Help: how to cut curves and circles on thick paper?

[ferhdas]

Hello,
I have a 3mm paper, and tried to cut a small circle with a scissors. But i didnt like the result. Any advice? How do you cut circles and curves on a thick paper?
Thank you
Fernando

[KieferRhys]

It all depends on how much you wish to spend. For solid 3mm card, probably posterboard, you'll either need a thick pair of shearing scissors, about kitchen size, or a good sharp X-acto knife or scalpel. The trick is getting it started, if you're cutting from print, make your first knife path accurate, but not too deep. Once you've got the track of the curve accurately plotted, all you have to do is follow the track with multiple re-traces, paying attention to the side to side angle of the blade. That should give you a nice accurate curve, with a perpendicular side aspect to your cut piece. If you're using scissors cut the piece out from the rest of the card leaving 5-6mm around from your final cut. Then, make sure that you have a comfortable grip on the scissors, and make lots of small nibbling cuts, following the line.
I find the knife method works best for me.

[Tim Crowe]

KeiferRhys advice works for me.

I do find that you will use a lot of blades cutting thick card. And keep those finger tips safe

Tim

[ferhdas]

Nice, thanks a lot for the tips. I did what you said about the scissors, but Im still not as skillful as I want to be about handling the scissors. So I will try the blades process. Thank you very much.
Best regards.
Fernando

[Ron40]

For cutting the outside of circles I use a good pair of
cuticle scissors....Ron

[rickstef]

get a punch, and punch the circle out
3mm is really think, you might not get through with scissors or a thin blade

bigger knives or a punch would be best.

Rick

[B-Manic]

I use a Tajima snap off box cutter utility knife with 30 degree blade. You make many small cuts as you go around the circumference (a circle is just an infinite number of very small intersecting straight lines). It may take several passes to get all the way through, so take your time.

Another alternative is to cut a number of the circles out of thinner stock and stack & glue them to the required thickness. I usually do it this way for small objects since thick card tends to de-laminate.

[Groovin_Fusion]

My suggestion is this.....breath, cut, breath, cut...oh and a lot of patience. don't get in a hurry. Also, a good sharp blade with a nice pointy tip helps too.

[Ron40]

It seems to me if your are using that thick of cardboard you
would be better off using balsa wood. I have a hard time
with 2mm. That's why I never use it. 1/8 " balsa would be
easier to cut than 2 or 3mm cardboard.....Ron

[cgutzmer]

3mm!!!! wow! thats thick - what for if I may ask? seems about 3 times more than is normally needed for heavy stuff!
Chris