Mat Cutters

I am looking at the Logan 750 simplex mat cutter, anyone using it?

Bill, I have the smaller Logan, 32". The 750 is the 40" model. My photo club is meeting this Thursday, where a mat cutting workshop will be conducted. The president of the club has the Logan 750 and will be demonstrating it's use. If you can wait until Thursday afternoon I will be able to give you a report on it.

How do you like the 32" model, I have been watching youtube videos and they all look to be quality made products.

I actually have one still in the box from Leichtung Workshops I bought years ago. Don't know what I paid for it but I recently opened it up, no instructions, guess I could figure it out. I saw the Logans at Hobby Lobby, look good.

Bill, I have not used it yet. I was waiting for the workshop to do some cutting with it. The construction quality is very good. I'll know more this Thursday. I didn't get the 750 because it's $100 more. The 32" model will cut any size mat I need but not the full size mat boards. For less than $25 I got a 2'x4' sheet of MDF board, a 4' sheetrock T square, and a box cutter knife to cut down the large mat boards to use in the 32" model.

Got it, please let me know your impressions. I've decided for now just to do mats, I can by standard size frames pretty cheap so I plan to just make that work. I wish I hadn't gotten into odd size prints where everything is custom.

I am doing some research for standard size cutouts ie 8X10 with 11X14 etc, looks like the standard cutout is about 1/4" smaller on all sides. Just more stuff to read and learn. Wish we had a workshop here. Heck, we don't even have a hobby shop here.

PS: I found a 750 for $236 free shipping.

I have been thinking about buying a mat cutter also, buying custom cut mats at a craft or framing store is ridiculous. Since my favorite art and framing store around here closed I have to wait like a week or two for one mat to be cut. I will have to research the Logan models. Thanks Gentlemen.

jengajoh said:

I have been thinking about buying a mat cutter also, buying custom cut mats at a craft or framing store is ridiculous. Since my favorite art and framing store around here closed I have to wait like a week or two for one mat to be cut. I will have to research the Logan models. Thanks Gentlemen.

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Check this out on youtube:
YouTube - Blick Presents: Logan 750 Mat Cutter

This is the one I think I'll be getting.

32X40" Mat at HobbyLobby range from $1.79 to $7.00
In any case thats a lot of mats. ie 8X10 = 16, lot cheaper than buying custom or ready cut mats. That way you can buy cheaper frames, even garage sale specials and mat your shots and put it all together.

Right now Hobby Lobby has the 32"x40" mats on sale for 50 percent off. Regular price is $7.99.

Yea, think the sale goes until 1/22 but too far for me to go right now. They always seem to have sales so maybe next time. I am learning to go to their web site and look for their sales and possible coupons prior to driving the 75 miles to the store.

You can save time if you sign up for their Email sale notices with discount coupons.

Joseph Bautsch said:

You can save time if you sign up for their Email sale notices with discount coupons.

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Thanks for the suggestion.

Bill, these mat cutters work fine, in all sizes. Like anything else it has a little learning curve to it, but not hard to pick up. The most critical thing I learned at the workshop was to keep the point of the cutting blade at the correct depth for the thickness of the mat. Otherwise you can get either an over cut or under cut at the corners. The other thing was to always use a piece of backer board under the mat for beveled cutting. Otherwise you can get ragged or torn edges. There is a groove in the base that is used with the straight cutting tool but not used for the beveled cuts. The third issue is to always use a sharp blade. Dull blades tend to flex or wobble giving the beveled cut a curve or snake effect. Also if the piece of backer board being used under the mat being cut gets too many cut lines in it the blade can get caught in a previous cut line and go off track. There is a DVD that comes with the unit that gives the basic instructions in its use but does not go into some of these cutting issues. Hope this helps.

Wow Joseph, great review of the product. I have seen they sell self healing backer mats, wonder how they work. Any estimate how many cuts for a blade? I realize the lenghts will be a variable but any estimate like 10 cuts etc?

Bill, from what was explained at the workshop the over cuts are 45 degrees to the face of the mat. You can take a rounded burnishing tool and rub it the length of the over cut to close it up. Closing the cut up like that makes it 80 to 90 percent less visible. It's effective enough that you have to get up close and look for it to see it. The "self healing" mats were not mentioned at the workshop. We asked the question on how long the blade will last. The answer is it varies. It depends on how thick the mats are, the hardness of the mat (Some mats are softer than others), how many cuts are made on each mat, etc. When a blade starts dragging through the cut it's time to change it. You learn it by experience. I got the impression that a blade should last for more than a few mats. It was also pointed out that on the bevel cuter tool the blade should always be retracted after each cut is finished. If you don't two things can happen, you can cut your self and setting the tool down on the blade point will dull it very quickly causing ragged or torn cuts or the point can break off causing the same problems. Also understand, like you, I have not cut any mats. I am just repeating what I've been told at the workshop and in watched the demonstrations. I was impressed with mats that were cut and with the instructions that were given. Hope this helps.

I thank you for your input, I just read you can cut roughly 2 8X10 windows with a blade +/-. I further read you should not use the self healing backing. Just buy a cheap mat, cut it in 3-4" strips so you have about the same density as the mat you are cutting, apparantly the self healing develop groves that may cause the blade to wander. That's what is recommended by Logan. I can't wait to cut some mats. I went ahead and ordered a 750.

Blades are about $20 for 100, so that would do about 200 mats +/-. I would think it really stinks if you get 3 sides of a window cut and the blade is getting dull and the fourth is jagged.

Did they discuss depth at all?

I really can't say how many mats a blade will cut. I guess I'm going to find out. The only thing the demo people said about depth was that the blade has to be just deep enough to make a clean cut. Any more than that and it over cuts the corner, and any less and it won't make a clean cut and will under cut the corner. It was indicated that it was better to make an over cut than under. A slight over cut can be burnished out, but an under cut you have to try and do a recut which, according to the demo person, seldom works or you wind up with tears at the corner. Don't forget a blade has two cutting ends. So you should get at least four 8x10 window cut mats per blade. Developing groves in the mat backer board after several cuts can be a problem. They indicated that grooving could be a problem with any backer board and did not mention self healing. The blade can start tracking in an old cut line and go off track. (I'm remembering these points that were made as we discuss it.)

Just a thought......what about using a straight razor, the kind you shave with? With a good strop, it could be sharpened over and over again. I'm just throwing this out there. I know nothing about mat cutting or even what it's for.