Introduction: Letter Opener From a Used Club Card

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About: Matthew was previously a STEAM integrator with a private K-8 school. He loves taking things apart to see how they work, and will sometimes put those things back together. Much of his time is spent working with…

I open up a lot of mail at the office!  Normally when a new package comes in, I'll break out the box cutters and cut what I need to get it open.  When it's all said and done, I've occasionally cut what's inside the box.  This isn't an option I want when I'm opening up unknown things.

I've seen letter openers in stores for years, but I never felt like dropping the money to get one.  When I recently came into possession of some extra stock of Duane Reade club cards, I knew I had my chance!

Step 1: Materials

Club card, credit card, gift card, or other no longer useful plastic card.
Laser Cutter, X-Acto knife or Scissors.
X-Acto blade
Tape
Pliers
A few minutes to spare.

Step 2: Template

Designing this is very simple.  If you look up some images of letter openers, there are two predominant styles.  The mini sword/knife and the plastic card.  Since the plastic card style works so well with our plastic card, I'm going to use that one.

One thing I learned while making these, having a long skinny edge doesn't work. I find that a short, thin at the end point, works best - see pictures for more details.

Draw a template on your card, or in whatever program you plan to use to laser cut with.

If you're using the laser cutter, I'd recommend creating a template for the card that you can use to ensure you have it situated in the correct space when you laser etch.  You can use cardboard or some scrap acrylic for this purpose.

Attachments

Step 3: Cut

Cut out your template with an X-Acto blade or laser cutter.

Step 4: Prep X-Acto Blade

First: PUT ON EYE PROTECTION!  Should accidents happen you don't want exposed eyes with X-Acto blades flying about.

  • Grab the X-Acto blade firmly between two pairs of pliers.
  • Slowly bend the X-Acto blade in half.
  • You should have half of the X-Acto blade in each pair of pliers when it snaps (it doesn't take much bend to snap it).

Step 5: Attach Blade

Now that you have a smaller blade it can fit onto your letter opener.

Grab some clear tape, and tape the X-Acto blade in place.

If you're worried that someone might cut themselves, grab another card and sandwich the X-Acto blade between them.

Step 6: Finished!

Now take your new creation and run out to the mailbox.  Sit in anticipation for when the mailman comes and proceed to open your mail with a sense of ease you haven't experienced in years!