Utility Knife Blades - Why So Dull?

rhino

rhino

Joined
Dec 30, 2000
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I finally succumbed to the Youtube pressure and acquired a Milwaukee Fastback 48-22-1505. For the price, it's well built and the screwdriver is actually pretty handy. But . . . the knife part. Both the blade that came with it and every other from the pack I bought are dull. There is no functional apex even though they have what looks like an attempt at a reasonable edge bevel and even a microbevel, so it's like the manufacturing process intended to sharpen them, but failed. They're easy and quick to sharpen, but it kind of defeats the purpose of a cutting tool with disposable blades. It is nice to toss them when they get dull again and gunked-up with tape residue, but it would be better if they started sharp.

Are all brands so dull (these are Milwaukee)? Are any brands likely to be functionally sharp?
 
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yablanowitz said:
Nope. I feel sorry for the people who think utility knife blades are sharp.
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I suppose people don't know what they don't know. Most have never held, much less used a knife that was actually sharp. My brother reminded me that I'm an edge snob and I needed to adjust my expectations. I suppose it's "sharp" for most people because if you can manage to get it started, the blades are thin enough to keep going in a cut.

Bigburly912 said:
Gonna agree with ya. The Milwaukee are terrible. I usually buy Stanley anymore.
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I'll give the Stanley a try, but I'm guessing that they just suck a little less than the Milwaukee?
 
rhino said:
I suppose people don't know what they don't know. Most have never held, much less used a knife that was actually sharp. My brother reminded me that I'm an edge snob and I needed to adjust my expectations. I suppose it's "sharp" for most people because if you can manage to get it started, the blades are thin enough to keep going in a cut.



I'll give the Stanley a try, but I'm guessing that they just suck a little less than the Milwaukee?
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They all suck. I can just get the Stanley a little cheaper here haha
 
I bought a box of 10, 100 blade packs, (That are broken down into 5 blades per small envelope.), of Pacific Handy Cutter Blades for their S1-S5 series, and they are actually halfway decent. And bought another 100 blade pack of larger blades for their other series, that are good enough for a throw away blade.

The smaller blades are #SP017 if I remember correctly, I'll look in the morning. They are USA made. They only fit the PHC cutters however. I became familiar with them back in the late 90's while working in the grocery industry.
 
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+1 for Olfa brand blades.

I think utility blades often used in trades and industry have been commonly misunderstood as being akin to a type of scalpel or shaving razor blade sharp. To thin them down any further to a more delicate acute edge would quickly hinder any repeated use in a utility type application. I’ve always understood them as a thin disposable utility blade, not expecting them to be any sharper than the pocket knife in my pocket.
 
MattWRog said:
+1 for Olfa brand blades.

I think utility blades often used in trades and industry have been commonly misunderstood as being akin to a type of scalpel or shaving razor blade sharp. To thin them down any further to a more delicate acute edge would quickly hinder any repeated use in a utility type application. I’ve always understood them as a thin disposable utility blade, not expecting them to be any sharper than the pocket knife in my pocket.
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Exactly this.

They aren't for surgery. They're for utility. If one needs to cut dirty, abrasive material all day long, they are objectively the best option. Are they duller than my PM2 straight off the Wicked Edge? Absolutely. But when I'm cutting insulation against a dirty plywood floor all day, stripping urethan from the windshield pinch-weld of F-150s for 8 hours, or breaking down hundreds of pieces of silica-imbedded cardboard in a production facility, there is no substitute for an easily-replaceable, break off style utility blade.
 
rhino said:
I've started doing the same, unless it's gunked-up with tape gunk.
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My biggest reason aside from not wanting to deal with disposal is that I take the top off and don't want to modify a new blade every time or go out of my way to find those blunt tip blades.
 
Hickory n steel said:
My biggest reason aside from not wanting to deal with disposal is that I take the top off and don't want to modify a new blade every time or go out of my way to find those blunt tip blades.
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I'm new to utility knife blades. I'm putting blades that are now longer useful to me in a pill bottle. My intent is to dispose of the bottle when it's full, so minimal risk to my trash bag or to the truck crew who collects it. Kind of like a redneck sharps disposal container.
 
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