Do you cut large volumes of paper or need a precision paper cutter that will create professional cuts? I have compiled a list of paper cutters we offer that can be considered “commercial paper cutters.” Here is what our customers use for their commercial cutting jobs.

1. Stack Paper Cutters – These cutters are the workhorses of the paper cutting industry. If any paper cutter can be considered a commercial paper cutter, these machines fit the bill. This includes stack cutters from Triumph, Dahle and others. This style of paper cutter is designed to cut card stock, reams of paper and much more. These cutters are available in manual, semi-auto and fully-automatic versions. Powered stack cutters are available in electric-powered and hydraulic-powered designs.
2. Kutrimmer Guillotine Paper Trimmers – While not all guillotine paper trimmers can be categorized as commercial paper cutters, Kutrimmer guillotine trimmers deserve the title. These “arm style” trimmers can cut large volumes of paper, are safe to use and offer great precision.
3. Rotatrim Technical & Neolt Rotary Paper Cutters - While these cutters don’t cut large volumes of cutters, they cut large sheets of paper. These cutters are used by architects, drafters, sign makers and more. These cutters are available in manual and electric versions. Some can even be wall mounted.

You can find our entire selection of paper cutters here. Feel free to call 1-800-658-8788 to speak with one of our paper cutter specialists.

I had a customer recently ask me what a self-sharpening blade was and how it worked. The idea is that a cutting blade (found on paper cutters) will sharpen itself every time it is used, thus extending the life of the blade. Here is how a self-sharpening blade works.

Self-sharpening blades are typically found in rotary paper cutters. The base of the paper cutter, on the cutting edge, has a strip of metal along the entire length of the cutter. As the cutting blade is used to cut paper, it also rubs against this metal strip, causing the blade to sharpen. The concept is very similar to a knife and grinding stone.

Does a self-sharpening blade really work? That is up for debate. I have had some people tell me they work like a charm and that they’re are able to get years of cutting use out of a blade, but I’ve also had other people tell me it is a marketing gimmick. I tend to believe there is a little of both involved.

I don’t believe a self-sharpening cutting blade will never dull, but I also believe the self-sharpening design helps remove nicks and chips from the cutting wheel, thus prolonging the life of the blade. I also believe  self-sharpening technology helps keep the blade sharper for a longer period of time versus not having it at all.

As previously mentioned, self-sharpening technology is found in many rotary paper trimmers. You can find our entire selection of rotary paper trimmers here.

Are you a scrapbooker or need a paper cutter for cutting down paper, photographs and card stock using interchangeable blades with different cutting patterns? One line of cutters you may want to consider using is the Carl RT-200 or the Car RT-218 rotary paper cutters. I have personally used these cutters and this is my review.

I originally got a Carl RT-200 for my wife as a Christmas present. She really liked it and ended up asking me to buy a few additional cutting blades. The Carl RT-200 comes with a straight blade, but optional blades may be purchased. These blades include a scoring blade, a perforating blade, a scallop blade, a Victorian blade and many more. In all, there are about 11 blades you can get for the RT-200 and RT-218.

My wife primarily uses the RT-200 to cut down photographs, but has also used it to cut down patterned paper. You know, the paper that you get at craft stores that has flowers and stuff printed on it. As a guy, and being pretty unfamiliar with the scrapbooking world, I don’t know the exact terminology for this stuff.

My wife has had the RT-200 for about two years now and it still works well. The blades themselves are very easy to change out, so if for any reason a blade does go dull, no problem. I’m not saying my wife is hard to please, but if she still likes the cutter after two years, it’s a pretty safe bet many people will as well.

The RT-200 and RT-218 aren’t designed for high-volume cutting. They are primarily targeted towards hobby, scrapbooking and light-volume use. For the price though, they are great little cutters.

Both cutters are rated at cutting 10 sheets of standard 20# paper at a time. The only difference between both models of cutter is the cutting length. The RT-200 has a 12-inch cutting length and the RT-218 has an 18-inch cutting length.

