Adam Savage's Essential Modelmaking Cutting Tips 

One of those little sayings that I learned working in fab shops. "The hand holding your straight edge should be whats tired after making a cut, not the hand holding the blade."

"I'm an amateur at almost everything I know how to do" is pretty much my life motto. That one hit very close to home =)

Hi Adam (and everyone). When cutting styrene sheet, use a X-acto blade with a broken tip...but use it upside down (the blade, not yourself). :) When using a sharp blade, the material gets pushed to either side of the cut, leaving a 'mushroom' like profile. The upside down blade (with tip broken off) will remove a thin channel of styrene instead of pushing it to either side. When doing this, you will produce a thin curly-Q of styrene (evidence that material is being removed from the kerf instead of it being pushed away) that won't cause a mushroomed edge. I model in styrene often and learned this tip years ago. Try it...its not always what you need to do, but it has its applications (plus, you get more use out of a 'broken' blade). Thanks Adam, for making such great videos!

You're reminding me of when my Dad taught me this. over 40 years ago. Still valid. Thank you.

I’ve been racking my brain for awhile now to try, and figure out who Adam reminds me of. Watching this video it finally hit me, Mister Rogers. Not in looks, or speech, but in his demeanor. The way he has a passion for what he does, and sharing it to make the world a better place, to learn from his successes, and failures. The way he humbles himself as he does so. Thank you for giving me the sense of importance, and confidence as an adult, that Mister Rogers gave many of us as a child. Thank you

"top 1/3 of a millimeter" Adam creates a Standard-Metric Hybrid Baby that will grow to be the destroyer of worlds!

These intimate videoes are the best. No need for fancy setups, just Adam and a camera!

"Something Akin to Expertise" That's a patch I need.

I'm not a model maker or any of the sorts. But i could listen and watch Adam tinker, for a whole day. Non-Stop LOL But Adam, one thing i have learned in life: There is absolutely NO such thing as an Expert. Expert/Prof is a label we like to give others who seam very skilled to our eyes. But for that "Expert/Prof", he/she still feels like an armature at everything they do. I think the best description is a quote from Leonardo da Vinci: ("Art is never finished, only abandoned...") I think this applies to any and all types of craftmanship. In other words: Don't sell yourself short Adam, you're in our eyes, a true expert at your craft.

Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, such as asking Adam a question or suggesting content for this channel: ru-vid.com/show-UCiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOAjoin

Im starting model making in architecture in Spain this is really good timing...

In hindsight not trying to cut something all the way the first time sounds like common sense but I really needed that. I can recall so many times having to redo a cut because I stubbornly tried to do it the first time through with all the strength I could muster and the blade or ruler slipping causing me to slice into the good part of what I was cutting.

Multiple passes with the mat knife is something I learned making models in architecture school 50+ years ago. Good advice well heeded.

So basically when cutting think like Leeloo Dallas, and multi-pass.

Fantastic video! Never too old to learn. Nearly 70 and in sewing have done a lot of cutting, but have always been a bit fobic of using the blades you have demonstrated and why? Because I wanted to do it in one cut. So logic, if you take many cuts you won't clench everything. Thank you.

this has got to be the most useful piece of advice I have ever seen on Video. Thank you very much Adam!

Impatience when making. When I was trained in aerospace assembly and maintenance we were taught to have all the information, proper tools and take time and do it correctly.

Such a great video and he didn't even touch on the downfalls of cutting paper and taking in acount grain direction. 12/10 as usual!

This is a great tutorial! Thank you Adam!

Great video Adam as always. One thing I wanted to add to your cutting advice that I was told early on and has saved my ass many times is, always protect the art! If you are trimming a piece the has excess media, always protect the art. That means that if your blade gets away from you, make sure it’s only going to cut into excess media.

