4

I have been drawing and painting for a while now on smaller paper sizes, i.e. up to 11" x 14". I am looking to "go bigger" upwards to 18" x 24" possibly even 24" x 36".

I am looking at purchasing a paper cutter/trimmer with the possibility of cutting matboard as well. I have seen some of the mat cutters by Logan on dickblick.com. I have used both rotary and guillotine cutters and I prefer the rotary type.

Would it be better to get one tool that does both paper and matboard? Or would it be better to get two different cutters? Also, what kinds of features would I need to look for in the cutter/trimmer?

agarza
  • 298
  • 2
  • 9

1 Answers1

1

A finger guard

Finger guards should go along the trimmer's base. It's a safety feature that prevents your fingers from being chopped.

A Tension Spring

This prevents a guillotine paper cutter from acting like an actual guillotine. The tension spring is attached to the blade so it won't move by itself.

A Blade Latch

It holds the blade in place when you aren't using the paper guillotine. It's usually a wire that hooks over the handle. Sometimes, it's a piece of metal attached at the bottom of the handle. Now, you may ask: Why do I need this? This prevents the blade from popping up.

Watch out for the size

Consider the thickness of the paper you'll be using. Bigger ones can usually cut through a 3-inch stack of paper.

Portability

Consider whether you're going to take it to other locations; if so, make sure it's appropriate for traveling.

One tool that does both paper and mat board vs. two different cutters?

I think that's opinion based, because it will cost more to buy two separate tools, but putting that aside: - Economically [option 2 wins] - The sharpness of the blade shouldn't be affected by cutting a mat board (maybe over time)

I would recommend (if you're going to use it often) to buy only one that does the cutting you're looking for... it has to be a high-quality cutter (because I suppose you probably won't want to replace it every time something happens to it).

Source

Allison C
  • 4,044
  • 13
  • 32
Isaac750
  • 701
  • 5
  • 28
  • Does a guillotine-style paper cutter/trimmer handle paper sizes up to 24" x 36"? – agarza May 13 '21 at 03:46
  • How thick? It's all about thickness basically, I'm not a person that uses this tool, but I can assure you that depending on thickness, size ( of the guillotine), and sharpness will be dominant for this. – Isaac750 May 13 '21 at 03:53
  • @Joachim yes! (I just saw your comment) – Isaac750 May 13 '21 at 04:34
  • @agarza you can hit the checkmark if this answered your question – Isaac750 May 13 '21 at 04:47
  • It's not the thickness I am concerned about. I am wondering if the cutter/trimmer will be able to cut a 30" x 44" sheet of paper down to 24" x 36"? – agarza May 13 '21 at 14:15
  • oh, ...so you didn't like the "Watch out for the size section"... ok, so, I'm not talking about how to think the cutter is, I'm talking about the thickness of the paper. Not the cutter. which is unnecessary to talk about because.. it's supposed to be a high-quality cutter. So, the answer is yes, it can cut that size, and bigger if you need to :) – Isaac750 May 13 '21 at 18:40