Having used these cutters myself, I have to say that my overall impression is pretty high. Both the Carl RT-200 and RT-218 easily compete with (and exceed) Fiskars, Purple Cows and other popular hobby cutters.

You can find both the Carl RT-200 and RT-218 rotary paper trimmers here. You can find our entire selection of rotary paper cutters here.

So you’ve just laminated a photograph, menu, business card or other document and need an effective way to cut off the excess lamination film. What is the best way to do this? Paper cutters are the most common tool used to do this. So which paper cutter should you use? Here are some ideas.

To begin with, what are you laminating and cutting? If you are trying to cut excess laminating film down to the edge of the document, there is really only one type of paper cutter that you will want to use. This type of paper cutter is called a rotary paper cutter (found here). These paper cutters are designed for precision and make it possible to cut right up to the edge of the document without wavering or being crooked.

What if you simply need to cut the laminated document in half or down in size? If this is the case, you will then want to determine how many sheets you will cut in a day and what your cutting volume will be. For low to medium-volume cutting, a rotary paper cutter (found here) is still probably your best option. Rotary paper cutters can be used to trim excess film and cut documents down to size.

If you need to cut several laminated documents at a time, for medium to higher-volume cutting, a guillotine paper trimmer (found here) may be a good option. These types of cutters, especially Kutrimmer, can cut 10-40 sheets at a time (depending on the model). These cutters are still very precise and easy to use.

If you need to cut hundreds of laminated documents down to size, perhaps business cards, you will want to use a stack paper cutter (found here). These types of paper cutters can still be used to cut laminated documents and are still very accurate. They are designed for medium to high-volume cutting.

Be aware, however, that cutting lamination film will dull the paper cutter blade faster than cutting paper by itself. This shouldn’t be too much of a concern as laminated paper doesn’t significantly increase the rate of dulling.

I have personally used Rotatrim paper cutters to cut laminated documents down to size and find them to be very effective. You can find our entire selection of paper cutters here.

As is the case with most sharp objects, they will eventually become dull. This is the case with many high-end paper cutters as well. Over time, paper will dull a blade. So how do you go about getting the blade re-sharpened? You have a couple of options.

So what can dull a paper cutter blade faster than the normal rate of wear? Cutting plastic and laminated paper will wear down a blade faster than normal. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t cut plastic or laminated paper, but blade wear should be taken into consideration. Accidentally cutting staples and paper clips will also cause a blade to wear out prematurely.

Be aware that not all blades can be re-sharpened. Some entry level and low-end cutters are designed with a throwaway blade, which means you will have to get a new blade. For many cutters, sharpening is an affordable way to keep a paper cutter going.

MBM’s line of Triumph cutters is a good example of a cutter that can be re-sharpened. Once the blade becomes dull, it can be easily removed and re-sharpened. Many people like to keep two blades on hand to eliminate downtime. This way the cutter can still be used while the other blade is sharpened.

If you don’t know if your blade can be sharpened or not, call our Service Department at 1-800-658-8788 x129 or fill out this form. They will be able to quickly let you know if this is an option.

If your blade can be sharpened, where do you do this? There are a few options. First of all, our Service Department can have your blade sharpened at our facilities here. They can also help you find someone in your local are that can sharpen the blade.

I have had many customers tell me that you should go to a local barbershop or salon to find out where they get their scissors sharpened. Often the same people that sharpen those scissors can sharpen a paper cutter blade. I have never done this myself, but have had customers swear by it.

What if you sharpen a blade that isn’t supposed to be sharpened? I have heard of customers that have attempted to have a blade sharpened that wasn’t intended to. The end result is usually mixed. Because the metal in disposable blades isn’t meant to be sharpened, the blade will often break or become irreversibly damaged.

Our Service Department is very knowledgeable. They are more than happy to help. For paper cutter maintenance, blade sharpening or repair, call 1-800-658-8788 x129. If you need a new paper cutter, our huge selection of paper cutters can be found here.

Good luck sharpening your paper cutter!

