Modelling Knives & Blades - Tamiya / Olfa / Swann Morton
Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:53 pm
Hiya Guys,
Well since coming back to modelling about a year ago I have been accumulating new toys (Tools) and have been able to afford to buy much better quality stuff than I had when I was younger, I suppose one of the benefits of getting older & a little wiser maybe..
However one of the areas I have had a problem with is getting a good supply of replacement blades (#11 blade) for the most common modelling knife I use which is the Tamiya Modellers Knife Pro - 74098. I got one of these on [mention]Paul[/mention] recommendation on one of his vids and think it a great quality knife.. my fave bit is that it does not roll when I drop it / put it down..
These are the spare blades packaged for Tamiya
Now it may or may not be a surprise to you but Tamiya do not actually make this knife or any of the others they sell, they are actually all made by another Japanese company called Olfa who have been around since 1956 and were the inventors of the worlds first snap off blade by Mr Yoshio Okada, and they also made the worlds first rotary cutter in 1979. I came across this information by accident as one of the Tamiya knives I purchased actually had Olfa marked on the blades! (another I had bought had nothing stamped on the blades so it seems there is a variation out there.
The blades from Olfa are world renown for sharpness and keeping an edge and they make all sorts of special blades for all sorts of applications including the scraper blades used to clean ceramic hobs that some companies sell for 10 x the price you can get direct from Olfa another area we found we were getting ripped off!!!!!
Anyhow enough of my rambling!!!
I have had a great deal of problems getting replacement blades at a sensible price!! I don't mind paying for quality but also don't like to feel ripped off & paying over a £1 a spare blade and + postage is getting a bit silly!!
So I did a bit of searching and investigating and did manage to buy some Olfa blades and one of the Olfa own brand knives off eBay, however a couple of months ago things changed and it became very difficult to buy 'Blades' / 'Knives' on eBay as they changed the global policies due to the knife issues in the UK and they were forced to tighten up the sales policies, I moaned and sent eBay customer services messages and spoke with them and I guess lots of others did too as they did seem to relax the settings a bit on items that are clearly craft related (now this is on eBay.com not eBay.co.uk) but it seems a lot of the listings have now gone up in price and also just vanished.... I did manage to find a couple of listings sold from China but when they turned up they were clearly copies, they were rubbish quality and not very sharp!!
Now this issue will / may not impact all members as we are all in different countries, but is relevant for the UK... I discovered this as if I log into eBay.com via my work VPN which is through Germany then I can buy them, but if I am logged on via my normal IP address at home I can't..
This is the Olfa own brand version of the knife and as you can see it is the same just Yellow...
The blades are also the same..
Now I also use Swann Morton scalpels and blades and have a little stock of these as they used to be used at work and they chucked loads out when they cleared the old first aid rooms and I did a bit of skip diving (Brucy Bonus there
) but what I did not realise is that Swann Morton also make craft knife blades and they are exactly the same size as the Tamiya / Olfa ones..
https://www.craftknives.co.uk
These blades are made in the UK in Sheffield and are top quality, I have just had my second lot of 10 off eBay bought from a UK seller also based in the UK in Manchester for £2.99 inc P&P now thats 30p a blade
and they are just as sharp if not sharper than the Tamiya / Olfa ones and no issues getting them... you can search the seller for these by looking up prestige.handtools on eBay...
If anyone finds a better price or seller please let me know?
Anyways, hope this info is useful to other out there
Well since coming back to modelling about a year ago I have been accumulating new toys (Tools) and have been able to afford to buy much better quality stuff than I had when I was younger, I suppose one of the benefits of getting older & a little wiser maybe..
However one of the areas I have had a problem with is getting a good supply of replacement blades (#11 blade) for the most common modelling knife I use which is the Tamiya Modellers Knife Pro - 74098. I got one of these on [mention]Paul[/mention] recommendation on one of his vids and think it a great quality knife.. my fave bit is that it does not roll when I drop it / put it down..
These are the spare blades packaged for Tamiya
Now it may or may not be a surprise to you but Tamiya do not actually make this knife or any of the others they sell, they are actually all made by another Japanese company called Olfa who have been around since 1956 and were the inventors of the worlds first snap off blade by Mr Yoshio Okada, and they also made the worlds first rotary cutter in 1979. I came across this information by accident as one of the Tamiya knives I purchased actually had Olfa marked on the blades! (another I had bought had nothing stamped on the blades so it seems there is a variation out there.
The blades from Olfa are world renown for sharpness and keeping an edge and they make all sorts of special blades for all sorts of applications including the scraper blades used to clean ceramic hobs that some companies sell for 10 x the price you can get direct from Olfa another area we found we were getting ripped off!!!!!
Anyhow enough of my rambling!!!
I have had a great deal of problems getting replacement blades at a sensible price!! I don't mind paying for quality but also don't like to feel ripped off & paying over a £1 a spare blade and + postage is getting a bit silly!!
So I did a bit of searching and investigating and did manage to buy some Olfa blades and one of the Olfa own brand knives off eBay, however a couple of months ago things changed and it became very difficult to buy 'Blades' / 'Knives' on eBay as they changed the global policies due to the knife issues in the UK and they were forced to tighten up the sales policies, I moaned and sent eBay customer services messages and spoke with them and I guess lots of others did too as they did seem to relax the settings a bit on items that are clearly craft related (now this is on eBay.com not eBay.co.uk) but it seems a lot of the listings have now gone up in price and also just vanished.... I did manage to find a couple of listings sold from China but when they turned up they were clearly copies, they were rubbish quality and not very sharp!!
Now this issue will / may not impact all members as we are all in different countries, but is relevant for the UK... I discovered this as if I log into eBay.com via my work VPN which is through Germany then I can buy them, but if I am logged on via my normal IP address at home I can't..
This is the Olfa own brand version of the knife and as you can see it is the same just Yellow...
The blades are also the same..
Now I also use Swann Morton scalpels and blades and have a little stock of these as they used to be used at work and they chucked loads out when they cleared the old first aid rooms and I did a bit of skip diving (Brucy Bonus there
) but what I did not realise is that Swann Morton also make craft knife blades and they are exactly the same size as the Tamiya / Olfa ones..https://www.craftknives.co.uk
These blades are made in the UK in Sheffield and are top quality, I have just had my second lot of 10 off eBay bought from a UK seller also based in the UK in Manchester for £2.99 inc P&P now thats 30p a blade
and they are just as sharp if not sharper than the Tamiya / Olfa ones and no issues getting them... you can search the seller for these by looking up prestige.handtools on eBay... If anyone finds a better price or seller please let me know?
Anyways, hope this info is useful to other out there
I like the way they hare specially weighted so that if you do drop one they always plummet earthbound blade downwards so that it can embed itself into your foot, thus saving your expensive carpet/wood floor!! 
