Cutting 1808 cloth
 

I'm trying to precut 1808 for my sole. The problem is stretching and fraying. I lay it down on a piece of smooth plywood and put a straight edge on top and run an box cutter knife down the straight edge. After the cloth is cut, I roll it up and unroll on a large flat area. If I try to move it around or handle it in any way it bunches up, distorts, and the edges start to fray. I have not had this problem nearly as bad with 1708. Do I have some bad cloth or is this the way it normally acts. Seems like it's going to be hard to lay one sheet beside the other and keep straight edges.

I use tin snips or "aviation shears" to cut mine. Works great on most of these fabrics. A knife will probably just make a mess like you are experiencing.

If you are not cutting a ton of glass you can get some pretty good scissors at BedBath&Beyond that have microserrations or teeth on one edge - I think about $20 - the teeth hold the glass while you cut without fraying as much. They start getting dull after trimming about 20-30 yds so if you are doing more than that practice sharpening or get real glass scissors - I think Joel Shine sells some at his shop (Bateau). A lot of others do too.

Don't roll it up after you cut it. Leave it flat or fold it if you have to but don't make hard creases.

When I said box cutter knife I should mention the box cutter uses razor blades .

I've used about 30 yards of the eBay 1808. I cut it with Fiskars shears with a serrated edge on one blade, cuts easy with no fraying.

1808 0-90 or 0-45 stich

I've used friskers rotary cutter with pretty good results..

Shears always worked great for me.