OLFA 45mm Deluxe Handle Rotary Cutter (RTY-2/DX) Review

I realize I’m late to the party on this, but I just bought the OLFA 45mm Deluxe Handle Rotary Cutter (RTY-2/DX), and OMG I’m in love!

So beautiful!

So when I was a kid, my mom - and I bet your mom, too - had Fiskars orange-handled dressmakers shears, which she guarded with her life. Those things weren’t even allowed NEAR paper! So of course when I started sewing on my own I ran right out and bought my own pair of orange-handled Fiskars, and many more Fiskars products since. Fiskars has been my go-to scissors brand for most of my life, because they were my mom’s brand, but in the last six months I’ve been upgrading my scissors and learning that there are better quality tools out there.

First to go were my orange-handled scissors, upgraded to a pair of shiny beautiful Ginghers. My pinking shears also went from Fiskars to Ginghers. And last week my old Fiskars 45mm rotary cutter finally died. It had been close to death for a long time; it was wobbly and the screw fell out all the time and it was never sharp enough. I’d replaced the blade recently and I swear that somehow made it worse! So after using it to cut through carpet last week, I finally declared it officially dead.

Enter the OLFA.

I read a thousand reviews. I read blogs singing its praises. I read comparisons. The entire sewing internet seemed to agree, OLFA was THE rotary cutter brand! I picked up the Deluxe because it was the only version that was compatible with the pinking blade, and I’ve been coveting that for a while. And OMG it’s amazing. It’s sharp and smooth and nimble and I’m in love! It cut through multiple layers like a dream. As a matter of fact, I need to go check my cutting mat because I could feel it digging into that as well. I was skeptical of the handle and the locking mechanism at first, but now I’m sold. The handle looks huge, and I was afraid I’d have to apply continuous squeezing pressure to keep the blade out, but thanks to thoughtful design, there is a lock button to lock the blade in the in or out position, allowing you to relax your hand while you cut. However, you can also simply squeeze the handle and cut. I wound up actually loving this feature for quick cuts. I was forever forgetting to cover my old rotary cutter back up, and I was always afraid of cutting myself with it (unlikely because it was perpetually dull, but sometimes our fears aren’t rational). So, yeah: squeeze, cut, release, love! So simple! So elegant! So perfect!

This cutter also has numbers engraved on the blade. I think maybe they’re centimeter markers? I can’t imagine using this as a measuring tool, but as a weights and measures geek, I was happy that they were there.

The only con I see so far is I believe the cutting depth is more shallow than my old Fiskars. I can’t confirm this because I threw the old cutter away in a rage, but that’s my gut feeling. But it’s fine, the blade is deep enough for most applications,

Overall I am thrilled with this purchase! When the time comes to upgrade my smaller rotary cutter, and to eventually buy the larger one, I’m buying OLFA without question!

Originally posted on August 3, 2017 on a different platform