Fiskars Rotary Paper Trimmer • 1/10/06
For those of you who do a lot of paper cutting, a good paper trimmer can be a lifesaver. While some may remember paper cutters from elementary school as being these immense, antiquated “blade handles” stuck to a heavy block of metal (I believe these are called “guillotine” paper cutters), most know that the craft paper trimmers today are much lighter and easier to use.
The Fiskars 12 Inch Rotary Paper Trimmer is a pretty handy device to have around when you need to make those straight line cuts for normal paper. I don’t have the exact same model, but one that’s very similar. You pivot the guide rail arm and insert paper. The blade in the arm is actually a “rotary” blade (like the blade on a manual can opener) that is attached to a spring so that it only comes down when it is pressed down. That’s a nice touch… safety first and all!
On this model there is a full 12 inches of cut length. To cut paper you simply press down on the blade so that it engages and run it down the length of the paper trimmer. The blade runs along a cutting strip so that it won’t damage the plastic or anything.
Although the specs say that it can handle cutting up to 10 sheets of 20 pound paper at once, I usually find that with any more than a few you’ll tend to make mistakes. One thing to remember is to press the blade firmly the whole time that you’re running it down across the paper. If you let up a bit, then you may get spots where the paper isn’t cut through all the way.
Overall, this is a great paper trimmer. I haven’t tried them, but I know that they also sell additional “decorative” blades in case you want to edge a piece of paper with something other than a straight line.
