Ceramic Cutter (Slice Precision Cutter by Karim)

[Etherealicer]

Ceramic Cutter (Slice Precision Cutter by Karim)

I don't know if this is everywhere but in the past couple of month this kind of cutter popped up everywhere here in Switzerland. So I gave one a go. And since I love ceramic knifes / blades, I thought I give it a go.

Materials
New Slice Precision Cutter (futher refered to as Slice, Slice, USA); scalpel with used blade (Swann Morton, England, blade #23); new Classic (Victorinox, Switzerland)


Rating
Every test will have a rating that come with a word and a number.
1-5 Fail
6-7 Pass
8-9 Good
10 Excellent


Cutting Test
Freehand traight line: The scalpel slides effortless and silent over paper, the cut is almost invisible. Slice makes a scratching sound while cutting, the cut is wider and less sharp than with the scalpel. During the test I even ripped the paper in one cut (Picture  below, Annotation 0)
Slice (Fail, 4), Scalpel (Good, 8 ), Classic (Pass, 7)


Freehand curve: Slice needs practice (first lines were horrible), but even with some practice the lines are not as nice as with the scalpel.
Slice (Fail, 3), Scalpel (Good, 8 ), Classic (Pass, 7)


1) Curves cut with scalpel
2) Curves cut with Slice
3) Curves cut with Slice, after some practice

Straight line with ruler: The Slice requires an extremely thin ruler to cut along, if the ruler is too thick its difficult to move it along. Also the short blade does not give the same stability as seen with the Scalpel.
Slice (Fail, 5), Scalpel (Excellent, 10), Classic (Good, 8 )


4) Due to the geometry of the Slice, cutting along a ruler ain't easy

Circle with ruler: with some practice I managed to cut an almost circular piece of paper, of course, the cut was not deep enough. The plastic ruler was also not so good for the Scalpel (Another, smaller scalpel blade would have been better).
Slice (Fail, 2), Scalpel (Pass, 7), Classic (Pass, 7)


5) Cutting a circle (Mini CD center) with the Slice is rather difficulte
6) First go with the Classic, far from perfect but better than anything I managed with the slice



Discussion
I can only say that I'm disapointed. The Slice does not cut well, its bad in straight lines and worse than horrible when cutting curves. Even the Classic cuts far better than the Slice. The Slice is the same price as the Scalpel (+ ~1 USD / blade) and about half the price of a classic but certainly not worth the money.

Pro
- You couldn't hurt yourself, even if you wanted
- It's not ugly
- Safe for children

Con
- Does only cut at one, very unconfortable angle, and produces a wide unclean cut
- Does not cut so well.
- Does not work well with a ruler

P.S.: I actually cut myself with the scalpel during the test, still that danger is worth the better blade

[Etherealicer]

Hmm, no image of the whole thing

[jzmtl]

Interesting, I saw those in Lee Valley catalog (who touts everything as the best thing since sliced bread) and always wondered how well they work, especially given my less than satisfactory experience with ceramic knives.

Of course they had photos of it slicing sections out of magazine neatly, now I wonder if they cut it with scissors then posed with it.

[Etherealicer]

Interesting, I saw those in Lee Valley catalog (who touts everything as the best thing since sliced bread) and always wondered how well they work, especially given my less than satisfactory experience with ceramic knives.

Of course they had photos of it slicing sections out of magazine neatly, now I wonder if they cut it with scissors then posed with it.

Maybe its just mine, maybe others will cut better. But beside the blade the whole geometry with the "hidden" blade is wrong, you don't see where you cut, it actually has a marker on the pen, so you roughly know where your blade is.*

Hmm, I can't update my first post anymore
Could one of the mods please updat the Discussion to what is in the quotation below? Pretty please?

I can only say that I'm disapointed. The Slice does not cut well, its bad in straight lines and worse than horrible when cutting curves. Even the Classic cuts far better than the Slice. The blade is hidden by the shaft of the cutter, making it impossible to exactly see where one is cutting (There is a marking on the shaft giving the orientation of the blade ), this makes it almost impossible to cut accuratly.
The Slice is the same price as the Scalpel (+ ~1 USD / blade) and about half the price of a classic but certainly not worth the money.

[RT1969]

I can't see any practical use of a scalpel with this thing. As you said, you can't really cut along a ruler, plus you can't cut thicker materials (really? 1,5 mm blade?  ).

If this ceramic blade would be any good, I would like a normal scalpel blade made out of it. Even sell it with this hideous grip, if you have to.
But I doubt it would be sharper than a SS blade.

