Hey Doug, I just started cutting my own mats this year. Like Canon gear it can be as expensive as you want. I spent Around $150 to get started and like doing it when I want to do it. heres what I got. http://www.dickblick.com/products/lo...ic-mat-cutter/. It works for me. Good luck.
I've been cutting my own mats for years because I crop to an aspect ratio pleasing to the subject and that rarely fits a standard mat. The size of the cutter you want depends on how big your mats will be. For up to 11 x 14 a smaller, lighter-duty cutter may work fine but I would recommend you consider one of the slightly beefier cutters with the square bar, one of the Logan Simplex models on this page. (Mine is the Logan Simplex Plus 750, now replaced by a new model.)
No matter which one you get, you'll want to clamp it down to a very sturdy table and put a large self-healing cutting mat down in front of it, for general utility. I had problems with the cut hooking slightly at the start and solved the problem by clamping it down.
Hey Doug, I started cutting my own mats when I noticed that I wanted to do non-standard aspect ratios. I bought this kit on Adorama and made my own cutting board similar to this for under $20. It works great, but I'm limited to 40" mats.
Cut Your Own Mats?
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