Nothing beats the reckoning feel when you get to use high quality tools. I started out with tools given to me when I moved out from my parents. Cheep basic tools, just enough to assemble furniture from IKEA, cut the roller curtains to size, and mount some shelfs on the wall. Time passes and my collection of tools grow and more versatile tools, like bit drivers take precedence over old ones, and features like ratchet screwdrivers become a thing in my toolbox. Only recently, and only because it was on sale; half off, did I cash out the price of a bit screwdriver from an innovative and well renounced German tool brand - and OH BOY! I fell in love, contemplated my life's decisions, and realized that my biggest regret would be that I had not invested in premium tools at first go. I now am slowly replacing all my less valued tools with more of "the good stuff" I now have an addiction for, and I have promised myself that when my children leave the nest (soon) I will not allow any of them to buy cheep crappy tools. I will support or sponsor their investment in quality, because it will be rewarding each time it is used. So if $30 is what it takes to get a good straight edge ruler - that's the price you shall pay.

Great video! I've experienced terrible looking cuts bc of impatience. You confirmed to me that I just need to slow down!

One more reason: every time I’ve sunk an Exacto into my hand flesh, it was either because I was forcing it really hard, or rushing, or both. Generally that last one.

Alvin makes such great stuff and I'm glad it sees wider use than in just the comic artist world. That see thru with a metal edge is a wonder for pulling border lines without bleeding the ink.

Thanks for this. I’ve learned these lessons with balsa over many years of aero modeling. I shared this on the Facebook Balsa Model Builders Forum because it succinctly illustrates ideas I, personally, would share.

The "feeling a thousandth of an inch" thing reminds me of an old sports reporter who used to claim the human mind can't differentiate a measure of time smaller than a second. Which is clearly rubbish. A second is aaaages.

I learned what a thousandth of an inch felt like when I first worked in a machine shop deburring room. That touch memory has helped me in so many ways since.

To this I'd add "Don't be afraid to change the blade." I'm a cheapskate, and I want to use tools until they're worn out, but when it comes to knives with disposable blades, it's always better to use a newer, sharper one.

Hey thanks so much for doing this one! This is the one I’ve been waiting for. How to make a maker.

I've always had issues when cutting non straight lines with styrene sheets (as a side not i've only ever heard it called plasticard) so this will hopefully help

Very meditative. Great advice. Thank you.

Thank you Adam I dabble in working with leather. I made lots for folding knives and flashlights...I am about to embark on the first leather piece that has not come out of a kit. Were I have made the patterns and have to cut the pieces out and hand stitch them together. What I am going to be making is a hip case to carry my Leatherman Wave and bit set, my Leatherman Raptor tool and a stream light flashlight. I will also be making a case to carry my cellphone. I have tried to cut leather to make things but it doesn't look like what I imagined. I always have tried to cut it in one pass. I have used razor knives rolling cutters. It never worked out. You have shown me the right way to cut it. When I have completed my project I will send you the photos to show you the how it came out.

Chris Reeves knives has that motto on a t-shirt with a twist. "Think twice, cut once " Nice to see you have it in you to slow down and be diligent. (for this video at least )✌

I made something from poster board the other day. I thought of your tip to cut through slowly. All my cuts came out so clean and straight.

Great topic! Thank you!

Brian Scotto From Hoonigan name dropped Adam in a recent episode for turning him onto the Pica Marker Pen. Good to know the Tested videos aren't just helping out us who are only starting out making!

Adam is the chef Pépin for makers. Love this style of content!

I feel the proper response to this video, and so many more of yours, is, "Thank you, Master."

Adam I appreciate you so much. This model stuff is awesome and you are such a genuinely sweet and awesome person. Always thought so. You are the reason I got into this kind of stuff, engineering, modeling, science, all of it. I love you so much man.

Mat board! I love this stuff! Something I've found is that if you have to make several passes, the straightedge tends to move. The razor blade is definitely easier than the x-acto for it.

Aha! So the true meaning of “measure once cut twice” comes out. Excellent advice though (I too learned that technique long ago) and several carefully controlled passes is definitely the way to make accurate and safe cuts in boards.

Thanks Adam. You provide so much encouragement and positive re-enforcement! You didn’t mention one of my favorite cutting tools....the scalpel. Hope you will do something on their usage. It is a mis-understood tool and not so dangerous if used correctly.