Anyway, thank you for the review Etheralicer! I also enjoy reading good reviews/discussion, even if I am not interested in the product. 

[Etherealicer]

I can't see any practical use of a scalpel with this thing. As you said, you can't really cut along a ruler, plus you can't cut thicker materials (really? 1,5 mm blade?  ).

If this ceramic blade would be any good, I would like a normal scalpel blade made out of it. Even sell it with this hideous grip, if you have to.
But I doubt it would be sharper than a SS blade.

Anyway, thank you for the review Etheralicer! I also enjoy reading good reviews/discussion, even if I am not interested in the product. 

Its primarily intended to cut paper, for that the cut-depth (if it would cut) is sufficient.
I think a scalpel is quite dangerous, so the idea of safer alternative for schools / children is a good one. However, the product is badly designed and the blade does not cut well enough.

[Cupboard]

that might be useful for scoring the tape on top of a parcel. You're not likely to damage the contents.

[jzmtl]

Interesting, I saw those in Lee Valley catalog (who touts everything as the best thing since sliced bread) and always wondered how well they work, especially given my less than satisfactory experience with ceramic knives.

Of course they had photos of it slicing sections out of magazine neatly, now I wonder if they cut it with scissors then posed with it.

Maybe its just mine, maybe others will cut better. But beside the blade the whole geometry with the "hidden" blade is wrong, you don't see where you cut, it actually has a marker on the pen, so you roughly know where your blade is.*

I think it's just the limitation of ceramic. I have a ceramic knife that was similar in sharpness, it'll cut more or less but not nearly as sharp as even a cheap steel knife. I've tried to sharpen it with diamond benchstone, silicone carbide belt/disk, diamond disk and nothing works. The ceramic material just crumbles at the very edge instead of forming an apex like steel would.

[Cupboard]

does it depend on the particle size of whatever the blade has been made out of? I imagine if I was trying to make a blade out of Lego it would be a bit more successful than one made out of Duplo.

[jzmtl]

I think it has to so with how well they can hold onto each other. Iron carbide is huge compare to others but diamond can cut the particle itself to sharpen it.

sharpening a ceramic knife feels like trying to sharpen a saltine cracker.

Kwakster could sharpen ceramic stuff but his equipments probably worth 15x mine and are dedicated to sharpening.

[RT1969]

I just remembered seeing something like this in a local arts&crafts shop. A smaller scalpel like this like this:
https://www.architekturbedarf.de/index.php/katalog/artikelinfo/7424-1-show-grafik-_und_designermesser_fuer_feine_arbeiten.html

Maybe this can be a safer alternative to the bigger scalpels? Personally I would give the children scissors and then show them step by step how to use a cutter if they showed responsibility.
Both only under adult supervision, of course.

[Etherealicer]

I had a ceramic folder that was a really good cutter and I have ceramic kitchen knifes that are devilishly sharp, so no its not a problem of ceramics to get them sharp, I think its just this product that is quite poor.

@RT I have one of similar design, they are good but far less fun than a real scalpel

[RT1969]

I think a scalpel is quite dangerous, so the idea of safer alternative for schools / children is a good one.

@RT I have one of similar design, they are good but far less fun than a real scalpel

You can't have your 2kg Burger and eat it, too! 

[Etherealicer]

I think a scalpel is quite dangerous, so the idea of safer alternative for schools / children is a good one.

@RT I have one of similar design, they are good but far less fun than a real scalpel

You can't have your 2kg Burger and eat it, too! 

Sorry, my bad its only 1kg, the patties are 250g (1/2 lb) each...

[Cupboard]

we used scalpels at school to dissect things... and I'm not *that* old!

[Etherealicer]

we used scalpels at school to dissect things... and I'm not *that* old!

I think most people are over-cautious when dissecting animals. So, using a scalpel there is much less of a danger.
Things are quite different when doing paper-craft, people tend to be less attentive because its done more often than dissecting animals (unless you hunt with your dad / mother) AND you are not dealing with a dead animal.
Dissect a hundred mice with a class and the students will start cutting themselves, the parents will complain and suggest that a spoon is used for dissection.

Personally I think cutting yourself is not that bad, after all there is also a lesson to be learned with that.
- When you use a sharp object you might cut yourself, so be careful
- Cutting yourself is not bad, it will heal

There is good reasons to prefer a scalpel (or tiny cutter) over scissors (even when using silhouette scissors) when doing paper-craft. You can have your paper flat on a mat and don't have to lift it up and move it about, reducing the chance that your piece of art is ripped apart.