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.