Cardboard, mortal enemy of sharp knives

My Queen Canoe with D2 blades would cut cardboard all day and still take hair off my arm. Did it many times.

Still upset that I lost it...
 
elkins45 said:
Why do you think cutting at an angle helps?
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It allows the two halves of the material to separate easier than a 90 degree approach.

If you go straight in the two halves of the cardboard push inward together and felt resistance increases since the blade is contacting the cardboard under pressure and drag is created.

Same principle is used when cutting dense veggies in the kitchen, carrots get cut @45 degrees

Back OT; if a few cuts on cardboard cause my knife to lose the shaving edge that means one of two things. Either the cardboard was impregnated with some dirt or sand from it's previous use or I didn't remove the burr and it got knocked off/rolled during the cut.
 
Vivi said:
Two things to keep in mind when cutting cardboard that will minimize dulling and the required force to cut the media...cut with the grain, and don't cut straight into the cardboard, rather put your knife at an angle. Here is a photo to show what I mean:

nwlh5k.jpg
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There you go. That's what I've been trying to explain before, but I never used a picture lol

elkins45 said:
Why do you think cutting at an angle helps?
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It makes cutting cardboard easier by about 1000 fold :D
 
M2 high speed steel has out done anything I've tried on cardboard, from AUS-6 (no surprise) to CPM S60V. I was half way through my test and it would still shave hair on my arm above the skin. This is power hacksaw blade steel, M2 at 64-66 HRc, and surprisingly tough at that hardness and a tiny machete geometry, 12 degree per side convex edge ground on 0.05" thick stock, no primary bevel, 5" long by 1" wide blade.
 
I used to cut cardboard boxes every day for about 5 years. Thousands. With all the knives I own and have tried , NOTHING worked better than an Olfa utility knife with snap-off blades. Everything else is too thick. And with the dulling nature of cardboard , snap a section off , and you're good to go. I'm talking about practical cardboard cutting on a continual daily basis.
 
It probably keeps the 2 outer side walls from crushing in and merging together. This is just my guess. I love my cardboard time at the recycling bin. This is where my knives and I are at our very best. Paramilitary in D2 all day long. I get shipped a lot of product from work, so I am always over boxed, and then there is Costco cardboard from the fortnight shopping trips, which always give me my "me and my knife" quality time to break it all down to fit neat and orderly into the bin.
 
I had an Emerson CQC14 in 154CM. The knife was great, but 154CM has never really impressed me. However, in this knife with Emerson's chisel grind it sliced through cardboard like butter. My D2 Para will be here this week, Ill let you know how it handles it.
 
hiwa said:
I used to cut cardboard boxes every day for about 5 years. Thousands. With all the knives I own and have tried , NOTHING worked better than an Olfa utility knife with snap-off blades. Everything else is too thick. And with the dulling nature of cardboard , snap a section off , and you're good to go. I'm talking about practical cardboard cutting on a continual daily basis.
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It's called 'the right tool for the job.'

We don't slash through jungle with a Spyderco Military, we use a Machete.
We don't use a Machete to slice up our tomatoes. We use a kitchen knife.
We don't use a kitchen knife to baton firewood. We use a bushcraft knife.
So why do so many people insist on cutting cardboard with the wrong tools?

Sure, you 'can' slash through jungle vines with a Spydie. You 'can' slice tomatoes with a machete. Etc., etc., etc. You can also hammer a nail with the back of a wrench, but a hammer works better. A lot better. A replaceable blade box cutter works best for boxes. That why they call it a box cutter. :D

Stitchawl
 
stitchawl said:
A replaceable blade box cutter works best for boxes. That why they call it a box cutter. :D

Stitchawl
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If I didn't cut boxes with my knives, I'd be reducing my knife usage by about 97%. Where's the fun in that?
 
When I don't have my daily carry Machete, kitchen knife, bushcraft knife, ax, hatchet, scissors, etc. on me, I find my M2 and M4 knives seem to cut cardboard longest without totally losing a reasonably sharp edge.
 
stitchawl said:
It's called 'the right tool for the job.'

We don't slash through jungle with a Spyderco Military, we use a Machete.
We don't use a Machete to slice up our tomatoes. We use a kitchen knife.
We don't use a kitchen knife to baton firewood. We use a bushcraft knife.
So why do so many people insist on cutting cardboard with the wrong tools?

Sure, you 'can' slash through jungle vines with a Spydie. You 'can' slice tomatoes with a machete. Etc., etc., etc. You can also hammer a nail with the back of a wrench, but a hammer works better. A lot better. A replaceable blade box cutter works best for boxes. That why they call it a box cutter. :D

Stitchawl
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I'll second that little bit of common sense. :thumbup:
 
At first this idea struck me as wrong, but looking at the cardboard - you're going to cut 5 layers of it regardless of which angle you hit. It looks like taking an angle would make the cardboard more rigid and less likely to collapse right at the start of the cut. And you could avoid hitting some of the parts of the cardboard that are most difficult to cut - where 2 layers are glued together. huh.

It strikes me as opposite oof what you would first think, because you're just cutting more material if you use the same logic for cutting any "normal" type of homogeneous material.
 
stitchawl said:
It's called 'the right tool for the job.'

We don't slash through jungle with a Spyderco Military, we use a Machete.
We don't use a Machete to slice up our tomatoes. We use a kitchen knife.
We don't use a kitchen knife to baton firewood. We use a bushcraft knife.
So why do so many people insist on cutting cardboard with the wrong tools?

Sure, you 'can' slash through jungle vines with a Spydie. You 'can' slice tomatoes with a machete. Etc., etc., etc. You can also hammer a nail with the back of a wrench, but a hammer works better. A lot better. A replaceable blade box cutter works best for boxes. That why they call it a box cutter. :D

Stitchawl
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I love common sense and all, lord knows I can always use more of it, but remember how the topic was "What knives stay sharper longer when cutting carboard," not, "Tell me why I should be using another tool that's not already in my pocket"?
 
sircantaloupe said:
I love common sense and all, lord knows I can always use more of it, but remember how the topic was "What knives stay sharper longer when cutting carboard," not, "Tell me why I should be using another tool that's not already in my pocket"?
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You're right. I forgot that the goal wasn't to cut cardboard... :o

Stitchawl
 
If you are doing a lot of cardboard cutting then a box cutter is the way to go. It will out cut any spydie in production.
It's kind of funny how so many people here are so intent on using their folders for this just because it's 'cool' or 'fun'. Seems like they don't want to use the right tool because it shows them how little they actually need their knives.
 
Tenacious said:
It's kind of funny how so many people here are so intent on using their folders for this just because it's 'cool' or 'fun'. Seems like they don't want to use the right tool because it shows them how little they actually need their knives.
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Why is that funny? You don't like to do things that are cool and fun?

:confused:
 
Sometimes the right (specialized) tool isn't available. But whatever the reason there isn't anything stupid about using a pocket knife to cut cardboard, I think that task is solidly in the expected role for that tool.
 
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