Alos Blog

In British, Australian and New Zealand English, along with Dutch, the tool is known as a Stanley knife. This name a genericised trademark named after Stanley Works, a manufacturer of such knives.[1] In Israel and Switzerland, these knives are known as Japanese knives. In Brazil they are known as estiletes or cortadores Olfa. In Portugal they are also known as X-Acto. Other names for the tool are box cutter or box cutter, razor blade knife, carpet knife or stationery knife.

Such a knife generally consists of a simple and cheap holder, typically flat, approximately one inch (25 mm) wide and three to four inches (75 to 100 mm) long, and typically made of either metal or plastic. Some use standard razor blades, others specialised double-ended blades as in the illustration. The user can manually adjust how far the blade extends from the handle, so that for example the knife can be used to cut the tape sealing a package without damaging the contents of the package. When the blade becomes dull, it can be quickly reversed or switched for a new one. Spare or used blades are stored in the hollow handle of some models, and can be accessed by removing a screw and opening the handle. Other models feature a quick-change mechanism that allows replacing the blade without tools, as well as a flip-out blade storage tray.

The blades for a utility knife come in both double and single ended versions, and are interchangeable with many, but not all of the later copies. Specialised blades also exist for cutting string, linoleum and other purposes. Spare or used blades may be stored in the handle in some models.