Paper trimmer blades?

B

BriantheBlade

Joined
Aug 5, 2009
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288
We are getting rid of a bunch of heavy duty paper trimmers at my office and as I was gathering them to put out I noticed the blades seem to about 1/4"-1/2"thick about 12"-14" long pieces of some kind of carbon steel and I was wondering if anybody new what kind they usually are or if they might be made into a good knife blade? I couldnt find anything about these specific trimmers but the info I did manage to find suggested that they might be something like SKH-4 steel??? and most of the blades I have seen say they come fully hardened. Just looking for some input before these get taken to recycling.
Thanks
Brian
 
If they are a solid piece of SKH-4, the specs indicate @ 19% tungsten? Not sure how this effects the properties but usually the high alloy steels require a complex heat treatment schedule. It might make a great knife but makers might avoid it due to other steels that give better performance with less effort (and cost).
 
Keep one as a paper cutter, keep one for cutting sand paper

Sell the rest and buy the steel you want
 
Yeah Im not so sure it will work because when I took one of the off it was really pretty easy to bend and didnt spring back much at all. Maybe its just because its a long thin piece but who knows. Already snagged one for sandpaper but I have no use or space for another since they are pretty big ones. I might just snag one anyway just to test it out. All of the specs I have seen online say that the blades should be fully heat treated so I'm hoping it wont be too much trouble to cut to shape with a regular cut off wheel or hack saw. If anyone else knows anything about it please chime in!
Thanks again,
Brian
 
If they are heat treated and full of tungsten, good luck cutting it with a handsaw :)

Simple test though. Take your pocket knife and see if you can scratch it. If its softer than your pocket knife it probably won't make much of a knife, unless you have a really hard pocket knife.
 
The only found stock I've found that works is industrial planner blades..if one doesn't mind the ~.250" thickness and working with hardened material. Perhaps I was just semi lucky in coming by one though. If your material is anything like this, hacksaws, files, etc will not do anything to it, or atleast nothing significant.
 
Just went and scratched it, seems pretty soft compared to what the stats i found online say so who knows. I think ill just go scrap them and use the money for something else...
Brian
 
How many are there? I'd be saving them for friends or something. They are pretty handy and expensive for good ones. Use the base for a cutting board or something.

I dunno, just seems like one of those things you'd wish you didn't get rid of at some point. And no, I'm not a hoarder. :o
 
yeah i snagged one of the big ones and gave one to my parents. I still have them back in the warehouse so ill figure out something to do with them eventually
Thanks Again
Brian
 
I've wrecked two old school surplus paper cutters and my wife's good scissors on sandpaper... I'd be down for another one... so would she...lol.

Any pics of these things? Some of the larger ones will cut through veneer and laminates material pretty well.
 
No pics sorry but they are the standard Premier green board paper trimmers. I think they are like 24"X 24". If I dont figure out anything else to do with them I could probably get one to ya ill let ya know when I get back in on thursday.
Brian
 
A few years back I traded a fillet knife for two paper cutter blades. I figured they would be 1/4" thick and maybe 1.5X18". They came bolted between two boards of plywood. Each is 48" long, 3/4" thick, 6" wide, and has a 4" high zero grind bevel, which calculates to 10°. There are recessed 3/4" bolt holes every six inches along the 2" flat. They were from a paper mill and used to shear huge stacks of paper to size. The person said they were high Rockwell hardness D-2. I have no plans on making them into knives, but will probably mount one on the end of a work table (with a safety guard covering it when not in use !) as a cutter for sandpaper. I have though of making many other things, like a guillotine, from the other :)
 
bladsmth said:
Each is 48" long, 3/4" thick, 6" wide, and has a 4" high zero grind bevel, which calculates to 10°.
Click to expand...

wow! how about a 2x lifesize scaled up japanese kitchen knife? (like a deba...leave the edge and temper as is, grind the spine and keep the tip and the heel cool) nice.
 
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I use my paper cutter for cutting liner material to rough size before glue up.
 
You've gotta make some Japanese kitchen knives with some of that Stacy. 10° zero edge? That would make one hell of a slicer!

I like islands idea. :thumbup:

GTH- what kinda liner material? Fiber, or g10?
 
Strig, I cut both. I even use use it after glue up to trim the excess. I order my g10 from alpha, I'm shearing I believe . 022 material.
 
bladsmth said:
A few years back I traded a fillet knife for two paper cutter blades. I figured they would be 1/4" thick and maybe 1.5X18". They came bolted between two boards of plywood. Each is 48" long, 3/4" thick, 6" wide, and has a 4" high zero grind bevel, which calculates to 10°. There are recessed 3/4" bolt holes every six inches along the 2" flat. They were from a paper mill and used to shear huge stacks of paper to size. The person said they were high Rockwell hardness D-2. I have no plans on making them into knives, but will probably mount one on the end of a work table (with a safety guard covering it when not in use !) as a cutter for sandpaper. I have though of making many other things, like a guillotine, from the other :)
Click to expand...

Print shops use that type of blade in their paper cutters. In fact we have an electric Challenge paper cutter at Paragon that uses a large blade. After the blade has been sharpened many times, it is no longer wide enough to cut paper and is discarded. If anyone wants that type of steel, ask the print shops in your area to save their discarded cutter blades for you. Be extremely careful in handling large blades. They are razor sharp and strong enough to slide through a ream of 23" x 35" paper like butter.

Sincerely,

Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com
 
That is why these were being discarded. They are super sharp with perfect edges, just not meeting the tolerances required for precise cutting machines that cut all day long.
 
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