Cuppa-Tea Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I know a lot of people use this. I'm thinking of getting one, but I have a little bit of carpal tunnel in my hands and it's hard to squeeze things. I'm imagining that the cutter takes quite a bit of hand strength to use, or am I wrong about that? I normally use an X-Acto mitre box and saw, but that gets tedious and hurts my hands too if I do too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shakyshaky Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I have the small one and I do okay. I have a wrist problem too. I think it depends more on the type of wood. Some are hard an dsome are soft. You did not say what you wanted it for if you were to use it on a large project, like shingles, you could always do alittle at a time. I got mine at crafts and stuff for like $6, but it is the small one. You can get the bigger one but they were like $26 and I was not sure if I would like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvmypoodle Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 If my carpal tunnel flares up really bad it may bother me to use mine and also to just work on the dollhouse period. Other than that the cutter is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wenlaine Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hi Cuppa-Tea, I suffer from osteoarthritis in my fingers and I have both the small and large EZ cutters and up to now (touch wood) they've worked with very little effort. I highly recommend using them. Wendy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prariegurl Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I have the large, $25 EZ Cutter. I highly recommend it. It's so much faster than the saw and miter box, it's easily worth the money given the effort it saves. If you are cutting soft wood, then the EZ cutter probably takes less effort than the saw. Hard wood takes a fair amount of pressure. I was able to cut enough coffee stirrersto cover the main floor of my niece's dollhouse, even though that took a lot of cuts on a fairly hard wood, and I have tendonitis (a kind of pre-curser to carpel tunnel). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I suffer from osteoarthritis in my fingers Mine is in my fingers & hands & the anti-inflammatory meds bother my stomach. I occasionally have a wrist-reaction to the EZ Cutter (I have a fairly big one), but it's so wonderful fo cutting shingles & siding & small diameter dowels (round & square). If you wear your wrist brace when the carpal tunnel flares up you might be able to use that hand to hold & brace the tool & the non-involved hand to apply pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydroped Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hi Cuppa-tea, I have the large Easy Cutter - I've found that it really depends what I'm cutting. If I cut the woods I'm actually supposed to use it on then it cuts very easily - it goes through balsa like butter but.. if I try to cut plywoods.. that's a bit tougher and I actually probably shouldn't even try doing that.. but I have. Balsa and Bass, shingles and popsicle sticks cut great! Door and window trim, crown and base molding all cut wonderfully! I used my Easy Cutter to make my own windows in my gypsy caravan (well 2 out of the three I made the other I bought) and I found that getting the corners mitred was a breeze! The tool cut well and it was quick and easy to put the windows together! I don't have any wrist problems so I can't make any kind of recommendations about that - but like I said unless you're cutting ply or something hard they seem to work very easy and I think you'll like using them. -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuppa-Tea Posted February 3, 2006 Author Share Posted February 3, 2006 Thank you so much, everyone! I will definitely get one. I just want it for basswood and popsicle sticks. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doogster Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 I got Marg a larger one, don't know if there's a middle size, on close out for 10 bucks at a scrapbook store. Not tried the other woods, but on cedar shingles I found a lot of splintering, especially on an angled cut. And the blade's brand new. I guess I've got the Tim Taylor mentality, power tools rule. I got a tiny cutoof saw at Harbor Freight, it's also on-line and their shipping's reasonable, once you set the mitre gauge/clamp you can zip through stuff like crazy. Though if you want dsomething sooner the Easy Cutter may be the way to go, otherwise I'd wait for a sale, I got mine for 16.99. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvmypoodle Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 My easy cutter does great but maybe I am not holding the crown molding correctly when I cut. I can cut and make "picture frame molding" but to try and cut for crown or base board, I am doing something wrong. How do you hold it on the base to cut that?? I've tried flat and standing it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuppa-Tea Posted February 3, 2006 Author Share Posted February 3, 2006 I guess I've got the Tim Taylor mentality, power tools rule. I got a tiny cutoof saw at Harbor Freight, it's also on-line and their shipping's reasonable, once you set the mitre gauge/clamp you can zip through stuff like crazy. Though if you want dsomething sooner the Easy Cutter may be the way to go, otherwise I'd wait for a sale, I got mine for 16.99. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I've seen a mini-table saw at a friend's house and in one of those hobby catalogs... can't recall the name of it right now... Micro-Mark. It looks awesome, but I can't really justify blowing a hundred bucks on a mini saw right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minis On The Edge Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Oh I LOVE the easy cutters! I have both the small and large one. I use whichever one I can find at the moment LOL. You gotta get one. It just makes all cutting so much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydroped Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 My easy cutter does great but maybe I am not holding the crown molding correctly when I cut. I can cut and make "picture frame molding" but to try and cut for crown or base board, I am doing something wrong. How do you hold it on the base to cut that?? I've tried flat and standing it up. