[wildbill001]

I have come into possession of about 50 8x11" sheets of heavy cardboard.  Think twice the thickness of cardstock.  I want to cut it into strips about 3/16" or 1/4" wide to build some stock/cattle cars. 

I have a small paper-cutter but can't seem to hold the cardstock firmly enough to get a straight cut.  For example, as I start to bring the knife down, the stock seems to twist/slide towards the bottom of the sheet.  Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, saw a different style of cutter in the hobby store that uses a circular blade that you run across the stock.  Has anyone used one of those and if so, how well do they work?  Any suggestions as to how to cut these strips? 

Oh, yes, I know I will have to seal the stock with shellac or lacquer or such to stiffen it and prepare for painting.

Thanks in advance.

Wildbill

 

[Guest]

try it with a carpet knife or a scalpell, running along a steel ruler.
or, if the material is not very hard, give it a try with  an ordinary circular pizza cutter.

 

[Paul Norton]

If you can raise the paper cutter, perhaps you could hold the stock with a couple of clamps.
 
The circular cutter would have less drag than the knife, so it would probably not twist the stock. You would have to check to see what thickness of stock it would handle. It probably could be used to score styrene as well.
 
The next step up is a matte cutter used for picture framing, but they can be expensive.

 

[wildbill001]

Matte-cutter !  DOH!  I got one of those----somewhere.

I'll give that a try.

Thanks

Bill

 

[Dwight Ennis]

DOH! I got one of those----somewhere.
That sort of thing happens to me all the time.

 

[Pete Thornton]

Bill,

If it is that thick that a guillotine-type paper-cutter won't work, you can cut it with a circular saw - a modelmaking version with a small blade. Use a plywood blade and run it slowly.

 

[Richard Smith]

You can cut thick (or multi-layers of) cardboard on a bandsaw. You'd probably need a finer toothed blade for strathmore type cardboard for a neat cut but I've cut heavy corrugated on my bandsaw many times. For cutting into strips it'd probably work best to tape two pieces of sacrificial corrugated around the stack of good cardboard and use a fence or a wooden or metal guide strip clamped to the saw table.