STOP CUTTING LIKE A CHILD: the adult's guide to using hobby knives

I feel like you’d have to be pretty exceptionally clumsy to turn your mini session into a hospital trip with just a hobby knife

What’s the name of the second knife handle and blade you use?

No , nothing against your demonstrated method !!! What you are calling the scissoring motion , I am calling the flexing motion , same same !!! controlling the distance that the blade & it's tip travel , is the goal !!!

By the way , I am a whittling / woodcarver of over 50 yrs. !!!

Ham handed lummoxes seem to want to use their whole entire arm & all of the muscles in it , to wield a knife blade , like there is no other way to function in a cutting motion , when knife is in hand !!! I don't care if your stroke is pulling or pushing , using that much power is crazy & yes injury to somebody will follow !!! Most of the time , a simple & controlled flexing motion of the hand / wrist / lower forearm is all that is required , while keeping the armpit to elbow portion up close to your body , to limit the distance that the hand with knife in it , will travel , such as 1/4" , 1/2" , maybe out to 1" travel . How bad can one get hurt during such a controlled movement ??? untrained Fools rush in !!!

Never seen your channel before, but I appreciate the fact you ridicule the weak in the chat. Respect. 🔪

I always cut towards me with a scalpel/hobby so I have more control over the blade than when I cut away from me.

Oh, my gosh! Thank you so much for making this video. I have found lots of painting tutorial videos, but not as many videos for cleaning a model. I didn't realize my technique was ineffective, and possibly less safe.

I, too, wear my big boy pants when cutting loll

I am halfway in to watching the video and loving it already 😆 Thank you Sir

This really doesn't help me is clickbait - this is coming from a Hunter with experience with a Machete am not gonna say the same technic i use to sharpen my primary's & secondary even the thrid (primary big blades, secondary medium size such as an Pakistan dagger and the last ones are pity pocket knifes) i was a collecter in chile now i live in uk with knife crime too 😅 N not allowed to get any knifes tho yea if anything i wood use your technic with a very very sharp hobby knife so i can go gentle if possible, i don't think is same as skining a boar

i have a scar that's approximately 3cm long on the outward facing side of my left index finger. how? i was trying "cutting away from myself" and the blade slipped, caught on the material i was cutting, and stabbed right into my finger.
knife safety is all about the angle, the force applied, and the shape of the blade. things like chiselfs, cleavers, paring knives and saws shouldn't EVER point towards the body, but small knives that will be used on pliable materials that don't require much force are fine.

I am a knife collector and amateur hobbyist, i have been using large and very sharp knives for ages and hobby knives for quite some time too; I cut towards me with the mini's because i have better control over the knife. I have noticed that once the knife starts to dull is really when the problems occur (slippage and such) so i try to keep a few back up blades on deck. The Dollar Tree near me even sells an exacto knife set with 6 different small razor blade styles for $1.00 so id say that's more than affordable.

Tldr; keep your tools sharp and be patient with your cuts or else you can slip or put too much pressure through the cut and hurt yourself.

What kind of a fool cuts away from themselves, rookie mistake..... There is nothing going to happen that can't be solved quickly with a little super glue..... bonds to skin instantly.

The comment reading voice is, magical

Hahahaha i feel so ashamed the way I cut, but this makes me feel a lot better. Weird too that I've worked in kitchen but still feel the shame 🙃🙃🙃

HAHA I KNEW I WASN'T CRAZY!!!

I had always wondered why hobbyists cut towards themselves, I never commented that they were wrong but I did admit that it made me nervous for them. I did however suspect there was a clear reason why.

I wish I had learned this sooner. I can't feel part of my left index finger from the knife slipping one too many times. Luckily I can still feel pressure.

I kind of still squick thinking about hobby knives - I cut myself in 7th grade, almost 20 years ago, and haven't touched one since. But I'm going to buy one tomorrow to repair a glued-up model... wish me luck!

i go with whats most comfortable, cutting towards me is also easier.

Water is not wet

Sometimes I feel like I'm getting old. Then I hear something like "this man is still making cooking videos and he has 72 years of culinary experience" and I realize I haven't even been alive long enough to have half that much experience in anything.

You are missing the point on knife skills and will get hurt. The apple example wasn't going directly towards his thumb. Your example shortly after on the model was. Yes, you can pull the knife towards you and that's fine if done properly to be safe. Which you are not showing proper knife skills. Like knife skills in chopping vegetables. A slight change in tge angle of the fingertips on the holding hand is the difference between slicing your fingertips or being able to chop blindfolded with zero worry of getting cut. Your vegetable slice thickness might suffer but you'll never get cut.

If you have ever cut yourself at all, you need to practice your knife skills. Even if it wasn't deep enough to bleed.

My boyfriend has been taught to always cut away from himself - in any scenario. His knife cutting skills used to be pretty awful cause he never learned to properly use one for cooking. He was shocked when I showed him how to cut apples in your hand without a cutting board.

People always tell me the same thing to cut away not towards every time i proven my way was better cuz when i show them cutting away iv sliced open my fingers cutting towards me i cut myself once other than that it’s mostly a chip into my finger nail

yea well we ain't all strong I have 0 strength and when my friend who was teaching me how to cut showed me to cut toward myself it slipped and I cut into my finger I then went to cut away from myself but seeing as I have 0 strength and control I just kept flicking plastic all over the place haha...

What you don't explain is that your actually holding the blade which gives you much more control when cutting towards you. The resistance when cutting away while holding the handle is what is dangerous so what I do is align the knife with my right hand en push the blade with my left thumb and it gives me incredible control.

take this, do the opposite

Yeah honestly as a lifelong crafter seeing people do the “cutting away from your hand” is scary because they’re have to put all their force into it and have no control, my father basically lost the use of his thumb doing that when he angled his cut wrong and severed all the ligaments and tendons in his thumb

I have always cut this way the control is so much better and worst I've ever got is a minor cut on my thumb that didn't even draw blood or even actually hurt

lol if you know what you are doing, there's onthing wrong with that. you must be focused on doing like that

I undone my hobby knife toò far and I can't fix it

Children parroting "safety" is nothing new and quite frankly critical thinking has been dropped worldwide.

"Blades are more expensive for the scalpel".... You can buy like an entire box of 100 of them for only like $20 CAD. Sheeesh
You don't mind paying the outrageous prices for Warhammer but you're too cheap to change your scalpel blades... You got some screwed up priorities.

Use your CUTTING BOARD! That is what it is for! Hold the object on the board for better control and cut towards the board.
"I've been doing Warhammer on and off for about 25 years and I know my way around a hobby knife" , yet you don't seem to know this yet.... Sheesh
You can also use a vice grip with foam/rubber pads to hold the objects instead of using your fingers for many various objects.

How are these comments supposed to be angry? They were mostly courteous and concerned at worst. I don't think there is just one method to cut, I cut away from my fingers because I use a cutting mat and it has worked for me just fine. You do you.

But I am still a child

I have been carving wood since I was a kid only for someone to tell I was doing it wrong and then I showed them this video. the first thing I carved was a slingshot and move on to figure and doing all kinds of things with wood and eventually started doing other things like clay and I was recently introduce to model building and I hear ppl telling me to cut away from my hand.

When I was about 10, my dad taught me how to whittle. Well, he tried to. I had ZERO skill. But I was 10 and loved the idea of reducing a piece of wood to curly bits with a pocket knife. Dad said, "Always make sure you cut away from yourself." He showed me how to hold the stick. He showed me how to hold the knife. But because I knew that was the "safe" way to do it, I got careless. The only scars I have on my 54 year old body are the scars when I cut to the bone while using the knife in "the safe way" when I lost focus. Today, I use all kinds of knives. I have super sharp Japanese knives in my kitchen. I use surgical scalpels for my hobby work. I've lost more Xacto knives than I can remember. There is NO SAFE WAY to use a knife. You can't even leave it in a drawer and be safe because without awareness, you can reach in and stab yourself with the edge of the blade! You must always use a knife with intention and focus. I ALWAYS cut in the direction where I have the most control over the knife - full stop. And most of the time, I'm pulling the knife towards me. I can't remember the last time I cut myself. Well, that's not true. I get a paper cut at least once a month ripping open the mail. So there's your safety tip. Don't open your mail. It's dangerous!!! But knives? Nah. I got this! If folks want to get worked up about it, fine. I'm sure we can find them a pair of safety scissors and some construction paper and finger paints. In other words, amen brother!

Lol, been using blades for 20+ years, if you cut "like an adult" you would have no issues in any direction. To me with gunpla the difference are the pieces themselves, some are more comfortable in one direction. Make sure your blade is sharp and you'll be fine. But sure, "it's about the direction" hahah

First 1min30sec got me subbed lol. Loved it.

I just keep cutting myself when I screw up. Eventually it scars and callouses up and problem solved.

warhammer from theblacklibrary i thought know one knew what that is i just finished vol.1

I completely agree! I started the hobby recently, and got a hobby knife even more recently, and cutting towards yourself using this method to anchor everything, gives you so much more control! Haven't cut myself once.

Totally agree

thanks this really helped me start a khorne army