One of the great things about attending the National Stationery Show this year was that it opened my eyes to some products that fall into the office supply category that I did not instantly think of when thinking of office supplies.  One of those items, or groups of items are cutting tools.  Usually one might think of scissors or letter openers and then move on.  This office supply review will take a look at the Slice brand of cutting tools by Karim Rashid.

The three Slice brand items shown in the picture above are the safety cutter (left), the precision cutter (center), and the letter opener (right).  Each of these items have a smooth rubbery coating on them that allow for a secure and controlled grip when you are using them, and are designed for very specific tasks.  The safety cutter is great for cutting out magazine or newspaper articles that you want to archive for reference, and it is also great for opening those really annoying clamshell packages that everything seems to be hermetically sealed in these days.  The precision cutter is great when it comes to trying to cut out very specific and intricate shapes, as long as you are comfortable using a pen to trace an item, you will be very comfortable using the precision cutter to cut out detailed objects.  The last item is the letter opener, which in all honesty, if I have to explain, well then sharp cutting tools probably shouldnt be something that you are considering using.

According to the Slice website, there are many benefits to using ceramic cutting blades over the traditional metal ones.  The most basic benefits are that ceramic is harder than metal, so it does not dull nearly as quickly, resulting in a cutting tool that will remain razor sharp for you longer than normal metal.

The above photo shows the results of using the Slice brand letter opener on a standard envelope.  The letter opener slices a crisp clean line about 1/16″ of an inch from the edge of the envelope, and only goes through the first layer of paper, so there is no chance of damaging the contents of your envelope, although Im sure some people would prefer to shred their bills before they ever see them.  Another nice thing about the Slice letter opener is that it is magnetic, so you can stick it on your fridge or filing cabinet for easy access.

The Slice precision cutter is an awesome tool for cutting detailed and exact shapes, such as in the example above.  I’ve used other cutting tools before to cut specific shapes and images out for presentations, and they work fairly well, but the Slice precision cutting tool is much better in my opinion because it handles just like a pen.  If you can trace an object, you can most certainly cut it out in its exact shape with this tool.  The rounded and tapered barrel allows you to roll the blade between your fingers to seamlessly cut through small details and drastic changes in cutting direction.  The larger and slightly heavier top part of the tool rests snugly in the space between your thumb and pointer finger which helps to keep the precision cutting point steady and smooth while you cut with it.

Now, you might know of other similar cutting tools out there, but here is the really cool thing about the Slice brand.  For every one of their products that they sell, a portion of the sale is donated to help fund autism research. By purchasing their products, you’re helping to find a cure for the millions of children and their families who live with autism every day.  You can buy these tools at major retailers such as Bed, Bath, & Beyond, The Container Store, Linens N’ Things, and Sur La Table, or you can take my favorite lazy mans route and just hit Amazon.com where they have the precision cutter.

Also, if you like to cook, Slice also makes some pretty cool cutting tools for the kitchen so you should check those out…unfortunately Im not qualified to review those since my culinary skills max out at Mac & Cheese or just asking my girlfriend (who actually went to culinary school) to make me something.

Anyway, these are some really nicely designed tools, and they are very practical to have in your office supply arsenal, so pick some up and feel good about the fact that some of your purchase price will go to charity.

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