Dull headline, wonderful product.
Let’s see. 50 rugs, average 12 SF each, 60 yards / SF, that’s 36,000 yards of sliced t-shirts. Not counting the stash deep enough for another 25 rugs, give or take, bringing the total to 54,000 yards. That’s a lot of rotary cutting.
I did the first 45,000 yards with a “normal” cutter (after the first shirt cut with scissors). At best, I could cut for an hour at a stretch and even then I would ache the next day, even after I “ergo-d” my cutting station by raising it 4″. Traditional rotary cutters don’t make it easy to cut on the return stroke, so each yard of cut is effectively two yards of shoulder and elbow motion.
I saw the Martelli in an ad in Threads magazine, and my body recognized its value before my mind did. Even so, it took me a while to buy it, debating whether a new piece of equipment would be sufficiently different to be worth the money.
Ergonomics matters. The cutter is worth the money.
The angled cutter takes the effort of cutting off the muscles of the wrist and moves it into the triceps and biceps. I can cut for hours at a stretch and I’m even gaining on my pile of slice bags. I can cut on the pull or return stroke, doubling my slicing efficiency. As advertised, the edge lasts longer (slicing 40-60 garments before it needs sharpening, vs 20 garments before), adding more efficiency. I ponder buying a left-handed cutter and teaching myself to cut with the other side of my body. At the moment, this remains in the “idea” file.
Some months ago, a friend who had seen me knit approached me and said, “HOW are you preparing your fabric?!? You are NOT using scissors…” I laughed and said, “You’re right; the scissors experiment lasted for about one t-shirt” and then explained about rolling razor blades and rotary cutters. I think the Martelli Ergo Rotary Cutter is as much of an improvement over traditional cutters as is a rotary cutter over scissors.
