Knife for cutting carpet

[awacs]

OK, let's say I decide to DIY-install carpet in my living room. Since I'd be saving all that money, and I'd need something to cut the carpet with anyway, and since going through 20 utility blades would not an efficient use of my time, and since a sharp surgical cut gives better holding power, prevents fraying, resists beer stains, is irresistable to women, and, um, some other rationalizations to be thought up later....

Which Spydie?

:D

Thanks all,
Aram

[Andre V]

Got to be a hawkbill.

Dodo, tasman salt,harpy, merlin or Spyderhawk.

[chris777]

carpet shears.

You would be surprised at what a good sharp pair would do.

I used to tuft carpet, and gathered quite a collection of them that people would discard when they dulled, (or got ran over by a forklift).

I would just refile the edge and they would cut through carpet like it was paper. (unbacked)

I ran across a monster pair of shears when I cleaned out the workshop in the house I bought. I tried carrying them to work a few times, but everybody freaks when you have 12 inch blades for some reason.

on an interesting side note scissors "puncture" remarkably well

[Andre V]

Carpet shears would probably be ideal.

But where is the fun in that. I think it would be more fun using a :spyder:

[vampyrewolf]

Buy a superknife, can find one for a few bucks now with pretty much every hardware store having a version.

I beat on mine at the tarp factory just about every day when I was there. Blades were about $0.10 each when bought bulk(100 blades for $10+taxes), easier to just flip the blade over at noon and put a new one in daily for that price.

Used it again this fall when we put in carpet down here, fresh blade and done quickly.

[catamount]

I'm surprised at you guys. He doesn't want practical advice, he's looking for support in justifying a :spyder: purchase :rolleyes:

[dedguy]

well if you HAD to use a spydie i'd say a Tasman with a SE blade since they are fairly inexpensive and it seems to me the hawkbill SE blade would be best suited to the deed.

[Django]

I would say SE Dodo.

[deeker]

If you are just looking for support, I would suggest getting a couple of Spydie-knives. :D

You see, you'll need a back-up in case one dulls while in use. That would never do! I would also suggest they be of different handle colours - at least! - and maybe even different material as well. You would not want to confuse which one was previously used and dulled. It would be most unfortunate to need another sharp knife and not have one on hand. Definitely two is the way to go. Also, you should probably have one of those knives in both SE and PE, to give a good side-by-side test of the cutting abilities of each blade type. This would not only be for your benefit (lest the financial advisor think you were being greedy). No, this would be for the good of every forum member who would want to know whether to use SE or PE on their next berber.

"For the good of the whole", I'd say. Three it is then.

There, that was easy.

[scolby]

Carpet Cutting = Ronin. Although a hawkbill is the traditional blade (and perhaps a bit safer to use) - the Ronin is truly a laser-like matter separator.

[d.g.g]

I would suggest getting a Fat-Max.

http://www.stanleytools.com/xhtml/literature/T5292.pdf

I wouldn't use a good Spyderco for that job.

[kwakster]

Still i think for carpet-cutting you could use a superknife, but with Tini coated blades from Lenox.
About 5 times the edge duration of a normal contractorgrade blade, :D

[gordonk]

If you are trying to justify a :spyder: :) , something SE. I'm in the middle of doing some reno work on a rental property and had to cut some carpet samples for paint matching and I used my Rescue 93mm on some, and my PE Delica 4 on others. The SE won hands down :) It wasn't that the PE one didn't get the job done, it did fine, but the Rescue just did it better. Didn't cut enough to get a feel for how long the edge would go - I only cut a few feet with each, but that larger blade........ :D I only needed some small pieces, but I found a couple of chunks of larger carpet in the crawlspace and couldn't resist monkeying around a bit :D When I was talking with Rowland at Target Knives, the other side line he has is furniture upholstery/restoration and he mentioned that using a good folder was much cheaper in the long run than those utility knives - he said him and his crew were going thru blades like crazy cutting uphostery cloth (carpet would be even more abrasive). One of the guys on my 8-ball team is is a carpet salesman - he uses a Superknife clone (Canadian Tire version), and he mentioned that he's constantly swapping out blades, typically a couple a week, which would be 4 edges. And he's just cutting samples for customers :eek:

Hope this helps - gord

[Ging]

I would recomend any :spyder: !

I had to cut a piece of carpet in half, out with the UKPK and it when through it like butter!

It scared everyone around me :eek: !

[dedguy]

Well if it helps any i was cutting cardboard pretty seriously about three days a week for almost a year using my Harpy without any sharpening and my Harpy still will cut through most anything without problems. sure it dosn't cut as good as it usta but it cuts better than most any cheap folder you could buy.

[yablanowitz]

For what it is worth, my OLD AUS8 Delica made 80 linear feet of cut on old, used, dirty carpet with little effort and no sharpening. My experience tells me it would take at least 3 utility knife blades to do that (both ends of each). Pick one you like, and never look back! :D

[psimonl]

Hello Awacs and welcome...

the fun is in experimenting... Try all sorts of cutting tools and come beck to us with some results. That way, your job will be less "Dull"... :D

Simon

[ghostrider]

Any of the hawkbills would be good but your probably going to round the tip.

I would imagine that your better with a serrated edge no matter what you get.

Harpy
Tasman SE
Atlantic SE

I would stick with the H-1 because it's relatively easy to sharpen.

Get both. A Tasman SE, and a Atlantic SE.