I'm not much of a metalworker, I joined this group to look for information on metal etching and wound up never leaving. But I have a need for an item that might be considered simple to those of you with a decent size workshop, but I figure someone might also be able to come up with a better idea.
I need a straight edge to use to cut out business cards, shapes, etc, out of paper and card. Rotary trimmers, guillotine style cutters, and the like are far too imprecise, it's almost impossible to get them to cut along a specific line. It's very difficult to find a ruler that is good for this. A cheap plastic or wooden ruler is useless, the blade will cut these as easily as the paper. I have a Helix and Wescott rulers designed specifically 'for use with a craft knife for paper trimming'. They have a groove for your fingers so you don't accidentally cut yourself, a beveled edge of about 20-30 degrees to create a very nice line to cut along, and a little rubber grip liner on the bottom. However, they are both made out of aluminum. If you don't hold the blade perfectly parallel to the cutting edge, you will nick it, slice off the metal, or otherwise damage the ruler. Both of them are already useless as they have enough nicks and grooves that the knife will always go off course. I have about five different stainless steel rulers. Two of them have a thick no-slip cork liner that lifts the ruler too far off the page - the knife can tilt and cut underneath it. The two that don't have a no-slip liner seem to be made out of softer steel and the x-acto knife will notch them, though not nearly as easily as the aluminum ones. Also, without the beveled edges, it's harder to line it up along cut guides, especially for full bleed business cards (print to the edge).
I guess what I'm basically looking for is a straightedge made out of a very tough metal that won't be easily nicked or scratched with an x-acto blade. Beveled along one edge to make it easier to line up on the image. A small groove along the underside, closer to the non-beveled edge, to put a bead of caulk in or a little rubber strip in order to keep it from slipping, while not lifting the beveled edge off of the paper. A larger groove, or some kind of 'finger stop' along the edge where the bevel starts, to prevent you from putting your fingers past the edge of the ruler. One 12" long and 2" wide, and one
6" long and 1" wide. If anyone has any idea about how hard it would be to make something like this, or improvements to the design (or if they know of a commercial product that's already made - every single one I've looked up is made out of aluminum!), let me know. I don't need ruler marks on it (would be a bonus though).