So I have a bone to pick with xacto and excel Why do we need 500 different versions of the #1 knife. Haven’t bought on in years and when I misplaced my old one I went to hobby lobby to get another and jeez to many choices.
Anyways I bout one that has a new Zirconium Nitride Blade mainly to try out the blade. Has anyone tried these and what do you think? Worth the money compared to regular #11 blades?
Couldn’t tell ya Devon, I am still working on a pack of 100 I bought 30 years ago. I have a stone I sharpen mine with that makes razor blades look dull. Good luck with that, I think it depends on the material you are cutting whether the coating helps or not.
Bob “IA3R#7” Cope said:
Couldn’t tell ya Devon, I am still working on a pack of 100 I bought 30 years ago. I have a stone I sharpen mine with that makes razor blades look dull. Good luck with that, I think it depends on the material you are cutting whether the coating helps or not.
Bob,
I had always been told that sharpening the #11 blades wasn’t worth the time or effort. What’s your opinion since you seem to sharpen them? Just curious as my 100 pack of blades is still going strong as well (I throw away the dull ones).
I know I wasn’t asked, but I too sharpen my blades. If they are just dull, I can bring them back to life. If they are badly nicked, or the tip is broken off, I just toss them. It doesn’t take long to resharpen a blade, usually less time then it takes the glue to dry on what I am working on.
Pretty much what Dave M said. It doesn’t take that long and growing up frugal keeps me in that mindset, On top of which, buying blister packs of 5 blades at a time at the local Hobby Lobby or Michaels just don’t get it.
Sometimes I’ll snap the tip off for a new tip, if I’ve dulled it, depends what I’m cutting. When I used to cut rubber molds professionally I used scalpel blades #11. We got those in bulk too and non-sterilized!
I have an oil stone and a diamond hone, sometimes it’s just faster to redo the edge. I’ve also used the side of a separating disc as a sharpening stone… a quick pinch hitter.
The back edge of a #11 makes a good scraper.
John
I got a huge cache of surgical blades, but their base is narrower than the standard X-acto. Pretty sharp though. I have a friend that brings stuff that would be thrown out of the hospital… unbelievable amount of waste it seems, but has to do with sterilization I guess.
The X-acto blades in 100’s seem so cheap to me, I just toss the old ones. The “aftermarket” ones don’t have as good an edge in my opinion.
Greg
I sharpen mine as well, but only if they are just dull. As with the rest I throw the broken and nicked ones. I just needed the knife so thought I would give the blade a try.
I used it tonight and right off the bat I will tell you the tip is stronger. I actually bent it a little and it didn’t break off. I was carving a piece of wood pretty roughly and the regular blade would have busted the tip. Doesn’t seem any sharper.
For sharpening I use a diamond hone for knife sharpening, as Bob says they get sharper that the original.
So for my review I don’t no if they are worth the money for cutting, we will see how sharp it stays but if you use the tip a lot for scoring like I do a few on hand wouldn’t be a bad idea if the tip continues to hold out
Greg,
I have used #11;#12’s and other surgical blades with X-acto handles for years. The #11’s are best all around. Since retiring from hospital pharmacy practice, my sources have dried up. Dang! You are right about the after market blades not having a good edge.
Noel
If the tip bent, when normally they snap off, doesn’t that mean that the steel is less brittle? (as in tempered), or is it less hard? as in content of the metal? I always thought that the harder the metal ( carbon, nickel, chromium, content and the amount of temper) the sharper you can hone the edge to, but you pay for it with breakage of the edge (brittleness).
Engineer type person please answer:…
I believe that the “nitrite” coatings used on cutting tools ( drills, end mills, reamers , etc.) works more as a lubricant, and coolant, then as a “keep it sharper, longer” aid.
Engineer type person answer please:…
I know that my high quality wood chisels I can hone to a scary sharp edge, because of the metals quality, and I can’t get close with a common chisel.
Dave Taylor said:
If the tip bent, when normally they snap off, doesn’t that mean that the steel is less brittle? (as in tempered), or is it less hard? as in content of the metal? I always thought that the harder the metal ( carbon, nickel, chromium, content and the amount of temper) the sharper you can hone the edge to, but you pay for it with breakage of the edge (brittleness).
Engineer type person please answer:…
I believe that the “nitrite” coatings used on cutting tools ( drills, end mills, reamers , etc.) works more as a lubricant, and coolant, then as a “keep it sharper, longer” aid.
Engineer type person answer please:…
I know that my high quality wood chisels I can hone to a scary sharp edge, because of the metals quality, and I can’t get close with a common chisel.
Dave,
Good point. I m no engineer and had not thought of that. I will have to see how the edge holds up sense it bent. I do believe your right that sharp means brittle.
I used to reshape #11 blades all the time. At my desk I had an Oxy/Acet torch. Heat the tip and bend to shape, heat again and quench in water. The shock makes the molecules bunch together making a stronger bond. Cherry red to bend, a lesser straw red to quench.
A quality tool and you should add a thin layer of light oil on the water to quench through…
Quench at cherry red and the tip is brittle and glass hard. So you let it cool and then reheat to quench. It is still harder than stamped out blades, but not brittle. Can be sharpened.
