my styrofoam is to thick how can i make it thinner?

Question

making crafts with the kids thanks

Answer 1

What works best is an electric carving knife. However, in a pinch a serrated bread knife may due as long as you are careful.

Just do it on the edge of the table with your hand on top and the knife sideways like you are cutting a cake in half to make two layers.

Answer 2

The best, and cleanest way to do this is with a hot wire cutter. You don't say the size of the foam you will be cutting. There are small battery operating ones in the craft stores, or larger ones available on the web. If you are talking about a slight difference in the size you need, you can sand one piece against the other. Rub a sheet of fabric softener over your hands and arms before you attempt this.

Answer 3

As mentioned, you can actually cut it smaller with a long serrated knife (or electric serrated knife), or with a "hot cutter" (they come as a stretched wire**, or as various shaped tools), or coarse sandpaper (though that would take a while, and be really messy...once the foam's surface has been abraided a bit, you can also rub that surface with another abraided piece of foam like "sandpaper" too).

Depending on what you need, you can also flatten the foam rather than cutting it... it will depress with pressure and stay flatter than it was.
Again depending on what shape and smoothness you need, you could bang on it with a hammer or mallet, a meat tenderizer tool, or something with a wider face (e.g., maybe a board on it, then stand on it maybe rocking a bit or bang on the board with a hammer or even drive over it!).

You can also buy (less expensive) types of polystyrene foam that are fairly thin at home improvement stores (in sheets) ... they're sold as insulation for roofing, etc.. Those kinds will also be denser than most of the other polystyene foams you'll see at craft stores --which makes them smoother to cut/shape, too.


**you can buy one of these hot wire cutters for about $20 at a hobby store and maybe at a craft store --it runs on 2 D batteries, but it will only make cuts that are about 8" wide so you'd have to cut pieces that were smaller than that in their flat width direction parallel to the cut)


Good luck!

Diane B.

Answer 4

Course sandpaper works as with a callus remover(the ones with the handle ). I craft lighthouses with styrofoam and this is what I use.

Answer 5

However you cut it, its gonna make a huge mess The easiest way to cut it would to use a Electric carving knife...ya know like the ones you carve a turkey with

Dont lose a finger

Answer 6

Try online.