The Thomas Grip Cutter-  Our Pick!                           

The Thomas grip cutter, from Toyo is our favorite glass cutter, and these days the only one we use at Dodge Studio. (I may as well tell you right up front that we don't use it quite the way they show in the manufacturers illustrations, though...but more on that later.)

ADVANTAGES-

• Unique design rests against the ball of your hand and eliminates muscle strain from squeezing on standard cutters so that they don't slip through your hand.

• Swiveling barrel, when gripped as described below, allows cutting full circle, without lifting the cutter or even turning your wrist! (I've got carpel tunnel syndrome and probably couldn't cut anymore without it.)
  Often our customers come in planning to buy a pistol grip type cutter thinking that it will be better for their "weak hands or wrists". While pistols are easy to grip and great for the job they were designed to do, they are intended for straight cuts against a ruler and what people don't realize is that to make even a moderate curve with one you must make exaggerated movements that involve the wrist, arm, and often the entire upper body!

• Long lasting carbide steel wheel in a replaceable cartridge. Lasts many times longer than a standard steel wheel, and when it's time for a new wheel, you still get to keep your cutter.

• Self oiling...(if you feel you must.) We never fill our cutters with oil though. All oil filled cutters leave too much oil on the glass and can cause tiny chips to stick to your fingers and give you glass splinters. After every few scores we just press the cutter head into a rag soaked in cutter oil and blot it dry.

• Comes in neat new neon colors! We cannot guarantee your choice of color, but if you tell us what you want, we'll try to oblige.

• Head has a second swivel, (which we usually lock up for pattern cutting), in addition to the barrel swivel. If you cut against rulers a lot this second swivel makes tracking against the ruler easier.

• Gives you control you never believed possible!

And now, the promised "more on that"...

We'll start with the two illustrations from Toyo showing their suggested ways to hold the Thomas Grip. (It has long been my suspicion that the guy who did the illustrations never spoke to the guy who invented the cutter though.)

Next I'll try to describe the way we use it.
We hold the cutter in a vertical position, (straight up and down as in the photo below), but with the swiveling "saddle" piece on top placed so that the flat end of it rests on the ball of the hand, and the curved part of the saddle comes up between the pointer and middle fingers. The thumb, pointer and middle finger wrap around the barrel just above the wheel cartridge.
Holding the cutter like this allows you to have great control because no muscle power is exerted holding the cutter. All downward force is exerted by the ball of your hand, not your fingers. But the real trick here is that the saddle part has a swivel built in. You can turn the barrel of the cutter, making curves on the glass, without turning your hand. You can turn the barrel with the tips of the thumb and two fingers while the saddle rests still in your hand. It makes it possible to cut a circle without lifting the cutter off the glass if you want to...without even turning your wrist!

For added control I often hold onto the head of the cutter with two fingers of my other hand and guide it along.
Only $26.95 

Buy it now...click here!