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My new guillotine blade chipped on some handmade paper
I was trimming a set of endpapers I made with cotton rag pulp, and the blade hit a thick clump I missed. It happened yesterday afternoon, right in the middle of a big project. Has anyone else had this happen, and what's the best way to smooth out a small nick without sending the whole blade out for sharpening?
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keithlane20d agoMost Upvoted
That's actually a pretty common thing with handmade paper (those clumps are sneaky). You might be mixing up the blade with the cutting stick, the plastic part that gets scored and replaced. If it's the actual metal blade that's chipped, a small diamond file can clean up a tiny nick, but anything bigger means a professional sharpening to keep the cut even.
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quinnr4011d ago
Keith mentioned the plastic cutting stick, but I'm pretty sure you'd know if you hit that instead of the blade. A ceramic rod can work for a tiny burr, but a real chip is different. Once the metal is gone, you can't file it back without messing up the blade's angle. Trying to fix it yourself usually makes the cut worse. I learned the hard way that sending it out is the only safe bet for a clean cut.
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