So next month I will be celebrating my 10-year wedding anniversary. At 10 years, I can’t help but reflect back on that time prior to getting married. To begin with, my fiancé and I didn’t have a lot of money. I can still remember talking about how we were going to come up with wedding invitations. We had to create hundreds of them, and it wasn’t going to be cheap.

We ended up deciding to make them ourselves. We would potentially save hundreds of dollars. Now I understand not everyone will want to go down this route, but here is what we did.

Thinking back on it now, I can’t help but laugh a little. Many of the machines we used to make our invitations I now help sell through ABC Office.

Materials Used:

• Navy blue card stock
• Linen card stock cover (light tan)
• Velum paper
• 1/4-inch wide ribbon

Equipment Used:

• Single-hole punch
• Stack paper cutter
• Paper folding machine
• High-resolution copy machine

These are the steps we took to create the invitation:

1. First of all, we single-folded the navy blue cardstock in half. We didn’t fold it along the shortest part of the paper, but the longest part of the paper.
2. We then took the light tan linen card stock and printed a picture my father-in-law took with his digital camera along with the wording, location of the reception, etc. We printed (in black & white) two invitations per one-sheet of light card stock. Once printed, we cut the light tan linen card stock on a manual stack cutter down the center of the longest part of the paper.
3. The cut tan card stock now fit nicely into the single-folded navy blue card stock. We were lucky enough to find a copy shop that had a high-resolution copier as well as a paper folder and a stack cutter that they let us use for free.
4. We then went on to cut a bunch of 8 ½ x 11-inch velum paper with the stack paper cutter. Now that everything was folded and cut, we were able to put everything together.
5. We put the velum paper on top of the printed picture and slid it into the navy-blue folded cover. Once we finished this, we single-hole punched the corners of the invitations. My fiancé cut ribbon into four to five-inch lengths that we threaded through the punched corners and then tied. The ribbon helped keep everything together.

The invitations were a hit and we got several compliments from people on how unique they were. I think they meant “unique” in a good way. Sure we saved a lot of money, but I now also have some great memories of making invitations with my wife.

The type of equipment and supplies we used then (that I now help sell) are the stack paper cutters (found here), paper folding machines (found here), single-hole punches (found here) and the card stock (found here).

I hope this helps someone facing a similar situation. Now I need to talk with my wife and see if I can get a picture of the invitations so you can all see what they looked like.

Do you have experiences making your own wedding invitations? Post your comments here!

Not all paper cutters are created equal, especially when it comes to precision cutting. There are several reasons for this.  If you are a photographer, or require precision cutting, you may want to consider using a Rotatrim Professional “M” Series paper trimmer. These Trimmers used to be known as the Rotatrim Mastercut series.

Why choose Rotatrim and what is so nice about the Professional line of paper cutters? There are several reasons why Rotatrim is the king of rotary (roller) paper trimmers and cutters. I am going to break down this cutter and explain why you may want to consider using a Rotatrim.

• Cutting Blade: The cutting blade is really big in this Rotatrim cutter. This allows the blade to easily cut through thick paper and card stock without stumbling. Smaller blades require more force to get the same job done.
• Rails: The Rotatrim Professional series paper cutters use two round rails. This adds a lot of extra stability to the cutting blade. If you have ever used an alternate rotary trimmer, you may have noticed how much play there is in a single-bar system.
• Clamping Mechanism: The Rotatrim Professional series paper cutter has a plastic clamping mechanism that keeps paper in place. The clamp is activated by the cutting head, which means the maximum amount of cutting pressure is being applied where the blade is cutting.
• Base: Many rotary paper trimmers and cutters use a folded sheet metal base. Rotatrim uses a wood bade which is much heavier. Because the base is heavier, there is a lot less movement in the cutter on the surface of a table. This allows for straighter cuts.

Rotatrim paper cutters are no longer just being used by photographers. There is a growing movement in the scrapbooking world by scrapbook to start using Rotatrim cutters. Most realize Rotatrim costs more than a Fiskars or Purple Cow trimmer, but they also realize that the Rotatrim cutter will last a decade or more and the cutting quality is unsurpassed.

