Simple Fix For Cheap Hobby Knives

[oldcarfan]

This is a simple tip, but some might find it helpful. Recently I lost all three of my good X-Acto knives. Knowing they would show up eventually I grabbed a couple of cheap Hobby Lobby knives. Sure enough the good knives showed up within a week. That was long enough to realize I don't like these cheap knives. Every time I went to use one the blade fell out. The collet backs off and let the blade slip out no matter how much I tightened it. In a moment of clarity I decided to try some plumber's Teflon tape. A couple twists around the threads and it seems to hold. While I had them apart, I decided to make them easier to see on the work bench. Some white primer and some left over Tamiya fluorescent yellow and they're done.

Edited July 31 by oldcarfan

[meechum68]

Good tip!  Especially for visibility!
 

 

[Swamp Dog]

i buy the cheap ones in different colors,  but i dont have that problem of having to tighten them ever time i use them. could be the brand i buy. good tip. 

[NOBLNG]

I put some large shrink tube in different colors on a couple of mine so I can tell at a glance which blade is in them.

[rattle can man]

I'll have to try this on my older (as in 20 year old) name brand knife. It is suffering the same issue you had with your less expensive knives. And always int he middle of a BMF job.

[Bugatti Fan]

Cannot understand why folks persevere with poor quality craft knives or worn out good ones.

Got a cheapo out of one those sets of tools you tend to get as a present from well meaning friends and relatives. Blade kept working loose in the middle of doing something. Very frustrating and found its way back into the box.

Good quality craft knives in the grand scheme of things are not at all expensive.  I have been using Swann Morton craft knives and scalpels for many years and packs of blades are not expensive considering their good quality.

A good craft knife has to be every model makers number 1 tool in their arsenal, so why frustrate yourselves ?

Edited August 10 by Bugatti Fan

[Mark]

I don't mess with the off-brand or store brand (Hobby Lobby, etc) knives because, in general, the blades don't interchange exactly with X-Acto or other better known brands.  They're often too tight to fit, or a sloppy fit.  And when the store switches suppliers next year, the blades they carry won't fit either.  Best to stick with one brand.

I've got X-Acto knives that came in boxes of parts or started kits, others I snagged off of tarps at automotive swap meets ("everything on the tarp for a quarter, leave money in the coffee can in the corner".  Often the blade would be busted off or bent, with the separate parts frozen.  Overnight soaking the end in penetrating oil, unscrew everything, toss the junk blade, clean the corrosion off of the threads, reassemble.  I've got enough of them that I don't need to change to a different style blade, there's a handle for each one.

[Bugatti Fan]

Xacto make very good craft knives and blades, and incidentally very good razor saws. Besides my Swann Morton knives I have been using an Exacto razor saw for many years too. A good investment !

A company named Olfa, better known perhaps in the art and craft fields also make very good cutting tools, especially well known for their circle cutters. I have a feeling that some branded modelling cutters are basically Olfa items made under licence.

[stitchdup]

1 hour ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Xacto make very good craft knives and blades, and incidentally very good razor saws. Besides my Swann Morton knives I have been using an Exacto razor saw for many years too. A good investment !

A company named Olfa, better known perhaps in the art and craft fields also make very good cutting tools, especially well known for their circle cutters. I have a feeling that some branded modelling cutters are basically Olfa items made under licence.

the tamiya panel scriber is an olfa product. they seem more popular with rc and gundam

[Nosferatu]

I have Exactos and they are great! I also have a couple of those cheap ones and the blade keeps loosening. I will try your fix.

Thanks for the tip!

Dave

[oldcarfan]

I stopped at Hobby Lobby for some kicker and these were on clearance. I'm happy with the cheap knives since I 'fixed' them, so I'll keep these in reserve.

[oldcarfan]

Here's something for those of us who shop at Hobby Lobby. Sometimes they have the same products in different places at different prices. The XActo knives I bought on clearance are gone from the model car aisle, but the exact same knives are still in papercrafts at $4.99. 

[BERT100]

On 8/14/2025 at 5:23 PM, oldcarfan said:

Here's something for those of us who shop at Hobby Lobby. Sometimes they have the same products in different places at different prices. The XActo knives I bought on clearance are gone from the model car aisle, but the exact same knives are still in papercrafts at $4.99. 

🤣 ya just gotta love modern retailers 

[Earl Marischal]

On 8/13/2025 at 1:03 PM, Nosferatu said:

I have Exactos and they are great! I also have a couple of those cheap ones and the blade keeps loosening. I will try your fix.

Thanks for the tip!

Dave

This.

 steve 

[Proximitas]

I have one X-Acto handle that I've had since I was in college. It is a high-end (I think at the time it was 3 or 4x the price of the normal ones) rubber covered handle one. I still use that more often than the cheap ones for the reasons the OP described. However, I am considering switching to scalpels instead of the traditional hobby knife from X-Acto. Anyone have pros or cons of one over the other?

