Modeling Knife for Cutting at an Angle

What it is

A modeling knife from the Heki company, intended for cutting at an angle. A perpendicular cut is the easiest to make with an ordinary blade; this tool aims at the opposite task, that is at chamfered edges, at corner joints and at transitions where the material is meant to fall away toward the edge.

Field of use

You need a slanted cut every time a joint is to be hidden. The corner of a box shape holds together better and the seam in it does not show if both sides are cut off at half the angle. In the same way an edge of terrain or the edge of an area that thins toward its margin looks more natural than a bluntly cut side. The tool therefore suits the building of dioramas and scenery as well as ordinary work with sheet materials, where one whole is put together from two parts.

How to work with the knife

• Make the cut along a ruler or along a prepared template, because the angle is hard to hold freehand.
• Work in several shallow passes; one deep cut runs off the line considerably more often.
• Work on a cutting mat, because a hard surface will blunt the blade quickly.
• A blunt blade tears the material rather than cutting it, and on soft materials that shows immediately.
• Cut away from your body and take the offcuts away only once you have put the knife down.
• Try out dry first how the two chamfered parts seat against each other, and only then glue them.

Terms of supply

The tool is supplied. A cutting mat, a ruler and material to cut are not part of the package, unless stated otherwise.