As for coatings… I’m not sold on 'em, too new fangled.
John
Oh, boy!! Finally a chance to ask my son, Neanderthal Jr.( who just got his MS in Materials Engineering from New Mexico Tech) a question to justify his college expenses!!
"To answer this, we first have to take a look at Dave’s chisels-- and he sums it up perfectly. There is a tradeoff between brittleness and hardness that one must be very careful to walk the line of. The higher quality chisels are likely tempered, which recovers some of that ductility, but the high hardness still allows them to have the edge of the Gods-- this is why tempering and cryogenic treatment are common, and mostly necessary, for high-carbon steels. It can also be seen in ceramic kitchen knives-- sharper than anything else, but drop one, and it’s done.
Zirconium nitride coatings try to cheese this trade-off, by having a hard outer shell over a softer steel core-- almost like an egg shell. Dave also called it on the nitride coatings being used more for lubrication purposes-- it can make a surface smoother than a baby’s ass, as well as give it that nice golden color. Also, zirconium nitride is the vogue in corrosion resistance, which is actually where a surprising amount of sharpness is lost in the blades-- I can’t remember the specifics, but shaving razors actually get dull due to corrosion more than actually cutting hair-- which is why the leather strap method works so well.
So, in short, zirconium nitride is magnificent if you live in areas with high humidity, or if you need that fluid cut. However, just for general purpose, I would honestly say go with the standard steel blades-- much more forgiving, and a Hell of a lot easier to work with if you need to hone them."
OK— He actually took time away from his stupid video games to write this screed… not bad, but will it eventually get me a nice nursing home at the beach?? My own recent experience— check Woody Joe Himeji Castle on Amazon for my short review— is that a lot of these “advances” are a sales tool, and don’t make much difference in normal hobby work. #11 blades cost about $.30 cents each tops, so when I look at my used blade pile and see each blade as a 25 cent piece, I get a little nervous…
Which brings us to the sharpening issue. Sharpening tools is a marvelous skill, and quickly can become a fetish. It’s a fairly substantial learning curve, but sharpening junkies know no better fun than putting an edge on anything that doesn’t move. While in Japan years ago, I got hooked on water stones, and they can actually improve Xacto edges, with practice. My dad was an old Arkansas stone freak, and I still have a bunch of his old, oily, worn down stones. It comes down to " how much fun am I having", and “Is it worth it or not”.
Does any of this make sense??
john & George
John, Since I bought a box of 100 #11 hobby blades at the craft store for like $11, they are like 11 cents each. They are sharp enough for me right out of the box, and the pink spot on my finger can attest to that. One slip, and a few layers of skin were shaved off my finger. When they get dull, I sharpen them, like I said, but only once or twice. For 11 cents each, its not worth me driving myself more crazy then I already am.
I’m slipping -Never thought about sharping the exacto blades… might try single edge blades too! Thanks guys
Dave— $11 for a hundred is a really good price— I got bent over the easel at the art supply store – $29.95–, but I still had a gift cert. Back in the Devonian times, I worked in graphic design for awhile, and we would go through many hundreds of #11’s every day. I can still use 5 or 6 a day on this *~!@#$% castle model… I really do believe that the ability to make, use, and maintain tools is the mark of a true craftsman, but there is a diminishing return…
john
I’ve just ordered these, so don’t know how great they are, but it seemed like a good price to me. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006GBSXG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I’ll find out later when I start using them.
Thanks for the link, Bruce.
USA made, and the reviews say they’re better than the genuine Xacto blades.
Ralph
John Egert said:
Dave— $11 for a hundred is a really good price— I got bent over the easel at the art supply store – $29.95–, but I still had a gift cert. Back in the Devonian times, I worked in graphic design for awhile, and we would go through many hundreds of #11’s every day. I can still use 5 or 6 a day on this *~!@#$% castle model… I really do believe that the ability to make, use, and maintain tools is the mark of a true craftsman, but there is a diminishing return…
john
John, oh yea I have made tools, and repaired, maintained, sharpened, modified tools to get the job done. But as shown in that link, 100 blades for just over $11. That brings the cost down to the point where my time is more valuable then trying to save a well used blade. A quick resharpen is one thing. Resurrecting the dead is another, and for 11 cents, I won’t even try.
Add to that that I forgot that I had a new box of 100 in my stash, so I ended up buying another box a few months back. So I have enough to last me for a month or two. 
Thanks for all the responses. I guess I should get a sharpening stone and start resharpening the #11 blades. But I tend not to use #11 blades very often anymore either as a scriber/scraper seems to work better for cutting styrene. About the only thing I’ve used #11 blades for in a while is cutting out decals when a super sharp blade is needed.
Micro-Mark has #11 blades in a 100 pack for $19.95. I’m sure cheaper exists!
This is what I use to cut styrene, but I didn’t pay $16.25 for it. Free from the dentist as it was ‘dull’. A few passes with the Dremel and it was sharp again.
When I want a really sharp blade I use these…
(http://www.executive-shaving.co.uk/images/prod-8390-250-250.jpg)
Oh wait that’s for shaving my face, not modeling.
