Tutorial - about blades

Hi everybody,

lately I was working a lot with my hobby tools and I thought it might be a good thing to lose some words about them. This time I want to show you some of my blades I work with and explain what I like on them. Before I start please remember: Always take good care while working with sharp blades, you can hurt you pretty much if you don't treat them with respect.

This article is just an inspiration filled with my thoughts.
I am sure there are different oppinions about this topic.

Here we go, welcome the guests of this show:

1. Ok this is no blade. It is a little hobby saw from Tamyia that I really like to use, sometimes.

2. An old knife from my parents basement. I think it belongs to my dad and he used to take it to collect mushrooms in the forest. I have no proper use for it anymore, but it has its history. Sometimes when I need to really do rough work it comes handy.

3. Big blade. I only take this when I really need to use a lot of power.

4 and 5.
Those are the ones I want to talk about right now and the ones I use the most. A scalpell. I am not using the very often seen different coloured hobby knives anymore. Somehow I feel unsecure with the thin plastic around the sharp blade.

My two favourite blades ...

Now talk about the two above. At both you can switch the blades with simple moves. I am not the biggest fan anymore of the upper one even I still have it in use. My fingers have more grib on the lower one because of the additional blue ... uhm stuff.

With both, it is important to have a sharp blade in it.
Working with an old blade sucks as you can't do your work properly and the danger of hurting yourself increases. Big question: What blade to take?

I have a little collection here and I can say I do love to work with some of them, but definatly not all of them. My favourite blade to work with is shaped like this:

Why you might ask? 
Let me explain then: While using the common hobby knife blade you have to use your force downwards to cut something. Control is not the best with downward-pointed blades. I like to push forward as it is the very well known handling from a brush. For me it feels better to push forward, than downward. You can also see some thinner blades on the picture above which also work forward. I like the little difference in the shape of my favourite as it somehow gives a plus in accuracy. As said this is just my personal taste, but you can give it a try. I am buying those in a local hobby store.

What I also enjoy is the little magnet in the back of my hobby tool. It is now easy to pick up the sharp blades without using your fingers.

As far as I can remember I bought the set with all the blades via Amazon. I am really happy with it as it was not expensive at all and there was also a little transport box, where you can store all your stuff in. Now that magnet comes handy again!

And if one of your blades looks like the one on the lower right  - don't work with it anymore. It is done, but somehow while writing those lines I am thinking about resharpen my blades with a grindstone. Someday. Not now as time is short.

Hope you liked this article!
Remember treat your tools with respect or they will hurt you!

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman