How to Make a Better Cardboard Cutter

Out of necessity a few years ago, I decided to make a better paper and cardboard cutter. I had mat knives and they worked well, but blades are expensive, and I always seemed to have many dull ones and then didn't want to make a store run.  Solution: make a holder for the standard box cutter. Goal was to make a tool that would hold the cutter so as to avoid any angled cuts on the cardboard, one that would cut a precise, straight cut line, and, perhaps most importantly, use the regular cheap one edge razor blades that can be purchased in bulk. I have found them at swap meets very cheaply, but even retail is about 5 cents a blade.

I use plain pine lumber, cut to shape as shown. Follow the pictures and cut the pieces as indicated. I wanted the final piece to fit my hand, so I angled the blocks and sanded everything down to round of any sharp edges.  I used the table saw, bandsaw, sander, and drill press in the production of these pieces.

In a standard boxcutter, the angle of the blade is set at about 62 degrees. It doesn't have to be perfect, but layout an angle close to that on your blocks of wood. Cut this on the band saw and then sand it to shape.

Follow pictures and image notes to see how to cut the angled slot for the box cutter. A universal jig is used to hold the wood pieces in place. Never try to cut something like this freehand!

See image notes for full explanations.

Self explanatory.  Position box cutter in the groove and bolt in place. If groove is a little large, add paper shim(s) around body of box cutter.  You want the cutter to be very snug, even tight in the groove.

For lack of a better term, I called this a compensating guide.  To make fairly precise cuts you want to be able to place the straight edge in position and have it cut along your line. To do this, a piece of wood is cut for each cutter, and I color coded them.

I have been using these cutters for several years now. They are very useful tools if you are going to work with cardboard to any extent.