Learn how to cut chipboard with Cricut Knife Blade and how to use vinyl and iron on with chipboard. Create these leather and chipboard keychains, which make great, easy to personalize gifts.
First things first: Yes, the Cricut knife blade does cut chipboard. However, that comes with a caveat. It will only guarantee the cuts when using Cricut brand chipboard. Now I know what you are thinking, but no, it’s not a marketing ploy to make sure you buy their chipboard. However, chipboard is a tricky material to cut because it’s made of recycled material that is basically a whole bunch of different things mushed together and pressed to form chipboard. It’s not homogenous across sheets, or even within sheets – so guaranteeing a cut on something that is never the same would be extremely difficult to do. So Cricut made their own heavy chipboard (it’s 2mm in depth) that is a more solid and congruent sheet (but still recycled so it remains an environmentally friendly option.)
This is what the package looks like, if you are looking for it in the store. One thing to keep in mind is that you will need to lay your chipboard out after you receive it, under something heavy, for about 24 hours for it to acclimitize to the climate and humidity levels. Otherwise it may warp or not lay flat.
How to Cut Chipboard with Cricut Knife Blade:
What You’ll Need
If you want to make your own chipboard and leather keychains, here’s what you’ll need:
- Cricut chipboard
- patterned iron on and/or vinyl
- Cricut genuine leather
- keychain (split) rings with chain
- EasyPress (if using iron on)
- Cricut knife blade (for chipboard)
- Cricut deep cut blade (for leather)
- EasyPress mat and protective sheet (optional, but very helpful!)
- purple Strong Grip mat
I haven’t worked with chipboard much at all, so I was excited to try it out. After having so much success cutting 3/32″ basswood, and using patterned iron on to finish it off, I wanted to try iron on with chipboard. And… well… I had mixed results with that.
The EasyPress doesn’t have settings for use on chipboard, and I would soon find out why. I looked at the settings listed for wood and set my temperature to the same, and set the timer to 40 seconds, but I did check it about half way through.
TIP: If you do much work with iron on, you should really get yourself one of these iron on protector sheets! They are amazing and I don’t have to go looking for a pillow case or sheet to protect my vinyl. The EasyPress mat is also a huge help if you have an EasyPress.
Ho to Cut Chipboard with Cricut Knife Blade:
Using Chipboard with Iron on and Vinyl
After pressing the chipboard, it completely curled up. It was almost a C. I wish I had a picture to show you, but I was sure it was a lost cause so I didn’t even bother. I placed it under a very heavy book, and proceeded with Plan B: the new premium patterned vinyl.
If you haven’t seen this yet, the stuff is amazing. (I’m not sure if it’s in the online shop yet, but you should be able to find it at local craft stores.) You know how you unroll vinyl and it stays curled for like ever? These sheets have a new backing and they lie flat. They also weed easily and are so great to work with. I picked a similar pattern to the iron on I used, and stuck it on to my chipboard. I used the brayer to make sure it was good and adhered.
How to Cut Chipboard with Cricut Knife Blade:
Actually Making the Cut
I used the maple leaf tag design for my keychain, which is an image in the Cricut Image Library (you can use the same file in Design Space). Make sure to set your Maker up before cutting by calibrating your knife blade and moving your star wheels (more about that in this knife blade post). In the materials list, choose Cricut Chipboard, Heavy, and place your chipboard on a purple Strong Grip mat, secured with masking tape.
Chipboard usually does 20 passes, but I find it is often done around 16 or 17. If you find it is finished early, hit pause, check the material, and stop the cut if necessary. Do not remove the mat until you are sure it is cut! Similarly, if the cut finishes and you find the material isn’t quite cut all the way through, hit the C button and the machine will do one more pass. You can repeat this as many times as you need!
As you can see, the small detail of the leaf stem flaked off. Cricut advises cuts of no less than 0.75″ unless they are inside cuts (pieces that will be removed from the design). This was fine for our cut as the leaf is the portion that will be discarded.
How to Cut Chipboard with Cricut Knife Blade:
Cutting Leather to Accompany the Chipboard
I had a sheet of geniune Cricut leather in cranberry as well, and I decided to cut the same tag (but use the Contour tool to remove the leaf and make a solid circle). A thicker leather would use the knife blade, but since this is the thinner Cricut leather, I was able to use my deep cut blade. It only did one pass and I seriously had my doubts, but it was amazing! It took only seconds for a perfect cut.
The vinyl dragged a little as the knife blade cut it, as you can notice above. You can smooth it out with a nail file if you wish (I didn’t, because I am super lazy and I didn’t mind it as is!) Also, around this time, I lifted the book from my iron on sheet and noticed it was mostly flat now. I taped it down to a Strong Grip mat and cut the same design as I did from the vinyl. It didn’t end up warped after all. The iron on was lifting in a few places, but a quick little press fixed that.
Overall, the vinyl worked better than the iron on. I am open to experimenting more with iron on and chipboard to see if I can find a solution that works. It might work to cut it first and then iron on, like I did the basswood.
I am so excited for the potential of this blade, and of using it with chipboard!
Bmil says
Thank you for for sharing. Which cricut machines would be able to cut this?
Sarah says
Only the Maker with the knife blade.