Rick, that way they won't have enough time to grow new ones before blades are used up...
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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I mark boxes "Nuclear Waste" and store away my new blades and squegees in there. If nothing else, it reminds people how important they are when they get a new one out.
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The snap off blades are ok. My fav is the number 11 'xacto blade . . . but who's the genius who created the handle round? As in ROLLING around . . . they roll away at will . . .
Anyway, that's the only blade I use for weeding, hand-cuttin' vinyl, opening packages, perfect for trimming any number of things, and it works PERFECT for cleaning & cutting cuticles and scraping paint from under my fingernails . . .
Worst blade mishap:
In a hurry to finish a deadline, applying some vinyl, I was intermitently sticking the handle-end in my mouth to hold the knife, freeing both hands . . . at one point I so quickly reached up to grab the thing, I drove the blade right thru the first knuckle on the middle finger of my right hand, up to the hilt so the tip of the blade came out on the other side of my finger! OW!
I immediately began freaking out about being able to hand-letter again or play guitar!! That's ALL I worried about. A freind of mine was there cuttin' grass, and he was like 'You're bleedin' to death . . ."
I'm like, WHO CARES -whadda I have to live for anymore!"
lol
Finally I went to the ER. Then I waited for like 2 hours to find out I needed about 2 stitches. I was about to walk out.
No NO don't leave! the nurse said, here's the Dr. again . . .
That's only two pricks ya know. But they wanted me to wait another who-knows-how-long to get a novicaine shot, and WAIT for IT to take affect... I said either you sew it up NOW or I'm leavin'. If you walk out that door again to go get ANYTHING else I'm leavin'! I don't need a big novicaine shot to keep me from feelin' half the pricks of you sewing. JUST DO IT!
LOL.
I still can't straighten that finger perfectly, but it did'nt affect my skills. . . still no good at music or paintin'. . . LOL
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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Sheila, go to Staples. In the aisle with the school project stuff, they have exactos in a black case. The bladeholder has a black handle that isn't round! It's 4 or 6 sided. It'll still roll a little bit, but not nearly as far as the round ones.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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I have apiece of masking tape wrapped around my trusty Exacto, with a tab hanging out to stop it from rolling.
About 13 years ago when I worked in a sign shop, I was swatting at a fly on my leg with my exacto in hand & laid my leg open! Oh yea, the fat in my leg rolled right out, had to get about 6 stitches, I think.
Last week, I went to my doctor & she used a "scalpel", a glorified Exacto knife, to slice open my cyst on my back with NO pain killer. I told her I used one in my shop every day. I go back in a week to get the whole thing cut out & removed, but she said she will numb it first. Yee-ha!
-------------------- The Word in Signs Bobbie Rochow Jamestown, PA 16134
724-927-6471
thewordinsigns@alltel.net Posts: 3485 | From: Jamestown, PA 16134 | Registered: Oct 2002
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oh! More fun than you know what to do with, I'm sure!
-------------------- Catharine C. Kennedy CCK Graphics 1511 Route 28 Chatham Center, NY 12184 cck1620@taconic.net "Look at me, Look at me, Look at me now! I't's fun to have fun, But you have to know how!" Posts: 2173 | From: downtown Chatham Center, NY | Registered: Feb 2004
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I know you'll all think I'm retarded but... I SHARPEN my snap-off blades. Yes, you heard me! I can't stand to snap the blades off. Two snaps and the blade's no good to me. I'll keep a blade going for over a month or more, otherwise I feel like I've failed. Same with the Xacto's. I find it's like therapy, the Zen of sharpening. I actually keep a sharpener in my pocket for those outside jobs, one of those little diamond "fishhook sharpeners" from WalMart. I keep a few diamonds and stones and strops around the shop to keep the edges sharp.
On the grosser side, I always thought that a snap-off blade would be a nasty weapon to stab someone with. Stab and snap! No pulling that one out. Yikes! But not with MY blade. I'm not snapping that for anybody. I don't care how mad you make me.
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Bobbie Rochow: , I was swatting at a fly on my leg with my exacto in hand & laid my leg open! Oh yea, the fat in my leg rolled right out, had to get about 6 stitches, I think.
Hmm home liposuction.. you're giving me an idea.... I have about 5lbs just stuck across the front of my stomach and a little bit still hangin in there on the insides of my legs... this crap ain't budgin' and I have a good supply of super glue onhand....
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Never go anywhere without one in my back pocket. In fact there is one in the trash can near the Brisbane Airport Security ... it was either that or walk 1/2 mile back to the car park cause it wasn't going to make the flight with me.
What do you do with the snapped off blades? Potential hazards in trash cans or left on the bench. We have several stategicly placed glass jars with a slot cut in the lid. In goes the snap-offs and any other sharps. When its full it goes in the trash.
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If the country comes under attack by terrorists, I'm armin' myself with snap-off blade knives. I don't think there's any defense against them. It'd be their worst nightmare.
I say, "Bring it on, O'Sama yo mammma!"
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2107 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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I always have a snap blade on me at work, usually in my right rear pocket, and often forget to leave it in the shop at the end of the day. I had to make a trip to the local courthouse one day and was asked to place any metal objects into a bin before pasing through the metal detector. I placed my keys, pocket change and my mini tape measure into the bin and went in.
After I'd finished my business, I walked outside and realised that I STILL had my blade on me the whole time. The metal detector never picked it up.
Scary thought... Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Yep, I think I've seen some triangular shaped handles somewhere too . . . sometimes I use 'grippers' on the handles -those little rubber-grip things that kids get to put on school pencils. They help keep 'em from rollin' and also the bright colours make 'em easier to see.
And some of mine have bright yellow vinyl strips around the handles.
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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I'm another one who resharpens exactos. I used to snap the tip off like Mike mentions, but sometimes the little hook you can get at the start of the bend was a problem, so after I got a diamond sharpener, I just give the exacto a few wipes on that every so often and you'll get weeks & weeks out of it. (I originally got the diamond sharpener to touch up tungsten-tipped router blades while routing heavy hardwood signs.) I masking-tape a bic pen cap to the top of each exacto, to prevent them from rolling.
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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I use the Olfa stainless knife with stainless blades. I have been carrying the same one for six years. I figure at about $8 ea., I have gotten my moneys worth out of this one. I have it and a gold squegee with me all of the time.
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On a job, there is often 1 in my backpocket.![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Where there handcuffs in the other pocket? Please don't answer that!
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