Cutting Remarks

Adler agrees that HSS knives are the ones Fort Dearborn uses for most jobs. However, he believes the blade is "such a marginal cost of the cutter that you should buy what you think is the best. We have one of our divisions experimenting with carbide, but I think the jury's still out on it."

Dan Maliniak, vice president of Allied Bindery, in Madison Heights, MI, also sees the advantages of HSS over carbide. "Carbide blades cost twice as much to buy, cost twice as much to sharpen and don't last much longer," he says.