two illustrations from Toyo showing their suggested ways to hold the Thomas
Grip. (It has long been my suspicion that the guy who did the illustrations
never spoke to the guy who invented the cutter though.)
Posted by Gary Dodge on November 07, 2002 at 00:25:45:
In Reply to: Reccomend Glass Cutter posted by Glass Cutter on November 06, 2002 at 19:17:45:
Hi Glass Cutter,
I simply cut and pasted the following information from our Featured Items page. It tells you everything you need to know about my favorite glass cutter. You will need to scroll down the page to see the whole thing. the formatting of the page came out funny when I pasted it in.
Gary Dodge
The Thomas Grip Cutter-
| Attributes: | Easy to use | Simplifies cutting | Durable |
Reduces hand fatigue | Hard to find | Frequently | Good Value |
The Thomas grip cutter, from Toyo is our
favorite glass cutter, and these days the only one we use at Dodge Studio. (I
may as well tell you right up front that we don't use it quite the way they show
in the manufacturers illustrations, though...but more on that later.)
ADVANTAGES-
Unique design rests
against the ball of your hand and eliminates muscle strain from squeezing on
standard cutters so that they don't slip through your hand.
Swiveling barrel,
when gripped as described below, allows cutting full circle, without lifting
the cutter or even turning your wrist! (I've got carpel tunnel syndrome and
probably couldn't cut anymore without it.)
Often our customers come in planning to buy a pistol grip type cutter
thinking that it will be better for their "weak hands or wrists".
While pistols are easy to grip and great for the job they were designed to
do, they are intended for straight cuts against a ruler and what people
don't realize is that to make even a moderate curve with one you must make
exaggerated movements that involve the wrist, arm, and often the entire
upper body!
Long lasting carbide
steel wheel in a replaceable
cartridge. Lasts many
times longer than a standard steel wheel, and when it's time for a new
wheel, you still get to keep your cutter.
Self oiling...(if you
feel you must.) We never fill our cutters with oil though. All oil filled
cutters leave too much oil on the glass and can cause tiny chips to stick to
your fingers and give you glass splinters. After every few scores we just
press the cutter head into a rag soaked in cutter oil and blot it dry.
Comes in neat new
neon colors! We
cannot guarantee your choice of color, but if you tell us what you want,
we'll try to oblige.
Head has a second
swivel, (which we usually lock up for pattern cutting), in addition to the
barrel swivel. If you cut against rulers a lot this second swivel makes
tracking against the ruler easier.
Gives you control you
never believed possible!
And now, the promised
"more on that"...
We'll start with the
two illustrations from Toyo showing their suggested ways to hold the Thomas
Grip. (It has long been my suspicion that the guy who did the illustrations
never spoke to the guy who invented the cutter though.)
Next I'll try to describe the way we use it.
We hold the cutter in a vertical position, (straight up and down as in the photo
below), but with the swiveling "saddle" piece on top placed so that
the flat end of it rests on the ball of the hand, and the curved part of the
saddle comes up between the pointer and middle fingers. The thumb, pointer and
middle finger wrap around the barrel just above the wheel cartridge.
Holding the cutter like this allows you to have great control because no muscle
power is exerted holding the cutter. All downward force is exerted by the ball
of your hand, not your fingers. But the real trick here is that the saddle part
has a swivel built in. You can turn the barrel of the cutter, making curves 
on
the glass, without turning your hand. You can turn the barrel with the tips of
the thumb and two fingers while the saddle rests still in your hand. It makes it
possible to cut a circle without lifting the cutter off the glass if you want
to...without even turning your wrist!
For added control I often hold onto the head of the
cutter with two fingers of my other hand and guide it along.