Verlinden Razor Saw Set
$10.00
The other
day, I was using my trusty Scale Aircraft Modelling razor saw, when I noticed
that it was getting a bit bent up. SAM offers a nice set of saws along one
edge of a ruler. The smaller one is really great as it is nice and thin,
but it's size is such that it is a bit difficult to handle for really tight
areas.
With that in mind, I asked my fave hobby shop proprietor if he knew of a set that fit in an X-acto knife handle. I was expecting a set I had seen that was basically a bunch of #11 blades with teeth.
What I got was a set of Verlinden blades. There are four of them of various lengths; three of them for the standard handle and one for the larger X-acto handle. They were all on a steel fret.
First problem was getting the things cut off the fret without bending them and without having sharp areas on them. I was successful in getting the smallest of them somewhat cleanly off.
It was then attached to the handle and I went to work removing some parts from sprue with it. Now in all fairness, the instruction card states that they are for cutting resin. As it may be, it is not that good on plastic as the blade is about twice as thick as the one I was using. In addition, it doesn't cut very cleanly, leaving a more ragged cut than what I was using before. On top of that, I have trouble keeping the blade straight in the knife handle as it wants to angle upward when I put any pressure on it. The blade itself is smaller than the opening in the handle so there is room for slop.
To say that I am disappointed with this set would be a bit of an understatement. I was expecting something similar or even better than what I had and didn't get it. While it may be perfectly ok for resin (I haven't tried it with resin yet), it is not a good performer on plastic.