New Tim Holtz Trimmer: review - EDIT WITH PROBLEM!

So, it's bigger than I expected it to be, but I think that's ok. There's now a 12" trimmer in each of the large cabinets in my new storage piece.

It does seem to cut well. I love being able to center a punched or die cut circle over the track and bisect it. I'm not sure if my little Fiskars one does this or not, but it was exceedingly obvious to do on this one.

I am frustrated that the two blades interfere with one another. The blades are just enough smaller on the Fiskars that I've never had an issue, but trying to trim the 11" side of a letter-sized sheet, the scoring blade didn't allow the cut to go the full 11", never mind if I'd tried to cut 12". And I can't figure out how to remove a blade, another thing that's just obvious on my other track trimmer.

I went and fetched the box out of recycling, but there are no instructions, it just says to go to the website. Where I can figure out how to BUY things, but don't see any obvious page or sections for "how to use"....

Thank you. I had already given up and started the video (AN HOUR?!) on double speed, stopping it and switching back to regular when he went over the blade removal.

I am still peevish about hour-long videos instead of providing written instructions/guide. I might try going back to the video if I can get over my snittishness.

And some of you might remember that I am generally anti-TH, so....

I just watched several other (okay, many, many other) reviews of this trimmer. I should say, I started to watch. The cons to the trimmer seem to outweigh the pros, but I really did detect a subtle, underlying dislike of TH and his products in general, so I don’t feel the reviews were totally unbiased. I couldn’t get far enough through any of them to learn much.

I really only wanted a demo, because the lack of written instructions is definitely annoying. Equally annoying was how defensive and grumpy TH was in his video in response to the reviewers. Ugh. Anyway, I found his video gave me the info I wanted. I tried scoring watercolor paper and some thicker weight card stock. There is a score line, but it is rather shallow. I have hand issues (I’m wearing a hand brace right now) and I feel I need to apply a fair amount of pressure to get the deep score line that *I* prefer. I’ll probably just stick to my WRMK scoreboard and an embossing stylist for scoring card bases.

I’m just a general paper crafter that buys what works best for me.

I haven't played with mine too much since opening it but I found this to be the case for me as well. I used the scoring blade and it seemed shallow and I felt like I was putting a lot of pressure on it.

I watched TH video comparing trimmers as well. I was disappointed he said the scoring blade was really for lighter paper as I was hoping this could be used as both a trimmer & scoring tool for cardstock bases especially when I go to crops. And I guess it could in a pinch but it doesn't seem to give that nice deep score like the scoring boards do.

I did use it to cut some cardstock and it cut perfectly straight - YAY!!! That is what is most important to me so all in all I feel like I am going to be happy with this trimmer.

I was never all that interested in the scoring blade. It’s ok but I’ll probably just keep using my scoring pad. The trimmer works well and cuts nicely.

Yes - I just tried it and that's a good work around!

Just got mine a few days ago and so far no issues and nice straight cuts. Really like that the extenders have grip feet. Also, no issues with the blade popping off the track like with the Fiskars trimmers. The scoring option works well for me too. Less cumbersome than an additional scoring platform, but I do not make big lots of cards.

So, this morning I need to make card bases. I do prefer score then cut, since you're always scoring with a manufactured (rather than cut yourself) edge against the guide.

The TH scoring blade does indeed su-diddley-uck! Barely made a mark on Michael's/Recollections 100 (110?) lb stock.

So I decided to try a little experiment and put my Fiskars scoring blade (from the card making trimmer which can't score letter size at 4.25 on the short end because the bed isn't big enough for 11") into the track of the TH trimmer. It worked and scored much better, but it was so difficult to get the blade back out of the track that I was afraid I might break it. I guess I can't recommend it. But I wanted to share the knowledge.

Well, damn, now I do need to watch his whole video...but really, if you're going to put your name on a product, don't you make sure it meets your requirements?

So, some time after I tried the Fiskars scoring blade in this trimmer, it started behaving a bit oddly. The blade carriage moved freely in the track when it wasn't pressed down and it cut smoothly, but when moving in the groove in the base (with the carriage pressed down) but no card stock to cut, it seemed to stick. There seemed to be something in the groove, so I sort of assumed that the Fiskars scoring "blade" might have been wider and deformed the plastic ever so slightly.

Then this morning, using it on very flimsy card stock, all hell broke loose and it was tearing paper and all sorts of chaos. I held it mostly upside-down and ran a pokey tool along the groove, since I now saw paper scraps in there. When all was said and done, that seems like all that was in there. No plastic deformation AT ALL. There must've been paper stuck in there before somehow? So I guess that's good. But it still doesn't seem to want to cut this cheap card stock. Maybe the blade is already worn out? That's not good.

How're everyone else's holding up?

EtA: Tried using a little alcohol on the groove as well, having determined that cutting already sticky/glued stuff might be the problem. Blade runs well.

Wondering if my issue with the really thin stock is that I need to use more pressure to hold it down than I'm used to....

Thanks -- sounds like you agree with my assessment that it was actually sticky stuff causing my groove issue. Nice to know that the thin paper issue is a technique thing. I will definitely try starting in the middle (or using one of my other trimmers with thinner stocks).

I would contact Tonic and let them know and send photos. Hopefully they'll either send you a new one or something!