Why Choose Longridge Mount Cutters?
Investment – Why?
Art, needlecraft and photographs are usually framed with mounts under glass. Inexpensive, standard size frames are readily available in today’s market. However, finding a mount to suit your work is another challenge. Standard size mounts are often the wrong size and colour and of varying qualities.
Why struggle to fit your image into a mount the wrong size? Invest in a decent mount cutter and start producing bespoke mounts in your own home, to suit your work, hassle free.
Cost benefits
- Open the box and you have everything you need to cut professional mounts with the Longridge system.
- There are 3 consumables: blades (50 included), SprintMat (2 included) and mountboard. Other than this, there are no hidden costs, nor any extras.
- Buying bespoke mounts costs anything between £5 and £20. The more complex the mount, the greater the cost. Pay for your cutter by cutting mounts for your friends and club members as well.
- Your costs are now minimal: mountboard and time (A1 sheet costs on average between £2 and £4 per sheet depending on quality).
- Cut 5 mounts in 30 minutes and sell them to friends at £3 each, bargain price = £15 for 30 mins work.
Before you buy, what to look for?
Buying a mount cutter should be a one-off event. It’s important to make the right choice.
Blade Quality
Cutting technology is a major consideration. Look for blades made from high quality surgical steel. These are dry from new rather than the lesser quality oiled blades which have a tendency to leave oil smears on the mount board. Standard 270 utility blades are ‘stamped’ to a point, rather than ‘rolled’ which means that they are weaker and more likely to flex.
Needless to say, Longridge have worked with the UK’s leading blade manufacturer to produce the former!
Preparation
Look for a tool to help you mark-up efficiently and effectively. Using a ruler and pencil can be laborious and very time consuming – hence Longridge’s development of the Marker Gauge.
Stability
Connectivity is key. Instead of using a meagre cutting mat, the cutter and rail should lock onto each other and attach onto a solid base. The rail needs an integral mount stop and rubber lining to stop the mount from moving when bevel cutting. This connects all components together so that the operation runs smoothly and true to the markings, without curvatures.
Working in tandem with the base, when bevel cutting, should be a cutting medium to prevent feathering.
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Developed by Longridge is SprintMat; a unique flat laminated board with its fibres aligned in one direction, the direction of your cut. The result: less blade drag and waver, minimal effort and a superior finish – it also helps the blade last longer too!
Accuracy
Ensure that the system has an accurate squaring facility and straight cutter for initially cutting the mountboard down to size. The exterior must be square in order for the marking and cutting of the window to be square as well. This is often overlooked. Be aware that some cutters cut the window edge a couple of millimetres or so to the side of the line. This requires the user to adjust for the inaccuracy every time. Longridge systems are calibrated to cut on the line with razor sharp corners.
Cutter Control
First, ensure that you can adjust the blade depth so that it corresponds to the mountboard thickness. Secondly, avoid overcutting by ensuring there are cutter stops and a mount board stop. These do the hard work for you by securing the mount in position and stopping the motion of the cutter when it arrives at the corner. Perfect corners are essential!
Left-handers rejoice!
Check that the mount cutter is specifically designed for left – handed use rather than just a crude adaptation.
“We left-handers have rights too!” (Chris Longridge, Managing Director).
Straight from the box, you can feel the Longridge system exudes quality from our precision engineered components and the decades of experience that has gone into designing and manufacturing this British product.
