SVR-2

I had this knife as a gift for christmas and loved it for crafts. I then j use it. almost daily for everything else. I have lost 4 of these so far and this is now im 5th buying. needless to say the knife is good enough for me to keep buying it once or twice a year since I always lose it. I also lose it before I even get to use a refill blade so I have roughly 5 extra blades right now. just buy it quality is great blades are always sharp. super easy to use never has bound up on me the sliding mechanism always works reliably. careful with teh clip on the end ive lost a few of those before too by just pulling it out my pocket. so just make sure it always there. product has no real design flaws other than being impossible to find once you do lose it. I tore my whole house apart and cant find teh 4 that ive lost. the design doesnt look comfortable but I promise you it is and works well. if you use the clip piece to snap off the blades pliers work fine but the built in clip part is much better so just dont lose it. for the price I dont mind buying another once year if it means I ave a really good quality knife when I need one.

Little bit of background... I do papercutting as an artform. In day-to-day life, I'm not very comfortable with scissors -- knives just work better for my general purpose cutting tasks. My standard go-to blade for light duty general tasks (opening packages, letters, cutting thread, cutting cable ties, etc.) and for my detailed paper cutting has been a #3 scalpel with a #11 blade. I greatly prefer carbon steel over stainless. I gave up on X-Acto blades long ago. I had always been aware of snap-off blade systems, and I had always trusted Olfa blades, having good experiences with their rotary cutters. Recently, I impulsively picked up the SVR-1 (not this knife, give me a second here) locally for full retail price. I was immediately impressed with the build quality -- the body is sturdy, the plastic part seemed unlikely to fail, the whole thing just felt exactly as minimal and exactly as engineered as it needed to be. The SVR-1 and the SVR-2 both come with stainless steel blades, so I checked Amazon to see if carbon steel blades were available. When I went to order some, I then also looked into this product, the SVR-2 with a blade lock. So, now I have both. The SVR-1 has no lock to speak of. They call it a slide lock, and yes the blade clicks into place, but enough pressure on the blade (a moderate amount) will send the blade back into the carrier. The lock on the SVR-2 seems like wizardry at first. You slide the blade into and out of place just as on the SVR-1, with no additional step. The blade follows a step behind, springily, like a caterpillar walks almost. Hard to explain, but the point is, you just slide the blade as you want, but no amount of pressure on the blade itself will send it back into the carrier. Amazing. I definitely recommend this one over the SVR-1, with one caveat -- the plastic bit is the lock mechanism, and it seems far more likely to fail than the simple piece on the SVR-1. When/if this will actually happen, I don't know. But it is a more complicated piece. Otherwise, it's the same sturdy stainless construction, the same easy load/use, the same useful and unobtrusive clip/blade breaker. So, what about the blades? For fine detail work, I still think the #11 scalpel blade will be better. But that's not always necessary, and when it's not, I think I'll be grabbing the Olfa. The stainless blades that came with both knives were typical stainless -- relatively soft, dulling more quickly than necessary. The carbon steel blades are amazing. Cannot stress what a difference they make. For day-to-day light duty utility work, they have already proven themselves. Being holiday-time, there have been a lot of packages coming in and going out, a lot of things to open, and this knife has been with me the whole way. When the blade dulls, breaking off a new tip using the clip is simple. Tips don't feel like they'll break off accidentally. This has been on my mind, though. In my paper-cutting, I often cut through many layers at once, and I often apply far more pressure than I should. I have broken scalpel blades. One shot up to my eye. I guess I blinked in time, my eye came out unharmed, but it sure didn't make me feel great. I'm willing to bet that the more controlled break, if it were to happen, on these breakaway blades would be more predictable. I don't really have any evidence to back that up, it's just a thing that's been on my mind. So, in summary, great design. Engineered/designed just the right amount. The stock blades are probably fine for a lot of day-to-day uses, but the carbon steel blades are not prohibitively expensive and are just wonderful. I really love this knife, and am probably going to replace the utility knife in my toolbag with one of Olfa's 18 or 25 mm snappers.

I use this little Japanese beauty on a near-daily basis, and every time I reach for it, I am glad that I paid a bit more for a high quality product. My mother has a few Olfa products that she uses for sewing, crafts, and the like, and as a teenager I was always impressed with their functionality, sharpness, and quality. Did I mention that the stainless steel blade that came with this little gem lasted about 3 months? Japanese companies know a thing or two about sharp edges. Let's face it: for small utility knives, there are many less expensive options; while perusing my local Dollar Tree aisles, I found a three pack of 9mm snap-off utility knives, which put the 7 dollars or so I spent on this Olfa in perspective. Nevertheless, I would buy another in a heartbeat: it's that well-made, and that handy. I use mine for everything from cutting heatshrink tubing off of electrical assemblies to slicing articles out of magazines. If you're even considering this item, my advice is to buy it: it's a fantastic piece of kit, you will not regret it. Pros: 1. Stainless steel body. Looks great, takes a beating, fairly ergonomic. 2. Locking mechanism. I was skeptical when I first opened the 5019, as the actual locking mechanism seems to be made mostly of plastic. I would have preferred metal. But after months of heavy use, it still locks up with a secure definite indent. There's a helpful audible click that lets you know that you've advanced one blade segment. 3. Overall usefulness. I have electrician shears, large utility knives, folding pocket knives, etc, at my work table, and this is still the first edged instrument I reach for. Cons: 1. Price: The knife itself can't do anything that a $0.99 hardware counter plastic keychain knife won't do nearly as well. But the the Olfa will last a lifetime, stay sharp longer, and be easier on your hands. And be a pleasure to use. The Olfa brand blades, while very effective and corrosion resistant, can be hard to find. And pricey. The SVR-2 accepts any standard 13-segment, snap-off utility knife blades. So you have options. Conclusion: This Olfa product is the best of its kind. Strong, sharp, easy-to-use, and long-lasting. I will purchase more Olfa products in the future. Seriously: buy this, you won't regret paying a bit extra for a quality tool like this!

