Scalpel blades are as sharp as you would imagine. #11 blades look like X-Acto #11s but are sharper. A #3 Swann-Morton handle and 100 non-sterile blades cost less than $30. I have just begun to use them for cutting 2mm pine panels I am using to construct a model house. I can imagine them useful for finer work such as veneer cutting. They might also work as marking knives, though the thin line on end grain could be a problem with dovetails unless you darken it with a pencil. I'm just throwing this out for gadgeteers like myself.
I keep scalpels hanging on nails within arm's reach along with other things I use often at the lathe.
The #11 blades are the most useful to me but I also use #10 curved blades. Better than an X-acto knife. They are cheap too. I bought a box of 100 blades with a metal handle for about $8 from Amazon, 8 cents each. Even disposable scalpels each with a plastic handle are less than 50 cents each. With a tiny effort you can replace the blades on the disposable handle. (They will no longer be sterile but the wood doesn't care. )
I didn't have a suitable knife so I use a scalpel for my first try at one of these, cut from a piece of basswood. Actually, I used three since I broke two!
I use them at the lathe and elsewhere in the shop too. Also good when dissecting animals. A work bench makes a great dissection table. (I have two young friends in vet school!)
The little stanley utility knife that Paul Sellers uses is also pretty handy in this regard. The blade is a bit thicker than your average scalpel but thinner than most other knives and comes with/takes a scalpel like edge.
>>>The little stanley utility knife that Paul Sellers uses is also pretty handy in this regard.
You speak the truth. I have several of these. Once when my source dried up I talked the local Ace hardware into ordering the knives and blades. You can hone the blades to make them more like carving knives. They fit nicely in the pocket and I keep one in my electrical wiring kit, one in the beehive frame box.
The UK version does appear to have a more useful blade profile, more pointed than what we get here.
I use Exacto #11 practically every day for something. I but blades in packs of 100. I tried scalpel blades several times but they always had a curved edge. I didn't know about a blade shape like the #11. I still preferred the Exacto because I have a tendency to crank down on them. The Exacto are fully captured in the handle so they don't flex much when pressure is applied. Do the scalpel blades flex since they are held only on one side of the handle? I think that they may also be thinner.
I checked some prices and while the scalpel blades can be a lot less expensive I did find 100 #11 real Exacto on ebay for about $12. Are the scalpel blades secure and stiff in the metal handle, and is it difficult to crank down on a flat handle as opposed to the tube shape of the Exacto?
The scalpel handles are not as study or as strong as the X-acto, especially the larger round fluted handles. They break before flexing much which might say something about the hardness of the steel. The X-acto is probably better for heavier use. I do like the grip of the X-acto handle better.
The slot on a scalpel blade slides into a groove in a boss on the metal handles and are held by spring tension. On the disposable handles the plastic is melted in a couple of spots to hold the blade.
For me the scalpel blades excel for delicate use because of their sharpness. They are weaker due to the long slot in the blade. The X-acto blades are much stronger if you need force. I have sharpened and honed X-acto blades just like I would a carving tool but that is a lot of work and they don't seem to stay sharp long.
I have also tried holding scalpel blades in X-acto handles with limited success. The tang of the blade is not as wide so the blade can tilt in the slot. Also, I didn't measure but I think the scalpel blades are thinner and harder to grip in the X-acto handle.
One advantage to having a few scalpels is you can keep them handy by hanging them on a nail! The disposable plastic handles come with a hole in the end. The metal handles I have do not but I drill one. (Stainless - not easy to drill!)
Here is a cheap way to check out scalpels with #11 blades.
I would like to have the exact knife Paul Sellers shows, if its small enough to carry as pocket knife.
I found the American version on Amazon, but it has Stanley molded into it and is listed as 6.9 by 2.9 by .5. That's huge unless its in millimeters. Probably the size of the blister pack.
I want one cheap enough that I don't cry when the TSA takes it away from me, again. (I wuz gona save your crumby aeroplane from these bomb wearing box cutter carrying terroists, but you took my tiny pocket knife. You are on your own. I'll just die with everybody else.)
Without going to the shop, I think the knife is about 3" long closed, fits nicely in the pocket and the hand. The Amazon product dimensions are sometimes (if not always) are the shipping size, probably includes the card the knife is fastened to.
I see at least two different blades available, with the 11-041 being thinner and more pointed than the 11-040 that I think usually comes with it.
Before all the nonsense I once argued with security at Washington National about carrying a small box of tools on the plane when returning from a business trip to DC. These were tools related to computers and I carried them often. They finally let me carry them on the plane if I promised not to get them out and start taking the plane apart from the inside. OK.
John, Thanks for the information. I'll stick with the Exacto but for the money I think I'll try one of the two you linked. A sterile blade for splinters is a good idea.
As an aside, in the 1960's I was the self proclaimed "best splinter man on the East Coast" when working as a medic on the Wildwood, NJ Beach Patrol. Then we used peroxide or alcohol and tweezers and needle nose pliers Nothing like extracting a (more often than you think) inch long hunk of weather beaten boardwalk caked with sand from some poor soul. As Summer comes to a close I wonder how time has changed things at the beach
>>>As Summer comes to a close I wonder how time has changed things at the beach
At the Outer Banks I'm seeing more non-wood decking.
I was once helping my vet who went to look at irritation in a horse's eye. She found a splinter in the eye that must have been an inch and a half long. Yikes, that must have been irritating!
I favor the R. Murphy hand carving and dental lab knife over all others I have used. The blade reaches well into the tails of dovetails to mark the pins. It whittles and slices, is sturdy and easily sharpened too. A close second is the British Stanley knife recommended by Paul Sellers. I enjoy gathering less expensive "best of class" woodworking accessories.
)