Using the Paper Knife

The Paper Knife is a useful tool for quickly cutting down larger sheets of paper into a more manageable size.  It involves folding the paper and cutting along the fold.  A single piece or stack of paper can be folded multiple times and cut, only to be limited by the thickness of the paper and its ability to create a somewhat sharp fold.

It’s critical to work with the fold aligned to the edge of the cutting surface such as the table.  This allows the knife to remain flat.

Insert the tip of the knife into the middle of the folded paper.  You are going to cut using a circular motion with the cutting action on the pull stroke, NOT the forward movement.  This avoids tearing of the paper if there happens to be a nick on the knife blade.

This is the critical part…the knife blade must be kept perfectly flat on the cutting surface with some slight downward pressure.  This ensures that the cut is exactly at the fold.  If you lift the blade slightly up or down, it will produce an uneven cut that doesn’t follow the fold.  The blade’s wedge shape is designed for this very purpose.

After each pass, the paper can be rotated 90 degrees folded and cut again.

Paper is abrasive, so from time to time the knife will need to be sharpened.