I think maybe I could use a swivel knife when it comes to cutting out decals, especially inkjet decals. I have been looking a bit on line, and see there are basically two types.
One is just like a conventional craft knife, but the blade holder swivels. The second type has a c-shaped handle, so that your finger goes through it (and I guess it is held in place by other fingers). It kind of fits on your finger (I would guess index finger) like a ring.
Anyone familiar with the pluses and minuses of each type? Which would be better for modelers?
The “C” type I think you are referring to is made for “carving” leather. The forefinger is placed in the C, the thumb and middle finger rotate the barrel as the knife is drawn along. There are several blades for this type, although they are quite thick. There is one blade called an angle blade that is finer and has a point. These knives are not intended to actually cut through leather, rather they cut through the skin side of the leather creating a line that can be tooled down into intricate shapes. You can go to Tandy Leather site to see pictures of these tools on their catalog. Never tried it on film or paper, but who knows, might work if the medium was backed up on a cutting mat. The craft tool type I’ve looked at but never used. I can screw up decals fast enough with a regular knife and decided I didn’t need a faster way to total destruction. EJ
The swivel knives were very popular in the printing industry when irregular masks were handcut for either artwork or for making film flats for platemaking. Some people thought that they were much better for following curves than the conventional fixed blade #11.The other camp maintained that the same results could be obtained by simply rotating the fixed style bewtween the thumb and forefinger. In either case, lots of practice was the key.
The only trick to using either style is to look ahead of the cut, in other words where you want the blade to go, not where it is.