Review; Basic Grey Notch and Die Tool

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In today’s post I will be reviewing; Basic Grey Notch and Die tool

Basic Grey Notch & Die Tool

Product Details

• Manufacturer/Brand; Basic Grey
• Item number TOL-327
• RRP at time of writing: £23- £25

Reason For Buying

I have been trying to get hold of one of these tools for about three years! The concept is that you can cut a variety of ‘notches’ in your card stock to use as decorative features or as closures. I want to use this for closures for books.

Pros/Cons

Pros

• Small and compact
• Self stores; it comes in its own tin which is foam lined and perfectly stores the hand tool and the various cutting heads
• A good size for closures and features on smaller projects.
• Has three interchangeable heads, one straight blade, one curved half moon blade, and one v shaped.
• Lots of ideas for closures on a card that comes with the tool

Cons

• If you have limited dexterity like me, then you are likely to struggle to use this tool.
• Sadly the blades just don’t seem very sharp. I was only trying to cut through 220 gsm card stock and later 160 gsm and both times it tool a HUGE amount of effort to get the tool to cut. More than I could manage and felt a lot of pain after using the tool. (RSI)

Build Quality

• The tool itself is really well made, the hand tool has a rubber grip and is comfortable in the hand.
• The magnets that hold the tool heads in place are excellent, they hold well but are easy to remove.
• The let down is that the blades seem reluctant to cut card. Since this is the primary purpose of the tool, I was disappointed by the results.

Value for Money

I was lucky and picked mine up in a sale for £9.99 and for that price I don’t feel too crushed at the results. Had I paid the full rrp of £23 + then I would have been extremely disappointed and probably tried to return it to the shop as not fit for purpose.

Would I buy it Again?

I want to say yes, the idea is fantastic, the results if you have MAN muscles are wonderful. But unless you have a lot of brute strength then I have to say no.

Had I had the opportunity to try this in a class before purchase, then I would not have bought it.

Summing up

A great idea, but sadly the blunt blades make this a tool that is hard to use. This is a great shame, as it has so much potential.

Struggles to do what it says on the tin :(  The packaging suggests the tool can also cut chipboard, leather and plastic! You would need massive strength to achieve this though!

Links

Here is a link to the manufacturers

Basic Grey

I really hate giving a bad review of things. I really wanted this tool and in fairness others had warned me that it was hard to use, but not given more details about what made it hard to use. I guess if Basic Grey had made the blades sharp there would be more danger in removing the tips from the storage case to put them into the hand tool, as you have to get hold of the heads by the blade to remove them from the box.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie :)

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