My New Favorite Tool

I recently had to cut a large piece of Remay from a roll that is over fifty inches wide. In the past, I had two options.

Option 1: I usually cut a single sheet from the roll. As this photo of Hope shows, the width of the roll becomes a bit challenging for those of us lacking in height. I would pull out the length I needed, add a bit for a margin of error, cut it with scissors (which would turn to hacking near the end) and then trim the excess off on the board shear. This would result in an addition to the Remay scrap box, but was easier than getting the heavy, unruly roll off the cart.

Option 2: If I had to cut multiple sheets, which happened more than once while I was working on the blueprints, I would take the roll off the cart completely and cut the pieces on our large, green board shear. I would rather not admit how many times the roll rolled off the board shear onto the floor.

Enter my new favorite tool.

Hilary had the brilliant idea of buying a rotary cutter to attach to the top of the cart.

Now all we have to do is feed the Remay (or Melinex, or book cloth…) up through the cutter, measure it to the length we want, and cut away.

You’ll notice that it will work just as well for the book cloth on the back of the cart.

Total cost: about $350. Savings in time, materials, and frustration: priceless.