Modelcraft PKN3305/S Precision Craft Knife Set , Silver , 16 Piece

Ideal for working on plant cuttings in the greenhouse.

This review is a while on from when I bought them originally.Bought these as a starter set of knives to clean up my miniatures for painting.The handles aren't that bad - however if you get sweaty hands or use them with less grip they do become difficult to use.The different blade edges are really useful to cut/scrape different parts of the models.The case is nice although the blades in the lid typically don't like to stay put and move along the magnetic strip however this doesn't bother me too much as they don't become loose and fall around the case.I've also been using this for cutting Lino and it works a treat.Good for people needing a set in a tight budget, would definitely recommend.

I’ve never bought something like this before so wasn’t sure how easy it’d be to use or what the quality would be like. Really pleased, as I needed something to cut my own stencils for up my upcycling projects, and it has a specific blade for this so was very easy to use. Now it’s a really handy tool to have for other projects as there’s a great variety of blades. Seems good quality too.

Duncurin had a new project in mind, and looking at my old modelling knives did not fire me with enthusiasm. To be fair, most of these would accept new blades to rejuvenate them. During my medical student days, we’d do 24 months of human anatomy. In those days we’d have fixed-blade scalpels which would need regular sharpening with the wetstones provided. You could always tell the posh kids because they would have scalpels with interchangeable blades and also be able to afford disposable gloves!I chose this nice little set of blades with three handles mainly on price and also the shape of the blades. Their long and pointy nature means they are ideal for what I had in mind – cutting thick card precisely and also that white foamy stuff that one buys from hobby shops and comes in great big sheets.I’m less keen on the long pointy blades for plastic modelling and the pictures of cutting sprue with them are not ideal as the long blade tends to wobble and if it wobbles a lot it can break or come loose. For cutting plastic sprue, it’s better to use either accurate side cutters or even a few strokes of a micro saw.For cutting card and the white foamy stuff (WFS) these blades are perfectPlease note, the case is neat and tidy and has spare blades with different profiles within. I think, however, that the case is too small. The knives are difficult to remove and a hasty re-introduction of one of the long pointy blades could easily catch it on the side or even chip blade or case or both. A slightly bigger case would get round this make the blades easier to remove and also put back in. The temptation of a lazy person, like me, is to not bother and leave the knife out all the time.I wanted to make a paper spectrometer and with this one downloads the open-source material. You then print a sheet of A4 which shows the pattern that you then cut out. My sister used to have something similar when she was little. You’d push out or get someone to cut out the cardboard model and then you could hang various clothes and accessories on it. Coming back to the spectrometer, the printed template is too insubstantial, so the trick is to glue it to plain black card; wait for it to dry and then cut the thicker assembly out. It then needs folding and taping to make the spectrometer and to make it light-tight you also may need to tape all the seams enthusiastically with black duct/duck/sticky tape.The thinner blade was ideal for this. Take your time. It’s easy to break a blade like this and please note, its length means that it will easily wobble. I used a metal ruler as a guide but the blade scraped against this damaging both ruler and blade, so I switched to an old credit card and used the straight edge in a sacrificial way which worked really well. It also goes without saying to make sure that light cuts are made first that you can then deepen with successive strokes. This works really well with a knife like this and especially on the WFS. The spectrometer needs some windows cutting in it: one for the precise/fine light entrance slot and one for the cut CD or diffraction grating to be applied. The thin blade knife was perfect for this too as its pointy nature means that you can gently plunge it to get nice clean slots and windows in the card. The larger knife can then be used to cut the CD so that you can if you don’t have some diffraction grating extract the required layer.All in all, this worked really well. I thought that the knife set worked exactly as I’d intended. The set is good value for money looks visually appealing albeit with the case being a bit small. The blades tend to wobble a bit in use and also wobble loose in the way that a proper scalpel would not but for the right project that one needs to complete accurately and inexpensively they are not at all bad. Photos show spectrometer in evolution and the diffraction grating cut and ready to apply.

Lovely tools, a variety of blades with 3 handles. Good quality and price. Easy to change blades and the spares are held in place on a magnetic strip simples

Good quality blades and a good grip on the handles.

Ideal tool for your diy

Really impressed with this craft knife set which is similar to other sets of craft knives I've used over the years. The kit essentially comprises of 13 blades and 3 different style handles. I've used a couple of blades and they are extremely sharp so no quibbles from that perspective!They arrive in a neat little plastic case which is made from fairly thick plastic but I think the clear lid might crack if the box is dropped.The only thing to watch out for is the handles with a blade installed are quite a snug fit into the case. It would be easy to catch the end of the blade when removing or putting a tool back in the case, thus breaking a blade and potentially having a small piece of blade snap off and flick into <insert word here>.Overall very impressed though.