Very sharp easy blade changes. Well made not bulky good value.

I have a 30 year-old SVR-1 that has the original blade adjustment mechanism. It tries to balance force to extract and close the blade, against resisting the blade being pushed back in or being pulled out. It's a been a workhorse. Decided to try this new SVR-2 with the auto-locking blade mechanism to see how it compares. From the pictures, it looked like you would have to press down on the finger pad to disengage some plastic tab that would snap into the notches, but this knife is far more elegant than that. You simply push or pull on the blade mechanism as you normally would, and when you let go, it automatically prevents the blade from pushing in or pulling out. The locking mechanism in no way interferes with the action of extending or retracting the blade. The action is even smoother and lighter weight than the original SVR-1, but provides the autolock fuctionality. Amazing little knife.

I’ve kept a utility knife in my pencil bag since my art school days. For the last decade or so, it was a slender brushed silver knife I bought at a Taipei stationary store. It was fantastic- small, sturdy, sharp, well made. My husband apparently thought so too, bc he’d always borrow it to clean up his 3D prints. Until he misplaced it and tried to blame it on me. And I was SO upset. Even more so when he casually reminded me that I had a plastic drawer on my desk full of utility knives just like it….baffling comment given how often he used it… Would I compare his favaorite Milwaukee tools to a Harbor Freight version? I admit I was raging as I went online frantically searching for an exact replacement. Lots of copies… all look very cheaply made. And then I remembered Olfa made one that was similarly slender and sturdy. Quickly went on Amazon and less than 24 hrs later, my new knife is secure in my pencil bag. Solidly made, slender enough to mix among my mechanical pencils and thin metal ruler without standing out. It is perfect. My heart is still aches for my last knife, but this one is as close to it as it can get. No one is touching or borrowing this knife. No one.

I thought this knife was going to be a bit beefier and heavier but actually it is very lightweight and sufficiently solid. I think being lightweight is a good thing because I don't need to worry that this knife damages other items in my pencil case. Very smooth operation and pleasure to use. The reason why I am giving it 4 stars and not 5 stars is because of the bulkiness of the thumb slide. The thumb slide tends to get in the way of my grip. The locking mechanism on the thumb slide is very sensitive so if I touch the thumb slide and move it even a little bit while I am cutting, the blade lock disengages and can sometimes cause the blade either get pushed in or pulled out. To avoid this, every time when I hold this knife I have to take a moment to find a right grip that my thumb and palm would not touch the thumb slide. Because of this I often have to hold the knife in a somewhat awkward way. This is a minor nuisance but it's a shame because otherwise this would've been a perfect knife. Nonetheless this is the best knife I have ever used in this type and will be always with me in my pencil case. update: Sep. 2013 Unfortunately, my beloved OLFA SVR-2 was confiscated by an airport officer. I took the blade out and thought it was good enough. But officer insisted on confiscating it anyways on the basis of it still looked like a knife and made a (threatening) clicking noise. I bought OLFA 1075449 XA-1 to replace SVR-2. Yes, it's plastic. Yes, it's not as pretty. Yes, it's bulkier. Yes it doesn't make you look pro like SVR-2. But it's twice as cheap and bigger handle actually makes it more usable. Also it doesn't have the thumb slide issue I had with SVR-2. So, if you can live with it's larger size and less attractive package, XA-1 is more practical option. Also since it's cheaper, it is less painful if it decides to "walk away" from me or being confiscated.

Exceptional tool I was using a red dot before and this seems more durable, safe, and controlled over the blade action.

C’est le meilleur petit outils de Olfa. J’utilise ce couteau depuis plus de 20 ans. Il est incroyablement durable.

Excellent

Me encanta la calidad de cada uno de sus productos, en lo particular utilizo este tipo de cutter para cortes en cartón, papel batería y materiales no tan gruesos, el filo del cuter es muy bueno por lo mismo hay que tener cuidado a la hora de cortar objetos un poco gruesos. Relación, precio calidad esta excelente, si requieres ya cortar otros productos mucho mas gruesos si seria con un cutter un poco mas grueso. (mis imágenes se muestra ya desgastado, ya tengo varios meses usándolo, cuando llega si llega impecable).

Very impressed with this knife. Sharp and good in tight spaces, just what I wanted. Speedy delivery and well boxed also.

Enamorada de estas navajas, me han ayudado mucho en la mejora de mis maquetas, las amo