What's the Mat-er?

I finally invested in a Mat cutter and rule. I have tried to use one before, so I knew it wouldn't be easy. I got a DAFA cutter off e-bay and 5 boards. I thought that I would loose most of the boards practicing and hoped to get at least one cut Mat out of them.

Well it didn't go to plan. I used all 5 boards but have nothing to show for it, but I did learn a few things along the way...

The cutter was cheap, and I think I would have been better off spending a bit more on a recognised brand. When running the cutter along the paper, the sharp edges on the cutter's body caught, lifted and ripped the already-cut edges of the board. As I was cutting from the back, this meant that the sharp bevel edge was ruined.

I used the cutter on a board of MDF covered with a few sheets (~10) of drawing paper. The surface seemed fine, though I think an investment in a larger A3/A2 self healing mat would be worth while. I later tried cutting on top of some off cuts of the Mat board, which seemed to turn out better.

The main problem with the cutting was that the cutter would often tear the board and produce a lot of dust.

In the end I just ordered a few ready cut boards from e-bay, from a seller I have used a few times with good results and at a cost of about 20p more per sheet than the un-cut boards were.

The next morning, not wanting to give up I tried again with a different blade, to find I got some nice sharp bevel cuts using the board scraps I had left over. This was a shock as the cutter was new and I expected that the fitted blades were sharp but it appears they weren't.

So with my new small experience I plan to try again on some new boards with a sharp blade...

On balance, I think being able to cut your own Mat boards is a convenience when you need a non-standard size and can't wait or don't want to pay a disproportionate delivery fee for a single board. Now I have invested in the cutter I will try my best to get it working, but I won't be rushing out to buy replacements when these blades run out or I need a new cutter.