Disclaimer: Contains affiliate (and direct) links to some reviewed products.
Have boxes? Want to open them? Get you a box cutter for a great good! TSA aside, box cutters are great: yes, we all have our multitools and combat knives strapped liberally around our body, but for all-round utility, it’s hard to beat the simple box cutter. (And they make serviceable weapons in an emergency, and raise fewer eyebrows than a wave-opening Emerson Karambit, our go-to death-dealer of choice.)
From simple to elaborate, from light to heavy–we’ll give a quick overview of the ones we have laying around the shop, and discuss why some are better than others, what our daily carry is, and why.
(We won’t discuss scrapers, which are something different, but maybe some other time–they’re also super-useful, but not as fun for… cutting boxes.)
MOAR BOXCUTTERS!!1!
These are a few of our around-the-shop cutters (tragically this is not all of them; we have more tools than sense). There are three main “classifications” of box cutters: flippers, sliders, and “always-on” (those come with sheathes). We’ll work in reverse-order.
Always-On
Pull them out of the sheath, cut a box: it’s as simple as that. The problem with them is that they essentially require a sheath or container. They may be suitable for bench mounting (and we have one stuck on to one of our CNC tables) but for daily carry it’s a non-starter. Why?
Sheathes add bulk, and unless it’s sized exactly right, and it’s a pretty tight clip, you either need to hold on to the sheath to deploy, or push down on the sheath while you draw the cutter. So why would you want one at all?
Rigidity: these are easily the solidest variety of box cutters. With a heavy frame and no moving parts you’ll break the blade before you have any other mechanical problems. They’re worth having on hand for that reason alone, but if you’re anything like us, you’ll use them only rarely, or only when you’re near where one is mounted. They’re also fine in a toolbox or tote, but in general, we think they’re more specialized.
We only have a few varieties of these, but we like the Stanley for overall durability, even if the sheath feels a bit cheap, and the belt clip… well, there’s a clip, it’ll go on a belt, but deploying is a bit of a pain.
Stanley Fixed-Blade Box Cutter in Sheath 
Stanley Fixed-Blade Box Cutter in Sheath, Belt Clip 
Stanley Fixed-Blade Box Cutter
Sliders
These push the blade out the front. They’ll either use a standard box cutter blade (the trapezoidal ones) or a custom blade, often with snap-off blades to get to the sharp part.
Mechanically they’re generally quite sound, and less prone to failure and breakage than a flipper (up next) because they just run on a track–there’s no pivot to get gunked up and even a pretty dirty one can be easily forced open.
The snap-off blades are a bit more specialized; they’re wonderful for foam cutting (hard to beat, in fact) especially if you sharpen them. For this variety we like the DeWalt (they’re yellow!) and a Kershaw sharpener. The downside is that they take only specific blade types and shapes. They’re also (generally) thinner than their “conventionally-bladed” counterparts so for heavy-duty use you’re better off elsewhere. That said, the blades are much longer (good for foam, bad for cardboard)/
Either type is fine in a pocket (as long as you remember to retract the blade… be safe, kids!) but don’t always include a belt clip. Without the belt clip, at least for us, their use as a daily carry is limited, but they’re great in a toolbox. The DeWalt snap-off cutter has a pocket clip that’s quite robust, and while we don’t carry one daily, when we need to, we can, with confidence.
For “conventionally-bladed” sliders we like the Stanley Fat Max.
Stanley FatMax 
Stanley FatMax Blade Storage
For snap-off we like the DeWalt DWHT10038, and use a Kershaw stowable sharpener between cuts. (“Between all cuts?!” you ask? Depends; for foam, pretty much–but we have dedicated units for foam. For general cutting, not really. But for foam it’s arguably worth the extra effort.)
DeWalt Snapoff Belt Clip 
Kershaw Stowable Sharpener 
DeWalt Snapoff
Flippers
For daily carry we like flippers, in particular this Milwaukee flipper, because it’s a one-handed opener, basically a gravity-operated switch blade: it swings really easy. This is also its greatest weakness–there’s a bit of rattle-and-shake when it’s in the locked position. But the convenience and extra functionality (a strap cutter and wire stripper) make up for it for most uses.
Milwaukee Flipper 
Milwaukee Flipper Belt Clip 
Milwaukee Flipper Open
We’ll give an honorable mention to our pals at Home Depot for their Kobalt stainless steel flipper. Make no mistake–it does not flip; you have to want to open this bad boy. But when it’s locked it’s nearly as solid as any always-on box cutter, and we have several, mostly in toolboxes and glove boxes.
Kobalt SS Closed 
Kobalt SS Belt Clip 
Kobalt SS Open
Products
The Stanley fixed-blade as we have it doesn’t appear to be sold any more, and since we don’t own any newer versions, we don’t know if we can recommend it or not, so no link to that for you.
The Kobalt Stainless Steel may be available at your local Home Depot, but searching for it proved… somewhat irritating, so we gave up. It’s not a daily carry anyway (too heavy, too hard to open) but man, is it solid.
Affiliate Links
- Milwaukee 48-22-1901 Fastback (Four pack)
- Milwaukee 48-22-1901 Fastback (Two pack)
- Milwaukee 48-22-1901 Fastback (Just the one… but why?!)
- DeWalt DWHT10038 (Two pack)
- DeWalt DWHT10038 (Just the one)
- Kershaw Ultra-Tek Blade Sharpener (2535)
- Stanley 10-778L Fatmax Retractable Knife