Shorty #1 Hobby Knife Handle and Matching Mini Saw Blades

[Joe Handley]

Got this handle through Great Planes about 20 years ago when I was still working for a HobbyTown and it was intended for tight spaces like inside the fuselage of R/C aircraft where the space is limited and the saw blades sometime in the late 90’s when I was still at Toys R Us, but at the same HTU I later went to work for.

Found it worked really well went paired with the X-Acto saw blades made to fit their #1 handles when working in tight spaces as well as for using them to clean out door, trunk, and hood (where applicable) openings. 

Here it is with an Excel #1 handle and #11 blade on my more transportable model tool box, that also has room to transport some 1/24 and smaller “domestic” Kit boxes in it.

Does anybody know if it’s still possible to buy a handle like that or will I have to buy a normal #1 handle and somehow cut it down to match that one since what is left of Great Planes no longer sells that and I can’t find a comparable product?

 Second, the saw blade is maybe 1.5”-2” long and made to fit right in the #1 style handles and this particular one was made by X-Acto, but can’t find anything close other than the #13 blades from Excel, which are more like 3” long.

[stavanzer]

I have a couple of those saw blades, I think. I have not opened that particular X-Acto toolbox in 8-10 years.

[Mark]

I have never seen one of those short handles (never knew about it until now, otherwise I probably would have dreamt up a reason to get one).  It's rare that an X-Acto blade is a good fit in another company's handle.  The other companies usually make theirs different enough to force you to buy their blades too.  Sometimes the X-Acto blade is a loose fit, you're tempted to go with it anyway but that isn't a good idea.

[slusher]

Just bought some of saw blades for my X Acto knife..

Edited yesterday at 01:50 PM by slusher
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[peteski]

I have the same exact saw blade, but I dont' recall who made it or where I got it (it was many years ago).  Nowadays there is a variety of photo-etched stainless steel saw blades made for modelers.

I also have never seen a short Exacto knife handle, but it should be easy to cut down a full length aluminum handle with just a hacksaw, and then use a flat file to smooth out the cut.

If you need a very short handle, this might work for you:

https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/crafting-and-sewing/products/craft-knives-and-blades/fingertip-detail-knife-loop-design-163050-1001