razor blades for utility knife?

For those of y'all that use a utility knife, do you use heavy duty blades or extra heavy duty blades? I picked up a Craftsman locking utility knife at Ace yesterday on sale for $5.

Thanks.

[A_Swope]

I'm not sure, I'm still using the blade that came with it. Just Sharpen it a little.

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by snortman

For those of y'all that use a utility knife, do you use heavy duty blades or extra heavy duty blades? I picked up a Craftsman locking utility knife at Ace yesterday on sale for $5.

Thanks.

I'm thinking that your talking about the knives that have the break off sections, enclosed in a plastic handle....am I correct??

If so, why would you use razor blades?

No, this is a Craftsman utility knife that uses a single razor blade, not the snap-off blades. And it has a metal handle, along with a little unlock->lock slide.

[Inadv]

Snortman,

Mine is an Irwin brand with nice fat cushion grips on the sides (very comfortable), but I'm pretty sure it uses the same blade. You get two shots at each one by flipping them over front for back. Mine came with two spare blades and I'm still on the second one with one left to go. I kept the first one on my work table and use it for a scraper after wearing about a sixteenth of an inch off of it just with a strop. That gives you some idea of how much it gets used! I tend not to use my other knives on found wood, reserving them for basswood, butternut and white pine.

I did try some different blades that I had in my tool box for my old original Stanley 199. The tip broke off in the first session on a piece of hop hornbeam. That said I'd buy the most heavy duty blades you can find if I were shopping for them.

L.P.

[gtech]

Mastercraft have heavy duty blades for the utility knives. They are supposed to last longer.

But as many others on this forum, I just sharpen the one that came with the knife.

I suppose the better blades would be made from harder steel and be better but I never tried them.

Is this the blade you have in mind?

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

Gilles

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Stick with the Stanley 199 blades. And I would suggest tossing the retractable handles and they are not secure. Look for the cheaper non-retractable version. Also, I've never sharpened any of the blades I've used over the many years Old Reliable has been in use (35), only strop the new one to get rid of the factory burr. When they get dull I turn the blade around and when that end is dull I toss it or save it for other uses around the shop. We're not talking about a lot of money here. I bought a contractors pack of 100 blades for about $12 about 10 years ago and I still have about 25 to go. That's 200 cutting surfaces for about .15 cents a blade. If I had used one of those expensive designer handle knives I would have paid about $30 or more for it and it would have been used up long ago.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I agree with you, Lynn, on the non-locking sliding knife. That's why I got the one that can lock:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...4876000P?mv=rr

It worked really good when I worked on my spoon at lunch time. I'll check around on getting a contractors' pack of blades too.

Thanks.

[cgm]

I go with the normal blade. Reason being the heavy duty blades are thicker, I think I am correct on that? Whick makes it harder to carve through the wood.
Carl

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Guess I wasn't clear on the handles. I would not use any type of handle that allows the blade to be retracted. Even if it locks there is a chance of it unlocking. The same goes for the break off blades. I wouldn't touch them as they could break off while your carving and really cause some damage not only to the wood but to you as well. The main reason my blades get dull is because they get banged into things ..... not from cutting wood.