Last week when I was visiting the Martha Stewart Show, they handed out a bag full of goodies that the staff loves. Included was the Martha Stewart Crafts (TM) paper trimmer! I was really excited about this because (a) every crafter needs a good paper trimmer and (b) I never had even seen one in real life, let alone tried it. So you know it was one of the first things I tried out when I got home.
This paper trimmer uses a blade that sits in a housing that slides within a track to make a cut. It features a pull-out measuring arm and comes with two “blades” – one for cutting and one for scoring.
In order to get started, you have to install a blade, and the way you do so is totally unique. Unlike most paper trimmers, you don’t replace the whole housing- just the blade itself.
From upper left, clockwise: blade housing, cutting blade, scoring blade.
To insert the blade, you place it in slot on the bottom side of the housing, like a key:
Your hands are protected from the blade during insertion.
Then you slide the blade handle bit off. Make sure you are paying attention as to which way it slides. I didn’t and ended up breaking that piece. Oops.
Blade installed in housing.
If you’re wondering what to do with the handle, hold onto it. You’ll need it to removed the blade so you can install the scoring blade or to remove it for replacement. In the meanwhile, you’ll need a place to store it. Of course, the MS Crafts team thought of everything- there’s a little tray in the underside of the trimmer that you can stow it in! And it snaps securely shut so you don’t have to worry about it opening and losing your blades/handles.
Now that you’ve installed the blade you just snap it into the swing-arm track that runs down the middle, which also acts as a ruler. This is handy if you are trying to cut a window in your paper and want to ensure that you start and stop accurately.
One of the cool features of the Martha Stewart Crafts Paper Trimmer is that there is a little magnifier that makes printing larger. I have great vision, but it’s a really nice touch!
As you can see in the detail above, the bed of the trimmer de-bossed in 1/2 inch increments- great for making sure your paper is aligned from top to b0ttom.
But now for the important part- how does it CUT?? Don’t worry, I’ll show you.
It cut brittle vintage sheet music without dragging or tearing.
Nice job on this copy-weight paper.
Cut like buttah through cardstock- even that little teeny 1/8 inch strip- and it was accurate from top to bottom.
Win! It worked beautifully. Now there is a cool feature with the pull-out measuring arm for when you are using larger pieces of paper. You can acutally set it to the size you want the finished piece of paper to be- so handy for doing production work and want all your cuts/scores to be consistent. I could try to explain it, but this video from Martha Stewart Crafts explains it really well AND has a demo on how to insert the blade. Take a look:
So I have to say I’m smitten!
Post Script 3/12/2011: I was at WalMart and I found replacement blades in the closeout section- 3 for $1.50!! I bought 5 packs- no kidding- so I should be good for a while!!
Disclosure: I received this product as a guest of the Martha Stewart Show. But you can’t buy my opinions. Just sayin’.
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Nice review Jenny! Good to know about the blade. Hopefully you can get a replacement blade. I haven’t checked around your blog yet to see if you have already done a review on Martha’s Scoring Board yet. I have been looking at one of those and was wondering if it was worth having a separate tool, just for scoring or not. Have you tried it?
I lost the housing piece while moving and i’m so sad because ive only used my paper slicer once. Would you possibly know where to buy a replacement piece for this brand?
Any idea how to get a replacement scoring blade? I’ve only seen trimmer blades, and can’t find my scoring blade 🙁