This will be helpful in my landscape architecture class!

Great stuff. I have cut the tip of my thumb off many many times from pushing too hard. And thumb hanging into the cut zone!

Several observations from a long-time (60+ years) but amateur model maker. First, I stopped using X-Acto knives several years ago (with one exception) and only use surgical scalpels of which I have 6 or more. The one exception is the good old, #17 X-Acto chisel blade for which I have found no substitute. Since my mother was a painter, I also inherited a Logan Compact Matcutter outfit from her. I use that and a Falcon (14") photographic print trimmer (which uses a single-edge razor blade) for 90% of the cutting work that you describe in your video. The Logan has two blade holders, one is perpendicular to the cutter surface and the other is a 45 degree bevel knife holder (very handy!). The Logan knives are like a single-edge razor blade on steroids and can either be used and thrown away or resharpened and reused (if you are good at resharpening - I am not). If something won't fit either, I have 12, 18, 24, 26 and 48 inch steel straight edges for cutting. The Logan will handle foam core or Gator Foam, the Falcon will not. I do not use my high-quality drafting triangles, etc., for cutting!

11:28 wow, that leather case's patina looks amazing

Great advice here. With regards to the blade tip breaking off on the excacto blades, I like to grind a small bevvel on the back of the blade, so that the tip is not quite as pointy, and thus not quite as fragile. And as the tip gets dull, I grind this bevel larger, removing the dull tip of the blade. Of course If you specifically need the very fine point this is not much help, but for most cutting work it is perfectly acceptable.

One important thing with cutting I learned is to hold the blade as much of a shallow angle as possible. This uses more of the blade to cut instead of pressing the material against a part of the blade.

The shop foreman in the theater shop always said, "It's finesse, not force." This one of the places where that would apply.

The b-50 style ruler is probably one of my favorite rulers I own

The amount of times I've had to remind myself to "let the blade do the work" is staggering. It's true for everything from chef's knives to wood saws.

I just had an "OH DUH!!" moment: Most people know that drilling a hole (especially in sheet metal) is WAY easier when done incrementally - start with a smaller bit, then work your way up to the final size. It makes it so much easier than trying to just drill out the big hole in one shot (hence the step drill for thin materials). That's exactly the same as this, just rotationally instead of linearly!! This makes so much sense when looked at from that perspective!

I'm a leatherworker; and a proper knife will make your life so much easier when cutting. I find that an exacto blade dulls to fast, and so do most craft blades. The best way to cut leather is with leather shears for curves, and for long straight cuts or slight curves a utility knife blade works the best (the fresher the blade the better). Repeat cuts also tend to give you weird edges that are really hard to burnish at times; so counter to what you said, I tend to cut through on the first try, but I've also had a lot of practice.

I would love a series of these that were just about materials and material science. Things like, why use styrene vs, pvc, vs foam board, plywood over hardwood. Many times just knowing about what materials are useable, and how they can be used would be great.

This is why I love your videos so much.; A video about making a proper cut then uses that as the basis for waxing philosophical on the mentality of creating in general XD

Another axiom I learned was - do it right (even if slowly) or do it again.

If I was a kid again these types of videos would have been a godsend as I didn’t have a father to learn from. Sometimes the internet is ok folks. Haha

I like the way you use your 3rd finger to keep the blade against the ruler.

I really need to get one of those plastic rulers. Metal on metal sound kills me (and it's often worse if I can feel it) so one of those would help a lot!

As always I pay attention to the tools that Adam uses for potential additions to my own workshop. I really like the look of those rulers so tried to find them online. Sadly it appears that Alvin & Co are no longer in business.

Sometimes it's hard to hit an exact line when cutting with a ruler. There's a bunch of reasons for that-the angle of your head to the work, the thickness of a blade, shadows, bad lighting, and older eyes like mine. A trick I've been using for decades is to gently push the tip of the blade slightly into the material on the line, then bring the straightedge up to it. The blade makes a fulcrum to rotate the ruler until it follows the line. If you are using a thick blade, it's easy to put the ruler at a correct and consistent offset from the line that way. Pull the blade, and make your cut as usual.

