X-Acto

This article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: – · · · scholar · JSTOR (July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

This article possibly contains original research. Please by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

(Learn how and when to remove this template message)

X-Acto

Founded	1930; 92 years ago (1930)
Founder	Sundel Doniger
Headquarters	Westerville, Ohio, United States
Products	Utility knives, office supplies
Parent	Elmer's Products, Inc.
Website	xacto.com

X-Acto is a brand name for a variety of cutting tools and office products owned by Elmer's Products, Inc. Cutting tools include hobby and utility knives, saws, carving tools and many small-scale precision knives used for crafts and other applications.

An X-Acto knife equipped with a "Number 2" blade.

X-Acto knife[]

Parts of the Exacto Knife from left to right: (1) Handle, (2) Collar, (3) Collet, (4) Blade

An X-Acto knife may be called an Exacto knife, utility knife, precision knife, or hobby knife. It is a blade mounted on a pen-like aluminum body, used for crafting and hobbies, such as modelmaking. Before the availability of digital image- and text-processing tools, preparing camera-ready art for use in printing (literal cut and paste or paste up) depended heavily on the use of knives like the X-Acto for trimming and manipulating slips of paper.

A knurled collar loosens and tightens an aluminum collet with one slot, which holds a replaceable blade.

There are numerous other knives on the market with very similar designs. Blades are typically interchangeable between different brands.

History[]

The original knife was invented in the 1930s by Sundel Doniger, a Jewish Polish immigrant to the United States. He started a medical supply company in 1917 producing medical syringes and scalpels with removable blades.^[1] This would later be his inspiration for the X-Acto brand of knives.^[2]^[3] He had planned to sell it to surgeons as a scalpel but it was not acceptable, because it could not be cleaned. His brother-in-law, Daniel Glück (father of poet and 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Louise Glück), suggested that it might be a good craft tool.

In 1930 a house designer asked Doniger if he could create something for him that would help him crop some advertisements, Doniger agreed and created what we now know as the X-Acto Knife.^[2]

X-Acto office products[]

In addition to knives, blades and tools, X-Acto produces office supplies including pencil sharpeners, paper trimmers, staplers and hole punches. X-Acto sharpeners are electric, battery or manual. X-Acto has three types of trimmers: razor, rotary, and guillotine.

Boston brand[]

Through 2012, X-Acto sold ceramic and convection space heaters and fans under the Boston brand name.^[4]

References[]

^ Busta, Hallie (25 February 2014). "A Slice of Design History: How X-Acto Built a Better Knife". Architect Magazine.
^ ^a ^b Stamp, Jimmy (11 March 2014). "For 80 Years, X-Acto Has Been on the Cutting Edge of Edge Cutting". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
^ "Seder ritual" (PDF). beureihatefila.com. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
^ "Ceramic Heaters | Heater with Fan | Convection Heater | X-ACTO". 24 May 2012. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

External links[]

Look up x-acto in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Official website

Newell Brands Inc.

Divisions

Brands

Appliances	Mr. Coffee Sunbeam
Baby	Graco
Food storage	Rubbermaid Sistema
Home fragances	Yankee Candle
Home security	First Alert
Outdoor recreation	Campingaz Coleman Marmot
Writing	Dymo Elmer's Mr. Sketch Paper Mate Parker Prismacolor Reynolds Rotring Sharpie Waterman X-Acto

¹ formerly, "Sanford L.P."

Category
Commons

v t Knives and daggers
List of daggers List of blade materials
Kitchen and table knives	Boning Bread knife Butcher knife Butter knife Cheese knife Chef's knife Cleaver Electric knife Fillet knife Grapefruit knife Lame Mezzaluna Parmesan knife Pizza cutter Splayd Steak knife Tomato knife Japanese kitchen knives Deba bōchō Maguro bōchō Nakiri bōchō Santoku Sashimi bōchō Udon kiri Unagisaki hōchō Usuba bōchō Yanagi ba
Other knives	Aircrew Survival Egress Knife Athame Balisong/Butterfly Ballistic Ballpoint pen knife Bayonet Boline Bolo Boot knife Bowie Cane knife Ceramic knife Clip point Combat knife Commander Corvo CQC-6 Deba bōchō Diving knife Drop point Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife Gerber Mark II Ginsu Golok Gravity knife Guna Hacking knife Higonokami Hunting knife Jacob's ladder Karambit Kard Kirpan Kitchen knife Kukri Laguiole knife Machete Mandau Marking knife Misericorde Mora knife Multi-tool Navaja Neck knife Nontron knife Opinel knife Palette knife Pantographic knife Parang Penknife Penny knife Pirah Pocketknife Phurba Putty knife Puukko Rampuri Resolza Sabatier Sami knife SARK Scalpel Seax Sgian dubh Sharpfinger Sheath knife Shiv Sliding knife Smatchet SOG Knife Straight razor Strider SMF Survival knife Swiss Army knife Switchblade Taping knife Throwing knife Trench knife Tumi Ulu Utility knife Warrior knife Wedung X-Acto Yatagan
Daggers	Anelace Applegate–Fairbairn fighting knife Arkansas toothpick BC-41 Bagh nakh Balarao Baselard Bichuwa Bollock dagger Cinquedea Dirk Ear dagger Emeici Facón French Nail Gunong Hunting dagger Janbiya Jile Kabutowari Kaiken Kalis Katar Khanjali Khanjar Kris Kunai Marine Raider Mark I trench knife Parrying dagger Poignard Push dagger Rondel dagger Seme Shobo Sica Stiletto Tantō V-42 Yarará Parachute Knife Yoroi-dōshi
Manufacturers	Aitor Knife Company Al Mar Knives American Tomahawk Company Aritsugu Benchmade Böker Buck Knives Camillus Cutlery Company Cattaraugus Cutlery Company Chris Reeve Knives CHROMA Cnife Clauss Cutlery Company Cold Steel Columbia River Knife & Tool Cuisinart Cutco Dalian Hanwei Metal Dexter-Russell DOVO Solingen Due Ancore Ek Commando Knife Co. EKA Emerson Knives F. Dick Fällkniven FAMAE Fiskars Gerber Legendary Blades Füritechnics Glock Ges.m.b.H. Imperial Schrade Ka-Bar Kershaw Knives KitchenAid Korin Japanese Trading Company Kyocera Leatherman Mad Dog Knives Marble Arms Medford Knife and Tool Microtech Knives Morseth Muela Murphy Knives Olfa Ontario Knife Company Opinel Randall Made Knives Rösle Sabatier Shun Cutlery Slice, Inc. SOG Specialty Knives Spyderco STI Knives Strider Knives Thiers Issard TOPS Knives Tramontina Victorinox W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. Carl Walther GmbH Wenger Western Knife Company Wilkinson Sword Wüsthof Yoshida Metal Industry Global Zero Tolerance Knives Zwilling J. A. Henckels
Knifemakers	Rex Applegate James Black Blackie Collins John Nelson Cooper Ernest Emerson Jerry Fisk Bill Harsey Jr. Phill Hartsfield Gil Hibben Jimmy Lile Bob Loveless William F. Moran Ken Onion Ralph Osterhout Bo Randall Chris Reeve A. G. Russell Jody Samson William Scagel Mike Snody Robert Terzuola Michael Walker Buster Warenski Daniel Winkler
Associations	American Bladesmith Society Cutlery and Allied Trades Research Association Knifemakers' Guild
Category:Knives / Daggers

This tool article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .