The Olfa Surf

Been working on shaving the top edge instead of doing the micro edge and have some mixed thoughts about doing it. Really like the look but hate the process of doing it. 1st problem is bumping the edges with my lidco card and paper towel snagging the top edge when you pull back and causing either a adhesive smudge or dirty water wicking back under the tint. 2nd is just trying to find your 3 angles while sawing at the window with an xacto blade.....seems my line gets either a chunk taken out or the line looked like just isnt crisp. Normally I would leave a 1/16" gap and forget about it and just slam the car out and move on. I was doing a Mazda 6 when it I thought I would try something different. Did the top cut like normal and I always seem to have a high spot from either where I pierced the tint or the tint walked up alittle when I was running the blade across the top of the glass. Seem like a 30*-40* angle with the olfa gives you a nice micro edge. So I applied the tint like your doing a micro edge but just a hair higher....just enough so when you run your finger over the bevel of the glass, you can feel the edge but not really peel the edge if you snag it with the paper towel. I hit the top edge with the heat gun and was going to bust out the Xacto and thought I would just slide the olfa from the front to back while reducing the angle until small ribbons of tint would come off the blade. Did the process until I could not feel an edge with my finger any more. Gives you a super clean edge since your not sawing it or using a file and took the risk of contamination from the tint pulling back off the glass. I just had more control with the Olfa then I did the Xacto. Havent seen anyone do itor talk about it yet...I'm sureI have just been living under a rock for so long and there is probably a DVD out called the OLFA SURF and I just never heard of it. If you got some scrap to monkey with give it a try. I was surprised how easy it was to do without chunking the edge.

We have played around with the 'olfa surf'... the only drawbacks I found was on older glass with a rough top edge it didn't work worth a crap..
and you need a fresh edge on the blade or it will tear the film.. meaning if you do any volume at all you will be flying through blades like crazy..

Do you think a carbon blade would hold up better in the long run. As long as you know which knife is which in your pouch. I did find my self rotating between 2 knives when doing the surf. In the long run I could just see myself doing a micro edge and here and there using the Surf on some sloppy top cuts.

I considered doing that (using carbon blades for the surf) ... but then it only takes once to grab the wrong knife when you are in a hurry and then you are buying new glass for the customer

as strange as it sounds using a xacto blade that is dull works the best for me, as Stan said in a old post dull it on concrete or edge of glass first and its a process of holding it at the correct angle and shaving hard to explain.

strange but dull is better for me with the exacto. If it works - do it is my motto I have seen people shave with a single edge razor blade

Stan is right he tought me how to shave at his class the exacto is the best way but i like a new blade personally it is all what works best for you