Another tip - when cutting something with grain (like balsa), cut in the direction that the grain “forces” the blade towards your cutting guide. I was also taught to put your guide on top of the “good” side of the cut to protect it from accidental ruin.

I have had many jobs over the years and mat cutter was one of them. I cut probably 10,000+ mats about 30 years ago. I had specialized cutting equipment that allowed one full cut in one pass. The number one reason you do that is so you don't leave a visible "step" in the bevel cut, and in the straight cuts the equipment will do it so why not. If you are "freehand" cutting or "guide" cutting, Adams way is 100% the way to do it. When I was painting (lot of art related jobs) I would tell people if you want to learn blade control stack 2 strips of masking tape on a cutting surface and just cut through one strip of tape without damaging the second one. When you can do that reliably, you should have no problems.

I just bought that same workpro utility knife. 3 pack for 15 dollars. Awesome little knife.

another useful tip for cutting soft materials (rubber foam for instance) that tend to grab the blade, even if it's new, and rip or make chunks is to do a light coat of vaseline or some other grease on the blade. glides through nice and easy and won't cause any ripping.

At Counter 3:30, Adam shows the number 1 Xacto handle with the #11 blade. The #1 handle has the tightening grip, right up by the blade. This is dangerous when the blade gets rusty and stuck. There is a risk of tendon-cutting injuries when the grip and the blade are close together. The newer ‘Gripster’ handle from Xacto has the tightening grip at the back end of the handle. Much safer.

I know I’m pushing too hard when the straight edge moves. Good point Adam. Usually going to fast is my downfall!

I always say this when Adam posts about cutting things... Swann Morton 10A blades with a size 3 handle... I'm amazed he never mentions them, they're standard issue kit for graphic designers and pasteup artists on this side of the pond (well, they were when pasteup was still a thing about 25 years ago!). They make Xacto blades look like butter knives.

Can I just say, standard X-acto knife handles are the least ergonomical tool you can buy. They make my hands hurt when I use them for any length of time. I found some nice alternatives made by Warren Cutlery, larger brass collets to hold the blade, and nice turned wood handles. I have also started making some of my own carving knives in order to make cutting more pleasant. I made a couple with blades basically patterned after X-blades but made out of resharpenable spring steel, and with a handle shaped to fit my hand. Also, I have a ruler from C-thru that is made out aluminum... so it isn't see through 😋

This is my kind of tip!

I'm currently cutting harps out of vegtan leather and the strings are 2mm thick. Your advice is foundation to all precision cutting by hand

Yeeeeeeeesssss!!!! Finally!!!

I’ve found this advice to be true of just about anything you’re cutting by hand. I was cutting the paper on the outside drywall recently. My knife wandered of I tried to cut too much of the paper in a single pass.

I vaguely remember him saying that on mythbusters. Damn solid advice that will see you through. Possibly even better than E=I/R.

It's been a few weeks, past Adam, but we made it.

I don't know how the dulling works, but for those with unsteady hands (who likely do bigger projects) look up the Slice brand cutters, I got one for work after slicing my wrist because of the type of box cutter they provided that could only cut well with one side up. I could run the Slice ceramic box blades on my hands with no cuts but it went into the cardboard just like the other blades (from the middle or edge). plus they have some unique shapes

"It doesn't feel like I've done anything, but I have" really brought me back to my days of working in an industrial fab shop... Company was crap, so only hired 'helpers' and 'welders' instead of paying more for people that could do both. So many days that I'd finish my work of cutting and beveling/prepping beams and pipe for that night's weld shift to work on and look at the bare parts and think "I didn't get anything done after 10 hours. This is the same shit, just slightly different." Then I'd come in the next morning to a new pile of i-beams, pipe and diagrams. Then I'd notice all the supports and perfectly angled piping that got finished during the night, from the parts that I got ready. Not many things feel better than that.

Adam, I'm sure you have a strop around there somewhere. As a leather worker, trust me...get in the habit of stropping every blade, every time you pull it out. Even the new ones. It makes cutting so satisfyingly smooth and you get about 3 times the mileage out of your blades.

Please, will you do a similar teaching video about cutting curves and irregular shapes?

Been watching your videos since I found them since busters. Lot of what you do seems out of reach im on a farm during the summer every other week is 60 hours of just mowing, tips on making with limited time and financial resources would be an awsome video.

I'm a sign fabricator and I love clear drafting rules. The guys at the shop crack jokes about my little plastic ruler but I love these things.

Yeah, this is a lesson that took me a bit of time, as you I am an impatient person when I build. Also you should sharpen your blade/change it often. Or the dullness will make the blade move and bend as it struggles to cut though the material and make bad cuts as well.

I wanted to listen to music, ended up here with a mind boggling lesson, thank you!:)

Ahhh, January 2021; when we still had hope 2021 would be better than 2020.

Yep, I figured this out the hard way. Cut shallow and straight on the first pass. Cut deeper with each pass until it parts with ease. The material you are cuting almost doesn't matter. It will always be more accurate to do it this way.

That’s interesting, in college I was taught specifically that you can never get a clean edge with multiple passes. I’ve cut a lot of mats over the years but I can’t tell you how often I’ve ruined boards because I’m using so much force that I pushed the straight edge off mark. So I’ll definitely try your multiple pass technique and see how it goes.

I had no idea you we're once a graphic designer in your early 20's. I was also a graphic designer in my early 20's, I manage a team of UX/UI designers now and only now am I starting to consider myself a "maker" - thought most thinks I make involve my motorcycle or computer in some way haha

I was fascinated by all of this and it started looking for how I can get started building models with styrene. In my searches I found that styrene is a human carcinogen. Maybe sometime you could go over safety procedures/ best practices when working with styrene?

yeah!

From a former negative stripper in the printing industry - How to line up the cut exactly to the mark/line: Place cutting blade in the center of the line. Move the straight edge (metal) up to the blade gently until it is in contact. Observe the position of the straight edge to the line and duplicate exactly the same position at the other end of the mark/line. Clamp down hard on the material and make your cut (s), ensuring no part of your body is extended across the cut line. This is how visually exact masking cuts were made in preparing printing plates by hand.

I don't have much experience as a maker, but as an architecture student I've made so many models with matboard and foamcore that I can safely say, Xacto knives are crap for this. A box-cutter is way more stable and comfortable, and because it has a wider blade it gets more contact with the ruler and cuts much straighter. It makes it easier to get that 90 degree cut on thicker materials, and cardboard dulls edges really quickly so having that segmented blade you can just snap off and continue every few cuts is super useful. I do keep an Xacto for finer details, but I almost always prefer a wider blade.

The day Adam filmed this, I just started my new job.

Yo I love your show the myth busters its so funny

Can you please pass on some information about the 24" machinists ruler you had there? Thanks!

Keep a strop block nearby. I strop all my razors before I use them. You can get them beyond factory sharp using a good stropping compound. I have a razor in my box cutter handle that I've been using for over 2 years to custom build boxes for my business. I strop it every two to three boxes. It's missing about 0.5mm that has worn down over the years and it's still, literally, razor sharp.

for those with arthritis a ultrasonic cutter is a god send , expensive but it means not having to give up your craft.

On leather I was told that multiple cuts will cause split ends. I could be mixing up through cuts with tooling cuts which I remember for sure should be just once.

Adam should do a tutorial on how to, make straight cuts whit different cutting tools like saw and knife and how to drill perfect holes.

have you ever used a rotary cutter? it's made for sewing but I've used it on other things like wallpaper, foam (thin), etc

I was taught to cut leather in one go, as otherwise you may get a toothy or scraggly cut, especially with thinner hides. However you're not supposed to use them thin little blades or exacto(sp?) knives, but beefy leatherworking knives with Scary Sharp (official unit) edges that go through even 4-5mm hides like butter. If they're sharp there's no need to use a lot of force, which is how things are supposed to be. In fact I know it's past time to hone mine when it doesn't cut in one go...