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Homebase Value Utility Knife
by headsore I have had the Homebase Value Utility knife for around seven to eight months and during that time it has come in handy for a host of various reasons. It was a real bargain at only £2.50 and I hadn't gone out with the intention of buying a utility knife, I had simply stumbled across them when I was in Homebase buying some sandpaper. My ... reckoning was that it was such a good price, I couldn't be robbed, really. I've owned a few knives similar to this over the years and it was pretty clear that the weight alone dictates that this is a knife from the cheaper end of the market. There's no way, for instance, that you could possibly compare this knife to a Stanley knife. Stanley knives are made to last - this one clearly isn't but for only £2.50 I thought it might come in handy for a few things around the home. I have used it to cut wallpaper edges and for this it works fine, giving a nice clean, sharp cut. Trying to use it on carpet edges however, is another matter entirely. You'll need to use something of far better quality to get a decent cut than you will with this one. For more heavy weight materials such as carpet and lino I just personally don't find holding the blade at all comfortable. The outer shell is made of strong thick plastic but the handle is not a soft grip one which means that when trying to cut through heavier weight materials it can really hurt your cutting hand and it's difficult to get the angle right. The blade itself was sharp upon first buying this knife but that soon disappears. It quickly becomes blunt and I also found that the locking mechanism on the blade was a bit dodgy. What I mean by this is that sometimes the blade simply would NOT stay locked. I think that if I had paid any more money for this knife I actually might have been tempted to have returned it to the shop but you feel a bit silly taking back a £2.50 knife and complaining about it. Overall, I suppose that for the price I paid I cannot really complain. If I'd bought it just for the wallpaper job I'd have been happy but I had hoped it would have been a bit more durable and certainly that the blade did not blunt so quickly. I think you only really get what you pay for and won't be tempted to buy another one of these any time soon. Read the complete review |
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Homebase Value Utility Knife
by SoadFan ~DIY on a budget, from Homebase~ **************************** I have bought and used one of these value utility knives from Homebase and found that this particular item is cheap to buy and of a reasonably serviceable quality. If I compare this product to a similar one bought from a well known brand that gave rise to the ... term 'Stanley Knife', I feel that the Homebase product is a much cheaper option in terms of build, materials used and initial purchase price. The value range is well priced for a reason as it offers a cut price alternative over many big name brands and core Homebase product ranges, which I feel makes the range an attractive option. Having used this product I feel that whilst it is perfectly usable and seems reasonably durable, it isn't the best of its type. I found that the materials used to make up the product were of a fair standard, with the outer body of the utility knife being quite strong, with a neat clean finish. The plastic part of the product which can be used to reveal the cutting blade and then retract it again after use, does seem to get stuck from time to time in my experience. I have sometimes found it to be rather difficult to use the plastic slide button to reveal just the right amount of cutting blade when using this item, which I feel is a let down. The actual cutting blade that you get with the knife body is of a fair quality in my opinion as it has a good sharp edge to it when new. I found that when trimming wall paper the knife and blade worked to a reasonable level, with it giving a neat clean cut in most instances which I was pleased about. When using the product to cut medium weight vinyl, which was used to line wooden garden planters with, the blade still managed to cut through well enough in most cases, without catching, although the slide button sometimes didn't lock the blade in place correctly. I did find that when using this to trim the vinyl planter liners, I did need to use a little more pressure on the knife handle, so as to get a good clean cut through the material. This meant that I had to hold the knife body quite tightly in order to keep control of the cutting edge, which in turn made handling the knife body a little uncomfortable for my hand. As the material used to make the hand grip part of the knife isn't formed from a soft grip type of material, I feel that it isn't all that comfortable to use this knife to cut thicker materials with over long periods of time. ~Product rating/ price~ ****************** My over all opinion of this product is that it provides a well priced alternative to more expensive branded items such as Stanley Knives. Having bought and used this item and found it to be of a fair quality with some short comings, I feel that I want to give this a 3 star product rating. I would say that the knife body is durable and easy to open should you need to replace a cutting blade with a fresh one. I would have liked this to have had a soft grip handle, as I feel it would have made it easier to use the knife to cut thicker materials with. The plastic slide button can get stuck and doesn't always stay in place well. The cost of these knives is just £2.48 which I feel offers fair value for money. Read the complete review |
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Homebase Value Utility Knife
by k2705 We have recently been doing a bit of decorating in our home and last week I wanted to put up some wallpaper, usually when I cut paper I use my little ISllice, a handy little cutting tool with a ceramic blade but when I went to get it for cutting my paper I couldn't find it anywhere, after hunting for ages I gave in and popped to my local ... Homebase to get some sort of knife to trim my paper, scissors are not and option for me when papering. I didn't want to pay much for a knife so I simply bought the cheapest one they had, this was their Utility Knife which is part of their Value range. The utility knife cost me just £2.48 and came with 1 blade. Its called a utility knife but really its just a cheap version of a Stanley knife. The packaging was minimal with the knife being attached to just a piece of card which has a piece of moulded plastic over it. The card is mainly white apart from an orange band across the top. This contains the Homebase Value logo and just below this is written Utility Knife. Apart form an orange circle on the back warning that the knife cannot be sold to anyone under 18years there is no other information on the packaging. The knife is made from metal and its very light weighing virtually nothing in your hand. It has a slightly curved shape making it easy to hold and is suitable for both right and left handed people. There is a small hole in the end of the handle which I assume is should you wish to hang it up. The knife measures 15cm's x 3cm's with the blade measuring 6cm's. The blade is retractable so when not in use sits securely inside the knife, this is where you could keep a spare blade should you wish to. To open up the knife to store a blade or replace one you just open up the knife by a small screw in the middle of it, its very easy to do. To use the knife is easy enough, there's a small silver ridged button on the top of the knife, this has to be pressed down and pushed along which will bring the blade out, the button will click into place and lock once the blade has fully extended, this prevents it from pushing back in whilst in use. This is a good safety feature if children are in the house. To make the blade retract back into the handle you simply reverse the procedure, press the button and pull it back until it locks into position, the blade is now securely in the knife. I bought my knife to cut wall paper and I was extremely pleased with how it did this. The knife gave a nice sharp neat cut with no snagging, being really light and easy to hold made cutting quick and simple. Of course the knife isn't just for decorating it can be used for other jobs around the home. I've used mine for opening parcels, the blade goes through parcel tape easy enough although unlike my little ISlice you do need to be careful not to cut whatever is inside. This is a good little knife for carpet and vinyl too. We have vinyl tiles in our kitchen and recently we bought some new ones to replace some that had been damaged, the utility knife made cutting these simple once again creating a neat crisp edge. The last thing I used this knife for was to open some bags of compost, instead of tearing the bag and making a mess I just ran the knife across the top of the bag creating a neat opening that didn't leak compost all over the shed. I would certainly recommend the Homebase Value Utility Knife, its cheap, lightweight and easy to hold. Its ideal for lots of little projects around the home and does a good job. If you are looking for a knife and don't want to pay out much I would recommend having a look at this one. Read the complete review |
Homebase Hand Tool |
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4 reviews Brand: Homebase / Hand Tool / Type: Utility Knife |
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| Homebase Hand Tool Recommendations 1 | ||
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