Excel Blades #18 Wood Chisel Blade, 1/2 Inch, American Made Replacement Hobby Blades, 5 Pack

X-Acto brand #18 blades are now made in China. Compared to these and the former made in USA blades from X-Acto, the Chinese blades are quite brittle and will snap at the hilt with very little flexing pressure. Not what you want from a chisel blade where you would apply flexing pressure to get it to slide under the work.These blades from Excel are great and will take the flex without breaking. I hope whomever it was at Elmers that decided to source from China is happy. After 50 years, I've bought my last X-Acto brand made in China blade.

These blades are fantastic! I didn't realize how dull my blade was until I bought these replacements. Now I can slice through anything, including the very fabric of space and time. The story of how I discovered this is not important. Suffice to say that, in the year 2087, your robot overlords will be defeated. So at least there is that to look forward to.All of this probably explains why Amazon used this excessive packaging for two tiny packets of blades. I thought that a padded envelope would have sufficed, but obviously they wanted to put some distance between the blades and any possible careless handling. In fact, the real wonder is that they didn't use a BIGGER box, preferably lined with a thin layer of Mylar, with the reflective side facing inwards. Best not to take any chances with blades like this, Amazon.

I bought these to replace the original straight across chisel blades which came with the X-Acto set. I use these blades to scrape caulk off of my glass shower stall wall. The original X-Acto blades were narrower (blade width the same as the tang that goes into the handle). These are a bit wider but I think this is a disadvantage because the blade flexes too much at the junction of the blade and tang. Perhaps the narrower tang is too weak for the additional leverage the wider blade is providing. I feel that it is too flexible to be a real chisel blade. Otherwise, they came sharp ready to do their work.

I bought some X-acto brand #18 blades because the seller was using a picture that said "Made in USA". But X-acto company (now a subsidiary of Elmer's Glue and sub-subsidiary of some huge corporate conglomerate) has now sold us out and their stuff is all Chinese now. So the X-acto brand went back to Amazon, and I ordered these. They are very well made (in USA) and they are very sharp. Buy American!

Blades came in a timely manner, and are incredibly sharp. They come in a convenient plastic tube with a small red lid. But the tube is flexible so they can cut their way out easily, so be careful there. I use them every day cutting through heavy aircraft adhesives and rubber/plastic gasket like materials. They're holding up very good so far. Very solid choice with the excel brand here and would buy again.

Works great for scraping the park stickers from the inside of windshields! Fits all X-acto type handles. Razor sharp and quite durable.

I had a few older X-acto brand blades (probably 20 to 30 years, when they were still made in the US) to compare with these, plus the blades X-acto currently manufactures. These are actually slightly heavier than the older blades, which of course are much heavier than the ones they currently manufacture. They're very sturdy and seem to be holding up well. Definitely would buy again. They are noticeably thicker than the made in China X-acto blades, so keep that in mind if it's an issue for your project.

Works great for stripping silicone, but the base a little too wide to seat all the way in on any of my 3 handles...makes it easier to snap a blade off.