Good cutter for cardboard boxes and plastic straps

Battery charges in one hour as advertised. Tool cuts cardboard easily and smoothly, as advertised.For the rocket scientists who've said in the reviews that you have to hold a safety button PLUS the trigger to run the tool, try holding the safety while squeezing the trigger and then release the safety. The safety will stay depressed on its own until you release the trigger. As advertised.

Like most, if not nearly all of you reading this review, I shop on Amazon extensively, so I have A LOT of boxes sitting around. One of my recent orders was a 12 volt 6 Ah battery for Skil PWR Core class tools. I wanted to put it through it's paces so I looked for a tool that I could use for at least a couple of hours non-stop. I came across this multi cutter and saw a couple of folks used it to cut down boxes. I ordered it as soon as I read that.Both this tool and my new battery got a brutal first test: I had no less than 16 boxes, many of which were large or medium sized, and a bicycle shipping box that had housed my Schwinn GTX 2 adult hybrid bike in my basement.This tool cut every single last box down to small squares of cardboard no larger than 10 inches squared. (The battery did great too, but that's an aside)There were two nuances that held things up though, so before you click "Buy" thinking you'll be able to easily chop up mountains of boxes with ease, keep reading!First nuance: Heat. Since this tool has a brushless motor (which are sealed, so long as the stator is the outer part of the motor- I'm certain this tool's motor fits in that category), Skil didn't cut ventilation holes or slits into the tool like they would have if this tool had a brushed motor. Given the speed this tool's blade spins at, I conclude this tool also has a gearbox. Both motor and gearbox got HOT after cutting a handful of boxes down to small pieces. The handle of this tool is well insulated, and it got warm enough that it was uncomfortable to hold. I reason if the well insulated handle got that warm, the motor and gearbox must've been really hot.I wound up breaking my long task into segments: I'd cut some boxes up to little pieces, put this tool in a nearby freezer for rapid cooling, take the little pieces outside to a recycling bin and dump them in said bin before returning to the basement, taking this tool out of the freezer and resuming box cutting. I'm willing to bet that had I not given the tool some cooling breaks, damage would've occurred to motor and/or gearbox. I don't hold this nuance against the tool; it's not meant for sustained use. It's meant to cut up some lengths of material, and to be put away for either the day or at least an hour or more, not to forcefully chew through loads of cardboard.Second nuance: blade sharpness. Paper is hard on any blade, and with cardboard being made from it, I knew I was going to really wear this tool's blade down, but it held up to the end! The bicycle box was the last box I cut down to pieces, and I could tell the blade was dull even before I got to that box. By the time I was cutting the last panel of the bike box down, I was having to muscle this tool through the cardboard, whereas with a fresh blade, this tool practically pulled itself through the cardboard.Once I finished, I gave the tool the next day off. The day after, I took a look at the cutting wheel. The blade's edges were visibly rolled off, and roll-off burrs could be easily seen at the wheel's corners (this cutting "wheel" is actually polygonal in geometry. Maybe a decagon? I haven't counted the sides). Before I decided to buy replacements, I thought I'd try my hand at sharpening this tool's cutter myself!I do sharpen my pocket knives, and while I can't get them sharp enough to pop off arm hairs...yet, I can get them sharp enough to shear through paper, so I felt good about my chances. Since this tool's blade has a very clearly defined cutting edge angle, it was super easy to hone! I very lightly passed the beveled side of the cutter on the 80 grit side of one of my whetstones to knock off the burrs, then switched to a 3,000 grit whetstone for the bulk of the sharpening process, finishing off with a leather strop polish. Once more, this tool will grab onto and pull itself along material that I pass into it, cutting it with ease.I want to cover one nuance in this use that covers both nuances I discussed already: The fact that some of the boxes I cut up, particularly that bike box, were out of the recommended material thickness range of this tool. This contributes to the accelerated heating of the tool and dulling of the cutter wheel. So, I used this tool consistently outside of expected parameters, and with a little caution and maintenance by me, performed well despite being pushed so hard. That's why I'm giving this five stars.Finally, I'll cover what other reviewers and the item description covers, and the last part of my review title: This listing is only for the cutting tool. You do NOT get a battery, nor charger, nor carrying case, nor hand tools with this. You literally get this tool in a cardboard box, in wrapping and it's manual. Nothing else. So if you want this tool, either be sure you have or get a Skil PWR Core 12 volt battery (and charger if needed). If you want a case, get this tool and take it to a store to be sure one fits, or just get a tool bag. But again, expect to get nothing else with this tool if you buy it from this listing.

I get a lot of cardboard boxes from Amazon and it takes a time to cut up these boxes for the recycling bin, so they have been piling up in the garage. I decided to take the plunge and purchase a multi cutter. I did a lot of research and watched all the videos and reviews.I decided that I wanted a quality tool and one with a replacable battery so the tool would not have to be disposed of, if the battery went bad. I purchased the Skil Multi-Cutter ES4651A-00, the 4 AH PWR Core battery and charger. I have been very impressed with its cutting capacity and with one full charge, I was able to cut large boxes into small 5" x 5" pieces so it would not get jambed in the recycle bin. After finishing all the stored boxes, the 4 AH battery shows 4 bars and is still fully charged. I probably could have gotten away with the smaller and lighter 2AH battery. My only negative comment is the kind of awkward safety button, but I have since become used to it. Also, I searched Amazon and Skil's web sight looking for replacement blades, just so I have a spare, if needed and so far, I have not found them. But the tool has a built in blade sharpener and after eliminating all my boxes, shows no sign of getting dull. It still cuts like new.

I only purchased as I had 4 batteries and figured this could be useful.Well ...it cuts cardboard well, fabric was ok but got jammed up temporarily...I can't give it more than 3/5 stars as it's fairly limited on what it can cut.I can cut cardboard faster with a utility knife....

The cutter works well enough. I'm glad I don't have to use a knife when I'm trying to cut cardboard to a specific size. And I don't have to cut large pieces of cardboard on the floor with other pieces of cardboard underneath to prevent damage to the flooring. I don't like that I had to buy the battery seperate. After ordering the battery, it occured to me that the cutter and the seperate battery may not come with a charger, so I checked the listings closer and sure enough, neither included the charger, so I had to buy that seperately too. I bought other battery operated tools from other companies like Black and Decker and those companies always included at least one battery and the charger with the tool. I don't expect I'll buy more SKIL tools in the future.

I used to use the older models of the Skil Power Cutter for over ten years cutting fiberglass cloth. They worked great. Very comfortable in the hands, the only problem was charging it up which took a couple hours.So I purchase this new Model # ES4651A-00 thinking it may be better with a replaceable battery, If it goes dead I just switch the battery.What a BIG Mistake.First it seem like your fingers have to be double jointed to hold the on button & pulling the power button.Second I used it to cut open a clear plastic package and the Blade jumped the sharpening device and put a dent in the blade. Now this device struggles to cut the fiberglass cloth.Very depressing when you buy the device, battery, and charger, And customer service forget about that.Now I'm looking for another Power Cutter from another company that looks like the old model of the skill power cutter.Be Very Careful if your thinking of buying this device, and what your thinking of cutting.

The newly designed Skil Multi Cutter Tool is poorly designed compared to their older model which fortunately I still use. The newer one that is being reviewed is nicely built however the battery pack where it's positioned is awkward when trying to use this device.