This $8 Knife Is the Only Purchase You Should Make Before Prime Day
Like many Americans, I lament that online shopping is hurting local businesses that can’t compete with the convenience of unsustainable perks like Prime’s “free” two-day shipping . Like many Americans, I still buy a ton of things online because, of course, it’s easier not to carry home a huge wad of toilet paper from Aldi (at least as a New Yorker, I can still be a snob about that fact ). that I’m going grocery shopping). But this also means that on opening day or during the holiday season, I’ll have to deal with a ton of cardboard boxes.
About 35 million tons of “containerboard,” or the cardboard used to make shipping containers such as Amazon boxes, are produced in the United States each year. I estimate that at least 10 percent of this amount arrives at my doorstep. And while I’m very careful about recycling it all ( the American Forest and Paper Association estimates the “effective recycling rate” for cardboard to be as high as 85% – yay!), I break down these boxes to get them ready for placement. curbside can be a hassle. At least it was until I learned about the Canary Canary Knife, a thin little knife with a non-stick serrated blade and a cheerful yellow handle.
Box cutter made by a former Japanese sword company.
This $8 knife—yes, it’s sold on Amazon, although mine was sent to me in a padded envelope rather than a box—is made in Japan by Hasegawa Cutlery , which got its start almost 100 years ago polishing and grinding swords. (the “Cutlery” part was added to the name after World War II, when the business first began producing scissors ). Hasegawa’s marketing language suggests that the company has applied all its expertise in Japanese sword-making to create consumer products, and while I’ve never tried to smash a stack of shipping boxes with a sword, I can’t imagine that happening. will be much easier than using my Canary.
My previous methods of cutting cardboard—kitchen scissors or a steak knife (don’t be like me, kids!)—were less than effective, and utility knives, while an improvement, don’t do the job very well either. Cardboard is tough and fibrous, so while a razor blade can cut through it easily, it is difficult for them to make a controlled cut as the blade will veer off course if you try to go against the grain. speak; Utility blades also dull quickly, but remain sharp enough to cut easily if you don’t handle them correctly.
On the other hand, the Canary’s serrated edges seem to cut through cardboard like butter, whether you’re going with or against the grain, pushing or pulling the blade, or making a sawing motion; it will last much longer and won’t cut you as easily. This has made Canary a favorite among craftsmen working with cardboard.
I’m not much of a crafter, but I have used Canary to make boxes, both small and large. After about a minute, I cut open the large box the desiccant came in, leaving a neat stack of small pieces of cardboard that were easy to bundle up for recycling. The knife works equally well with lighter cardboard boxes, like the ones Amazon uses, and thicker ones, like the muscle boys that held my Target flatbed furniture.
It seems hard to call this little blade life-changing, but it definitely saved me a lot of time—a lot more than $8.