[stitchdup]

12 minutes ago, Proximitas said:

I have one X-Acto handle that I've had since I was in college. It is a high-end (I think at the time it was 3 or 4x the price of the normal ones) rubber covered handle one. I still use that more often than the cheap ones for the reasons the OP described. However, I am considering switching to scalpels instead of the traditional hobby knife from X-Acto. Anyone have pros or cons of one over the other?

i find it makes little difference. just because one brand fitted your handle once, it doesn't mean the next packwill fit. usually i just buy the pack of 100 blades that comes with a handle. medical type blades wont hold an edge for long though, and you'll probably use 3 or 4 where you'd use one exacto blade. i do like them better for foil though. swann morton is a decent brand but twice the price of cheapo chinese imports for not much real benefit. 

[NOBLNG]

48 minutes ago, Proximitas said:

I have one X-Acto handle that I've had since I was in college. It is a high-end (I think at the time it was 3 or 4x the price of the normal ones) rubber covered handle one. I still use that more often than the cheap ones for the reasons the OP described. However, I am considering switching to scalpels instead of the traditional hobby knife from X-Acto. Anyone have pros or cons of one over the other?

I have both and like the scalpel for foil work and finer work . The blades are extremely sharp but also fragile. If I need to “chop” any thin styrene I will use the exacto.

[sidcharles]

every couple of years i buy a box of wrapped single edge razor blades. 

Amazon.com: WEGAZ-100PCS Single Edge Razor Blades,Industrial Safety Razor Blades,Individually Packed, Used for Scrapers and Cutting Tools : Tools & Home Improvement

they can take the brunt of the work off hobby knives & blades and remind me where i came from.

i also use snap blade knives because i have a half dozen and about 10x that many blades [each with about 10 snaps so there's always a good point available]

OLFA 9mm Stainless-Steel Utility Knife (SVR-2) - Multi-Purpose Retractable Precision Knife w/Stainless-Steel Snap-Off Blade, Replacement Blades: Any OLFA 9mm Blade - Utility Knives - Amazon.com

with the cost of a model/ parts/ paint/ tools/ sundries = kissing the $200 mark, i don't think the place to cut chaff is with a $4 or $6 knife handle which can be used almost indefinitely - but that's just me.

[Bugatti Fan]

Sid has made a very good point in the last two lines of his post just before this one of mine.

Cannot understand why folk think nothing of shelling out copious amounts of cash on all sorts of model accessory 'stuff', that invariably in many cases languishes in a drawer and buy cheap craft knives, the most essential tool in every modeller's armoury. Very good brand craft knives like Swann Morton, Exacto and Olfa are actually not at all expensive compared with all the other often unnecessary things we buy.

Exacto razor saws. Again not that expensive in the grand scheme of things and a good quality tool that will last for ages.

Edited August 18 by Bugatti Fan

[NOBLNG]

On 8/18/2025 at 2:09 AM, Bugatti Fan said:

Exacto razor saws. Again not that expensive in the grand scheme of things and a good quality tool that will last for ages.

Sort of related to the fixes idea… I filled the hollow tang that fits into the handle with some evergreen rod so that it tightens up better. If I recall,  I heated the blade slightly with a butane torch as I pushed the rod in and it conformed nicely with the cavity.

the top two handles are Exacto. The middle one has been overtightened ( probably due to the hollow tangs) and the collar is stretched over the chuck.😕 The bottom one is a cheapo and will not tighten up at all.

Edit: I have dulled the bottom blade substantially by cutting brass and aluminum, so I only cut styrene with the others.

 

Edited August 19 by NOBLNG
Crop pic

[NOBLNG]

I just now fixed the handle by carefully tapping the stretched collar into a doming block and filing a slight chamfer at the end of the threads.🙂

Edited August 19 by NOBLNG

[oldcarfan]

On 8/18/2025 at 2:09 AM, Bugatti Fan said:

Sid has made a very good point in the last two lines of his post just before this one of mine.

Cannot understand why folk think nothing of shelling out copious amounts of cash on all sorts of model accessory 'stuff', that invariably in many cases languishes in a drawer and buy cheap craft knives, the most essential tool in every modeller's armoury. Very good brand craft knives like Swann Morton, Exacto and Olfa are actually not at all expensive compared with all the other often unnecessary things we buy.

Exacto razor saws. Again not that expensive in the grand scheme of things and a good quality tool that will last for ages.

Sometimes it's not about the money but about availability. In my case I knew I had some good knives and couldn't find them. I knew they would show up sooner or later. Had they not been out of stock at the time I might have bought a couple more XActos or Excels, however they were out and the HL cheapies were available. Living in small towns can limit your shopping choices unless you're willing to wait for an online order. 

[Bugatti Fan]

I get where you are coming from Gary, and you have made a good point.  Sometimes we have no choice and have to resort to what is available.

I forgot to mention that Stanley make good quality small knives with interchangeable blades that many hardware shops stock.

Edited August 20 by Bugatti Fan

[sidcharles]

21 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Sort of related to the fixes idea… I filled the hollow tang that fits into the handle with some evergreen rod . . .    only cut styrene with the others [blades].

this is something i learned early on in the Trades: when purchased, tools are actually "tool kits."

a block plane is not ready to shave wood right from the box. it will do something, but must be tuned in a variety of ways.

same with handsaws & chisels. screwdrivers, awls, knives, ad nauseum, all benefit by a little 'tlc' .

the Japanese believe a tool should be "woken" prior to use. some would argue a tool is an inanimate object and cannot possibly feel the attention.

i vehemently disagree.  all of this fettling contributes to the performance of the tool as well as the user.