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Building Tips and technical articles. => Building techniques => Topic started by: Vincent Judd on February 10, 2018, 09:41:15 AM
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I remember reading somewhere that there were several sources (manufacturers) for these blades. My stock is running out, time to replenish. Who makes the best #11 blades and where can I get them?
Thanks
Vince
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I remember reading somewhere that there were several sources (manufacturers) for these blades. My stock is running out, time to replenish. Who makes the best #11 blades and where can I get them?
I like the Excel blades, - just as sharp as the Testor's carbon blades and less prone to rusting, and much less expensive.
https://excelblades.com/collections/blades/products/11-double-honed-blade?variant=37308039819
If all you have ever used are genuine Exacto, be prepared because these are *much* sharper and last much longer. After the first few cuts in balsa, you can brush the cutting edge of an Exacto up against your skin lightly and not have a problem. Do that with an Excel and you are going to be cleaning up blood. The Testor's blades are similar in terms of sharpness and durability and were the best you could get about 15 years ago, but they are much more expensive and no better than Excels.
Brett
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I don't know how I'm going to remember Excell blades -- but, whatever you do, buy them by the 100, and when they start showing the least bit of dull, toss 'em and change 'em.
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I agree with Brett. Over the years I have tried a lot of brands of #11 type blades and the Excel seems to hold an edge longer than anything I tried. I think you can buy a hundred count from Amazon for around $17.00 if I remember correctly. I think every model I have built has a little bit of my blood somewhere on it.
Mike
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Thanks Brett, thanks Mike. Just ordered from Amazon. 100 blades, $18. I have Amazon prime, so no charge for shipping. Delivery by Tuesday the 13th. Sweet deal.
I've always used X-acto blades and was never happy when covering a model. Seems that after a few Monokote cuts, the blades got dull. I went through a ton of them when covering. Can't wait to try these guys out. Even when dull, I usually manage to nick myself. I try to trim in red, covers up the blood stains. I always keep Neosporin and bandaids handy.
Vince
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CA works well for the cuts.
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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned surgical blades. There are all kinds of different types of blades. I've purchased a box of 100 #11 surgical (or dental) blades, similar to X-Acto #11, with a handle for $6.50 including shipping on eBay last April. They are extremely sharp and I have the scars to prove it! ;)
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Demnis I use the Surgical blades on soft thin balsa be very careful not to press very hard as they break easily.
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True and I wouldn't recommend them in place of a utility knife! ;D
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Excel blades for me. LHS has them. Tim
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Excel blades for me. LHS has them. Tim
Tim,
And what do they sell for?
CB
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As a professional builder I have to have very sharp tools all the time. I change #11 blades many times each day. Sometimes I only get a few cuts from a blade and then have to discard it because it has lost its edge, or has a broken tip. The blades on the market today are not the quality of the blades we used to be able to buy…
Having said that, I have found one source for very decent #11 blades in 100 count boxes. I buy mine from Micro Fasteners http://www.microfasteners.com/
They were out of stock recently when I needed blades, so I went to the local hobby shop and purchased a box of 100 Excell blades. They were just awful! Very dull. I cannot tell you that this is normal for Excell, but I won’t purchase any more of their blades. This may be an anomaly for Excell, as others who have posted here have reported that they were very satisfied with them. But for me it's "once burned, twice shy."
I also use a lot of #11 surgical blades and I buy them in boxes of 1,000 blades at a time from a company called Pincover. https://www.pincoverindustrial.com
They are not cheap, but they are the very best surgical blades I’ve ever used. Perhaps a club could purchase a box of 1,000 blades, divide them among the members, and share the cost.
As less and less people build models, the good building tools are becoming progressively harder to find. A few years ago the Solingen company discontinued their razor plane, and in my opinion it was the only small hobby plane worth owning. I found a cache of them and bought them all so that I'd never be caught short. The real secret to the Solingen plane was their blades. They were just the best, and they are also not available anymore.
Stay sharp - Bob Hunt
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Pincover doesn't list their prices. You need to call 'em on the phone. So I did.
$13.50 per 100 (13.5 cents each)
$110 per 1,000 (11 cents each)
Plus shipping. Obviously, the shipping would average down on the bigger order.
Not a deal-breaker if the quality is better.
The price at the Toledo RC Show has gone up to $20 per 100 or 20 cents per cut for the low-quality blades.
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A hundred years ago when I worked in an art studio
I used to go through a 100 blades in a week.
Now, I've used the same two blades to build three
airplanes.
I sharpen them on a quality stone and hone them.
It takes seconds and my blades are always sharp enough
to shave hair off the back of my hands. Very very sharp!
Just a thought. - K.
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I tend to use a lot of scalpels as well as the mentioned Xacto variants
I get my handles and surgical blades from
http://www.havalon.com/
I also invested in an impregnated strop....forget where I got it.... but a few swipes of the better Xacto blades easily helps get through de-spruing process or carving ribs
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Keep an Arkansas stone handy and a piece of leather and blades will last a long time. Its not that I'm cheap its just that I can make the blade sharper than original.
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They were out of stock recently when I needed blades, so I went to the local hobby shop and purchased a box of 100 Excell blades. They were just awful! Very dull. I cannot tell you that this is normal for Excell, but I won’t purchase any more of their blades. This may be an anomaly for Excell, as others who have posted here have reported that they were very satisfied with them. But for me it's "once burned, twice shy."
That is not at all normal. I have tried just about every variant of scalpel blade, hobby suppliers, genuine Teutonic blades, and the Excels are usually just as sharp as the scalpel blades, but much stiffer and don't wander. They tips are less likely to break off than the Testor's blades or the stock exacto.
Brett
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Hi Brett:
Yeah, I'm sure that my experience with Excell blades must have been an anomaly. I seem to remember in the past using some of their blades and not having any complaints. That said, the box of 100 Excell #11 blades that I purchased recently were just garbage. And, again, I'm a "once burned, twice shy" kind of guy when it comes to my shop staples.
The blades that I get from Micro Fasteners are very serviceable and they are very inexpensive. Nice combination!
I have tried to sharpen #11 blades in the past and even purchased a fixture that held a #1 X-Acto handle fitted with a #11 blade at the optimum sharpening angle. The fixture allowed the blade to be sharpened against a stone, and it allowed an oscillating motion while keeping the blade in contact with the stone at the proper angle. That worked to some degree, but I found that once the blade was sharpened, it did not hold its edge very long at all. I soon discarded that fixture in favor of just putting in a new blade after a few cuts. Having a sharp blade is imperative to me at all times, so the cost of a new blade every few minutes is no big thing. I forgot the name of the company that produced that fixture, and I haven't seen them advertised in recent years, so I guess it never caught on...
I'd suggest that anyone considering any make of blade purchase a package of 5 or 6 blades and give them a try before going for the box of 100.
Later - Bob