Core77

Need some big-ass cutting mats?

By Rain Noe - November 18, 2010

in Materials | Object Culture

Up above are the little coffee tables I built for the photography studio I rent out. The tabletops are white melamine from Ikea. Alas, as of late the renters have been thoughtfully using the tabletops as a cutting mat:

My first thought was to replace the tabletops, but a) Ikea has discontinued the square ones, b) even if they didn't, it's wasteful to throw those out just because the surface is ruined and c) even if I replace them, someone is bound to repeat this thoughtless act down the line and ruin another pair.

It makes sense to resurface the tables with self-healing cutting mats, but the largest size my local art store carries is the common 24x36. Then someone pointed me towards DraftingSteals.com, an online retailer that sells big-ass cutting mats (and judging by the photo, has been since 1979):

A bit too expensive for me, but nice to know where I can buy huge cutting mats, for future reference. What's in the picture is the 4-feet by 8-feet, which goes for 245 bucks, or $239 if you don't want the grid printed on it. The 4x6 is a more manageable $90. But their big-daddy mat is the 6-foot by 12-foot, which comes in at a whopping $325.80, and since it doesn't roll up I'm guessing the shipping ain't cheap.

They also sell these Safety Rulers, a metal extrusion with a guard built in for klutzes, up to 100" in length. I haven't needed to use one of these...yet. (Fingers crossed.)

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Juliette de Jong

5 years ago

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I you are still looking for a solution to this problem, i might even have a better one. Why don't you use a self-healing cuttingmat? This way, you'll have all the benefits in terms of protection, all with an added bonus. You can flip the mat once it has been used, to reveal a side that has been unused. this way, you'll double the lifespan of your cuttingmat.

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dongzo

14 years ago

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The local arts school where I've dabbled in ID (Emily Carr) has a large selection of similar extruded aluminum rulers on hand since it was realized that the most common (and severe) injuries amongst fine arts and design students involved errant olfa blades... I dunno how well they work; to me it looks a bit like the continued nerfing of the industrial world.
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themark

14 years ago

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Those mats don't sound that expensive. If you think about how much effort it will be to replace the tops, or find something cheaper you could have had a solution already that will last a long time and prove useful to your customers. Just buy it. Cheapest isn't always the best.
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Adam

14 years ago

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You might be able to pick these up cheaper just by searching for "UHMW Polyethylene" in the correct thickness. McmasterCarr sells the stuff, but they are somewhat expensive for raw stock. HDPE (high density, instead of "ultra high molecular weight") also self heals and is cheaper, but UHMW will be nicer.
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Steve Portigal

14 years ago

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There goes the security deposit.
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