Techniques for Folding & Cutting Cardboard
No matter what the thickness of the cardboard, getting a clean fold and cut requires a careful eye and a steady hand. Cardboard often appears to have a mind of its own, bending in strange ways and distorting your craft project beyond recognition, so you need to be firm with it and make it bend only to your will. With a handful of helpful tools, you can provide straight, neat lines and crisp corners with little effort and maximum effect. Does this Spark an idea?
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Cutting Tools
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For cutting cardboard, no matter what the thickness, you need a sharp knife. Scissors are adequate but may not give a dead straight line. Use a craft knife or a box cutter with a fresh blade, being careful to protect your fingers. Team the knife with a strong, straight edge against which you can cut, such as a steel or thick plastic ruler. Wooden rulers can splinter if you make a mistake and cut into them. Young children should, of course, not be permitted to use sharp tools, so an adult should supervise and do the cutting.
Folding Tools
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Your ruler is a useful tool when folding cardboard, as it gives you a straight line to follow. For thin cardboard, you need only score it lightly along the straight line with a blunt point such as the tip of a table knife. For thick cardboard, use your craft knife or box cutter to score along the straight line of the ruler, cutting into the cardboard very slightly. When you have scored along the line, bend the cardboard so that the fold is on the outside.
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Outlining
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Add to your degree of accuracy by outlining all the lines along which you plan to fold or cut, using a thin pencil or fine fiber-tip pen. If the line is too thick, you may introduce inaccuracies by slanting the cut across the line and making the joins slightly mismatched. Alternatively, if you don't want any pencil or ink to show up on the edges, use a sharp point such as the point on a compass to prick holes along the cutting or folding edge, and follow the holes carefully when you begin cutting or folding.
Sources of Cardboard
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Cardboard of all thicknesses is available from a wide variety of sources free of charge. Businesses and shops usually send their cardboard boxes for recycling, and they will typically be very grateful for you taking it off their hands. You can also save the boxes from goods you buy, such as cereal and household appliance packaging.
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References
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