There are eight different sizes available. These are the M-12, M-15, M-18, M24, M-30, M-35, M-42 and M-54. The number is the length of the trimmer in inches.

I like to think that I am open minded when it comes to Rotary paper trimmers. I have used Carl, Dahle, Fiskars, Keencut, Foster and other cutters. I have to say that Rotatrim is the king of them all. You can find our Rotatrim Professional Series paper cutters here. Our entire line of rotary paper trimmer and cutters can be found here.

In need of a gift for your mother, but have run out of ideas? No worries. We have a few great gift ideas that our customers, and some of our employees, have used to put a smile on mom’s face for Mother’s Day. Here are just a few of those ideas:

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas:

Laminators: Laminators are always popular with mothers who like to collect photos of children or grandchildren. Laminators can be used to protect and preserve photographs. Consider the Sircle HQ-230 (found here) or the Fellowes EXL 45-2 (found here).

Paper Cutters: Paper cutters are very popular with mothers who like to scrapbook, cut photographs and create crafts. Carl brand cutters are especially popular (found here). Our Carl RT-200 is especially popular (found here).

Emergency Preparedness Kits: With all the earthquakes occurring throughout the world today, you can never be too safe. Let your mother know how much you love her by getting her a 72-hour kit. You can found all our 72-hour kits here.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Rotatrim has made a significant name for themselves over the years with their line of rotary paper cutters. Photographers, copy shops, scrap bookers and more consider Rotatrim cutters the Holy Grail of rotary paper cutters. Why is it that these British-Made cutters are so popular? Are they really as good as everyone says they are?

There are a couple of reasons the Rotatrim line is popular. Most of this boils down to quality and build. Rotatrim cutters are heavy and made from solid components. If you ever have the chance to handle a Rotatrim next to another cutter, you will be amazed at the difference in quality. In many instances, the difference is as stark as comparing a bicycle to a Porsche.

The Rotatrim Professional Series of cutters are considered to be some of the best cutters made by Rotatrim. The cutting wheel is large, making cutting effortless, and the cutting head itself rests on two support bars. These two bars keep the cutting head solidly in place, preventing movement. This means cuts are very accurate and very straight every time.

While Rotatrim rotary cutters cost more up front, chances are pretty good that they will last for years. Many have reported their Rotatrim cutters lasting up to 10+ years. Now compare that to a Fiskars cutter, which you may be replacing every few months. The costs makes itself up quickly.

You can find our line of Rotatrim Professional Cutters here. If you need a rotary cutter, but the Rotatrim is a little much for you, here are five great high-quality alternatives.

Great Rotatrim Alternatives:

• Akiles Roll-@-Blade
• Carl MR Series Rotary Cutters
• Dahle 550 Series Cutters
• Dahle 440 Series Rotary Cutters
• Foster Keencut Classic

Scrapbooking is certainly nothing new, but it continues to grow in popularity. We often get questions from customers asking which of our paper cutters are best for scrapbooking. I can understand why this may be difficult, especially since we literally have hundreds of models available.

To help narrow your search, the two most popular scrapbook paper cutter categories are rotary paper cutters and arm paper trimmers. Both types of cutters are compact, portable and easy to use.

Rotary paper trimmers use a round blade to cut through paper and are very precise. Arm paper trimmers use a single blade that is pulled down with a hand. The cutting action is similar to that of scissors. Arm cutters are also accurate. Between the two types, rotary paper cutters are more popular.

Rotary paper cutters are the most popular types of paper cutters because they are so versatile. They can be used to cut decorative paper, photographs, borders and more. Some models of rotary cutters, such as the Carl RT-200, have interchangeable cutting blades with different patters. Patterns include a wavy cut, a zig-zag cut and much more.

Here is a list of some popular rotary paper cutters used by scrapbookers:

Carl RT-200 Trimmer
Rotatrim Professional Series Trimmer
Carl CC-10 Trimmer
Carl DC-210 Trimmer
Dahle 550 Trimmer

Happy scrapping!