Stupid question

S

schwome

Joined
Jan 7, 2009
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I know there r no stupid questions, but this is a stupid question none the less. I used my Izula today to shred up a half inch thick role of cardboard I got from work. It is kinda like a 5 foot long toilet paper role, only a half inch thick. I guess this is kinda consedered hard use. It dulled my edge a little, which surpised me because while verry dense cardboard, it was not wood. When I was cutting chunks out of the cardboard I was kinda pushing the edge if u will, running the ege from tip to handle. I usually pull the edge running it from handle to tip, but I had better cutting ability pushing the egde, cutting with the belly of the blade. Is this bad on the edge, or is this ok. I did not dull much, but was not sure if this was normal or not. I was using these cardboadr scraps to mix into dryer lint to make a good fire startter for my firesteel.:D
 
Cardboard tends to dull knife edges pretty quickly, but a quick touch-up with a strop or stone should bring your edge right back:thumbup:
 
Cardboard is extremely abrasive, it'll wear on the edge of any knife rather quickly. Luckily 1095 takes a nice edge very easily so just run your Izula through the paces of your preferred system to touch up the edge and she should be good to go :thumbup:
 
Nothing's bad for the edge went cutting reasonable materials (i.e. NOT cement, bricks, rocks, metal). I've found that cardboard dulls the edges of my knives rather quickly, nothing to be worried about and it can be easily fixed by doing a few passes on a strop.
 
thanks for all the responses guys, just making sure I was not doing anything wrong with my motion of cutting. The only thing I know not to do is cut towards myself. Now I just need to save up my money. I currently own no sharpener and am looking at getting the KSF complete sharpening kit:eek:. So I will make do for now, or go to my Spyderco Cricket, which is sharpper than shit.
 
Good news is the same abrasiveness that dulls your blade with the cardboard makes it a fairly decent strop to sharpen it back up.

That's all I ever used at my old job and it works like a charm.
 
I've used cardboard as a strop as well. Thinner is better so it doesn't wrap around the edge. Works quite nicely. I've also used newspaper on a hard surface to strop. I beleive there is some silica in the wood pulp used to form these products, but someone else may know better.
 
second stupid question coming up. Do I need any compound or just use it like sandpaper. I have never used a strop before, but was planning to learn:D
 
Just use the plain cardboard, pulling the edge across it...

Cardboard dulls knives very quickly. Ive heard from others that it has things like fiberglass, rocks, and other byproducts in it, which takes away an edge quickly.. I batoned wood for an hour with my rc-3 and it was still able to shave arm hair. Now if I cut cardboard for an hour, its would most likely be pretty dull...
 
Definitely not a stupid question... a very good thread in fact.

I have learned about using cardboard in firestarter and using cardboard for a strop.
Thanks!


And yes, I cut a lot of cardboard and it plays heck with any blade edge.
 
LupaWolf said:
Definitely not a stupid question... a very good thread in fact.

I have learned about using cardboard in firestarter and using cardboard for a strop.
Thanks!


And yes, I cut a lot of cardboard and it plays heck with any blade edge.
Click to expand...

:D I agree 100%
 
Cardboard uses clay as a binding agent, as well as miscellaneous other bits of dust and dirt. As a result it's actually pretty hard on an edge! :)
 
Haha this thread reminds me of when I was backpacking in bear country with a friend. We were really cold and ready to set up camp when we found some cardboard litter. I tried with all my might to get that cardboard lit! Maybe it was just too old or it had been out in the environment for too long who knows. So I switched over to my Fire Fixens kit and had a boomin fire within twenty minutes. Just my two cents on the subject. I also have to work with a lot of cardboard and I hate it really bad. If you cut it with a dull knife it'll leave little tear marks that can fall off and fly into the air. I'm talkin the little tiny particles after you cut. Man I hate cardboard.
 
sp00kedd said:
Haha this thread reminds me of when I was backpacking in bear country with a friend. We were really cold and ready to set up camp when we found some cardboard litter. I tried with all my might to get that cardboard lit! Maybe it was just too old or it had been out in the environment for too long who knows. So I switched over to my Fire Fixens kit and had a boomin fire within twenty minutes. Just my two cents on the subject. I also have to work with a lot of cardboard and I hate it really bad. If you cut it with a dull knife it'll leave little tear marks that can fall off and fly into the air. I'm talkin the little tiny particles after you cut. Man I hate cardboard.
Click to expand...

I work at a furniture store in the warehouse, so I allways work with cardboard too. Girlfriend hates it. She forces me to use lotion and sais I have crocadile hands. I found cardboard to do more of a burn than catch on fire, but when mixed with dryer lint which burns fast it kinda balances it out and works well. I am not looking to buy any of that Myan Dust from Light My Fire. I kinda got my edge back from stropping it with the cardboard, so thanks everyone for the input:D
 
If you find you're knife is getting too dull before your work day is done, you may wanna look into getting a small pocket sharpener. Using the cardboard to strop the knife is rather cool, but it may be a bit easier/quicker to get a working edge from a pocket diamond. May wanna look into the DMT pocket sharpeners - work really well :)
 
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