Three Steps To Finding The Right Paper Cutting Knife

If you're new to guillotine knife buying, it can be hard to know where to begin. How do you find the paper cutting knife that will exactly suit your needs? It just takes a little research and planning. Below is the 3 steps to finding the right paper cutting knife for you.

Step One: Figuring out your paper cutter brand and model

Just as you can’t put a MERCEDES steering wheel on a BMW car, you can’t put a POLAR knife on a PERFETCA machine, either. The most important thing to select a right guillotine knife is to figure out your paper cutter brand and model.

Popular brands of paper cutters are: Polar, Perfecta, Wohlenberg, Schneider Senator, Maxima, etc.

Step Two: Selecting a paper cutter blade material

Blades for guillotine paper cutters are available in three major types. (While some manufactures have developed other variations of paper knives, they are beyond the scope of this article).

Standard steel knives

High-speed steel knives

Carbide knives

The difference in paper cutting knives is in the type of steel used in the inlays. While standard steel knives have been and will continue to be an acceptable type of knife, the popularity of high-speed steel knives have grown due to their improved performance, both in the quality of cut and increased life between grindings.

High-speed knives cost about twice as much as standard knives, but as they can last 2-3 times longer between sharpening.  The additional cost can easily be offset by the reduction in knife change time and knife sharpening costs.

Carbide knives provide the best quality edge and last even longer than high speed steel knives, but they are the most expensive (often 3-4 times the cost of high-speed knives) and require special grinding equipment to sharpen (also 3-4 times the cost of sharpening high-speed knives). 

They are also very susceptible to chipping and due to their high cost, are only recommended for operations that are consistently cutting the same type of material such as fine paper, where the chances of damage from material is minimal.  Carbide knives should NEVER be used when cutting any type of recycled material.

Step Three: Caring for paper blade bevel, length and angle

Knife manufacturers vary only slightly in their recommendations for a standard bevel (24° to 25°). There are times when a different bevel or even a double bevel is advisable, depending on the material to be cut.

The following chart illustrates some of the different bevels and will serve as a guide for obtaining the correct bevel for a particular material.  Knife suppliers and machine manufactures all have information available to assist in determining the correct bevel to use with hard-to–cut materials.

Figure 1: Paper blade bevel guide, by material to be cut

* HSS = high-speed steel knives

HM = carbide-tipped knives (normal: 23/25°)

UFK = ultra-finest grain hard metal (normal 22/25°) ** Compensation of differences in height is necessary

Source: Polar-Mohr® “Cutting in Practice”