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I've found cutting corners that way - with the stock standing up is a little tricky but what I do is back it withsomething else - you'll get the same angle if you put say, a popsickle stick behind it to help support the wood and cut through both or a thicker piece of balsa. You just have to hold the baseboard real snug to the piece of wood you're using as a backing board. Another trick that I caught a friend doing when installing panneling was to not miter the corners of baseboard - he would put the first piece in flush and then the matching corner piece he would cut to match the shape of baseboard. If you turned the baseboard to it's side to see the shape if it wa shaped like a B... he'd then cut the two humps of the B out of the end of the stock and both pieces would be set in flush so it only looked mitred. I hope that doesn't sound too confusing.. I just use a backing board. -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 How do you hold it on the base to cut that?? I've had reasonable success with baseboards marking the angle in pencil & then holding it at that angle & sanding it to the pencil line (I feel like it's cheating, but it works so much better than when I tried to cut it. Holing it upright with the backing sounds like it might work, but I wonder about the chopper blade crushing the wood, It really looks nasty on stock thicker than 3/16". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuppa-Tea Posted February 4, 2006 Author Share Posted February 4, 2006 My easy cutter does great but maybe I am not holding the crown molding correctly when I cut. I can cut and make "picture frame molding" but to try and cut for crown or base board, I am doing something wrong. How do you hold it on the base to cut that?? I've tried flat and standing it up. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why don't you just use the X-acto mitre box? That works great, because you can use either side of the box to support the molding in the right position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doogster Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 The mitre box works great, and razor saw blades (only need one handle, though get a bigger one) are cheap as chips to replace. You can get really fine blades so no need for sanding. The only limitation is that it'll only do 90 or 45 degrees. So a sqare or rectagular room is fine, a hexagon, like a tower, won't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydroped Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 Hi Holly, I haven't had it crush anything so far. I haven't been really paying attention to how thick the stock is though. I mostly use a backing board to support very think thin stuff, otherwise the wood tends to bend slightly as I cut the mitred angle and I end up with a much longer mitered angle. I have cut thicker woods up to about a half inch in depth with it, but no reason to reinforce thicker woods - like I said before mostly bass and balsa and it cut through that just fine with the exception that I cut half way through on the 1/2" in wood then turned it over and cut from the other side. For something that big a mitre box might be better but between my easy cutter and a quick zip with my dremel the thicker stock comes out looking fine and it's quick to do. If anyone's wondering what I'd but cutting wood that thick for - it's for the beam to go over a hearth. -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 Thanks, David. I had tried using it to cut 1/4" dowels & wound up using my miterbox & pull-saw to avoid the "crushed" look; I'll try it on the baseboards when I get ready to do them for the McKinley. We're in the Orlando area this weekend and I got by Ron's, I got milled frame pieces to make my own picature frames, some lovely brass drapery holders, another set of Chrysnbon cookware to finish and three 1:24 scale furniture kits to make a crib, a baby dresser & a side-by-side desk/ bookcase (escritoire?). The weather was too nasty to ride today, but we're staying with DSIL in Oviedo & the North Seminole Trail is just a mile from the house, so now the rain is done we'll ride tomorrow before we go home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydroped Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 Hi Holly, You know what.. I can't remember if I've ever tried cutting dowels with it.. they might be a harder wood. Seems to me I tried once and it didn't give the top the crushed look but if I remember right it did want to tend to split the dowel about 3/4 of the way through.. anymore I usually use the dremel and a cut off wheel for my dowels.. Hope I didn't steer you the wrong way with my info - like I said my poor ol memory ain't what it used to be :o Hope the weather clears up. Sounds like you got some good buys at Rons! :angry: -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuppa-Tea Posted February 6, 2006 Author Share Posted February 6, 2006 Hmmm... you all are making me think maybe I shouldn't buy one after all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydroped Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 Hmmm... you all are making me think maybe I shouldn't buy one after all! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I know it's an investment and I was skeptical about how great and easy they were so I went down to Harbor Frieght and for a couple of dollars.. and I think it was like 3.99 or something really cheap I bought their version - it doesn't have the angles marked on the blade base.. well it really made cutting easier for me - So much easier that I went and bought the easy cutter and when I got it home and tried it I was even more amazed because it cut through balsa and bass like cutting through butter. I have never regretted buying it - in fact using the Harbor Frieght version is a struggle compared to the Easy Cutter, but it is cheap if you want something to try before you spend the money on the good one. And as an update on cutting the dowels - I decided to refresh my memory and cut some small slices off the end of a 3/8" dowel The small slices I cut off were split in half but the stock I cut them off of wasn't split and it cut very easily. -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuppa-Tea Posted February 6, 2006 Author Share Posted February 6, 2006 It's not the expense I'm worried about, just that it seems to crush and split things. I think HBS sells one for $8.99. If only I would GET my HBS catalog! I requested one a couple of weeks ago, but it hasn't come. I suspect they won't be sending the next one out until next month so I guess I'll have to wait. I know I can shop on line if I'm in a hurry, but I wanted to look for 1/2" scale and they don't have much on the website. I suspect there is more in the catalog. My catalog is about a year old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 Christine, I use the EZ Cutter for speed & convenience; if it looks like there's a crush I use the saw & miterbox instead. I do not get crushing cutting craft sticks, the crushing & splitting probably depend on the properties of the type of stock being cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydroped Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I've never gotten a crushed look from my easy cutter - the only time it has ever split wood was in cutting dowels and I'm pretty sure it wasn't designed for use on dowels. -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuppa-Tea Posted February 7, 2006 Author Share Posted February 7, 2006 Okay, okay, you've convinced me! What's a "hydroped" anyway... one who walks on water??? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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