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I will never understand why my town only has recycling pickup once every two weeks. Because of this, my garage tends to pile up with cardboard boxes. In today's day and age of online shopping, my family purchases a lot of items through Amazon and online delivery, making my house a frequent stop for the post office and shipping services.
I have to find a place to store these boxes until the night to put out the recycling. This means I have a large quantity of boxes sitting in my garage until that specific night every two weeks. I've used a box cutter for years to cut boxes to the proper size so they fit in the recycling can. This has caused me to go through many blades. It's also given me a few nicks while trying to saw through some stubborn cardboard. That is, until I was gifted some electric scissors that can slice up even the toughest cardboard boxes in no time.
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Electric scissors are designed to be safe
They are simple to hold
Every year, my dad tries to give me a handy gift around the holidays, as he knows I'm a newer homeowner who is building out my tool bench. As he knows, my wife and I tend to have lots of boxes coming to our house each week. He has seen me struggle with taming "cardboard mountain", as the front corner of my garage has been dubbed in our family.
He gifted me the Saker Plus Cordless Electric Scissors as he had heard good things about them and knew I would put them to good use. I was impressed by them as soon as I took them out of the box, as they had good weight to them, but weren't overly heavy. The non-slip rubber handle makes them easy to hold, which was a relief as I typically cut up boxes in the garage and, during the winter, it can get cold and hard to grab items. Luckily, I don't need any heavier winter tools than this, though.
I appreciate Saker's approach to safe design, which is meant to minimize hand fatigue. You can imagine how many boxes of varying sizes I had during Christmastime. I know all about having your hand get tired from breaking down boxes. Plus, as the recycling bin fills up, I need to cut some boxes into smaller and smaller pieces to get them to fit. This is also true for larger boxes.
Even if the cardboard doesn't fit in the bin, I need to drive it down to the local recycling center. This means I need to cut up boxes so they fit in my car. I've had to slice up cardboard boxes that furniture was shipped in, and have had to stab and saw them with a box cutter to break through. No longer is that the case.
They easily glide through cardboard I just had to guide the scissors, and then they did the rest
Credit: Chris Hachey / MakeUseOf
I appreciate a tool that can do a lot, but there is also an affinity to be had for a device that does one thing. I had to charge the electric scissors via the USB-C cable that was provided in the box. Once they were charged, I was able to take them and put them to use. The cordless design is a nice touch, as not having to avoid a cord while you're trying to maneuver through cardboard is helpful.
The first time I used them, I started where the tape was that closed the box. I pressed the safety switch on the top and then pulled the trigger below, and the motor whirred as the blade spun. All I had to do was provide light pressure as I pushed the scissors forward, and they sliced through the cardboard.
I then tried the scissors at the corner of the box where cardboard meets cardboard. This was just as easy, as the motor reaches up to 320RPM to provide some serious cutting power.
One thing that is a bit difficult to deal with is that the opening for the blade is only 0.24". You won't be able to cut things thicker than a quarter of an inch, which might be a problem. But for materials like leather, paper, rope, plastic, or cotton, this will still work well.
I diced up my pile in a short time I'm curious how else I can deploy this
Credit: Chris Hachey / MakeUseOf
The long time I would spend breaking down boxes and cutting them up was halved by the electric scissors. Being able to just use the scissors and break through the boxes made it one of my favorite gifts I've received recently.
Since I tend to use the cutter at night when I'm getting ready to put out the bin, I particularly enjoy the small LED light that is on the end of the tool, which makes it easy to see in darker environments.
My wife and I have talked about replacing some carpet in our home soon. I'm wondering if I'll be able to use this to help me cut up the old carpet. It might be too thick, but I'm curious to try it. We also have some costumes for school plays and pageants that we'll inevitably have to DIY at home, which I'm sure this will come in handy for as well.
Electric scissors make it simple to eliminate cardboardI was given electric scissors and have used them to tackle my cardboard box problem every two weeks before putting out the recycling bin. I can cut through cardboard much faster than I ever could with a box cutter or manual scissors. The easy-to-hold design is lightweight, making it helpful for extended cutting times. It's a device I never thought I'd get, but one I'm happy I have.