Thanks for visiting Craft Critique! If you've come here from a
search engine or from a direct link, you might be missing out
on more content! Please visit CraftCritique.com for more.
Reported by Katie Skiff 
One of my latest tool investments was the Creative HotKnife, by Walnut Hollow. I had originally purchased this tool to use for mounting my rubber stamps. However, I was surprised to see all the uses that this tool has. With a very sharp blade, the Creative HotKinfe uses heat to penetrate through a variety of surfaces.So far, I have used this to cut though EZ Mount foam for mounting rubber stamps. When heated, the HotKnife reaches temperatures of 950 degrees, and makes cutting through the foam very simple. The HotKnife can also be used for most Foam Core, including foam pumpkins at Halloween. Other uses list Styrofoam, wax and soap.
The HotKnife comes with 2 extra blades, a stand and instructions for use. It also features an on/off switch for safety. When the HotKnife is on, all of the metal parts are extremely hot, so caution should be used as well as keeping it out of reach from children. Some residue may also be left on the blade after use, but once the blade is cool, it can be easily cleaned off.
Pros
- This tool is very easy to use, I feel especially for those who may have a harder time trimming with scissors.
- The HotKnife heats up in less than 5 minutes, letting you get right to your project, as well as staying hot to finish the project.
- When comparing the HotKnife to using scissors to trim stamps, there is much less gumming up.
Cons
- It does take a while to cool off after use so caution should be exercised.
- The stand that is included is not very steady and does not do a good job of holding the HotKnife off the table. Many times the stand and HotKnife have fallen off the table.
- If you already own a good pair of scissors, the HotKnife is not a necessity for trimming.
- This product does not trim through rubber easily, just the foam. So you would probably have an easier time using rubber scissors.
The Creative HotKnife is manufactured by Walnut Hollow. It retails between $15 and $20, and most suppliers carry replacement blades for under $5.00.
You can purchase the HotKnife at Joanns.com, Stamping Bella.com, and Sunday International.I would rate this at an 9 out of 10.
Do you have this product? Please tell us what your experience has been!
5 comments:
I agree 100% with your pros and cons. I bought this 1 - 2 years ago I thought it would be a breeze to cut rubber because I read reviews that said so. (Sorry I forget where I read them) However, I had the same experience - it does not cut rubber as well as the foam.
I was also concerned about the fumes from the foam and rubber, it smells awful. Otherwise, I probably would have tried harder to get better results.
It does work great for foam core board.
I do own this product and I use it not only for trimming rubber, which I still use scissors for more often, but it is FANTASTIC on ribbon. Because it is so hot (950 degrees F) it melts the ribbon as much as cutting it. There is NO fraying. Be aware that it does not work on pure cotton items like twill tape - it just scorches it.
I bought it to do image transfer from photocopied images/text onto canvas and I'm quite happy with it for this purpose.
The one I have has a variety of wood burning tips and it works great for this. There is also a soldering tip that has yet to be used.
I have never had the knife fall off the stand but I have had the stand slide around on my work surface, a piece of tape takes care of that problem.
I bought this knife about a year ago, also thinking it would be great to trim rubber stamps and the foam backing. Just to give you a visual... I felt like I was cutting through tough steak when trimming rubber. NOT FUN! It's ok for cling foam... but still gooey. You also need to have a heat resistant 'cutting board' under your stamps to keep from burning your fingers. It's just awfully expensive for something that can be done with scissors, imo.
I have one of these tools and I've used it for cutting mylar stencils. Never knew about using it to cut ribbon though... great idea!
just got mine this week and have yet to use it... I got the BIG set with all the tips...
reflections:0)
Post a Comment