BladeRunner is a drywall-cutting tool that has two separate halves, each containing a sharp cutting blade. Rare-earth magnets pull the halves toward each other while hinged plastic tabs keep the two halves about 1/2 in. apart—just enough room to slide the tool onto a sheet of drywall. As the tool is advanced to make a cut, the plastic tabs fold back, and the magnets keep the halves moving firmly as a pair. The blade in each half of the tool slices through the drywall’s paper facing to make a clean break with none of the usual scoring and snapping, even on thin rips. The concept is simultaneously simple and ingenious, but the tool has a learning curve and some limitations.

Although I found the magnets strong enough to keep the two halves of the BladeRunner in line during use, I sometimes had trouble getting the plastic tabs to flip out of the way to begin a cut. I also had to concentrate to keep the tool straight. BladeRunner has a slot on the nose for the hook end of a tape measure, but I found it quicker to follow a pencil line or to use a T-square as a guide. This tool could change your job-site setup, too. The makers of BladeRunner recommend that you work with sheets of drywall stacked on sawhorses to leave room to maneuver the tool, but this forced me to hang the drywall in space to cut off a large section. Instead, I leaned the drywall against the wall, but set the stack on a pair of scrap 4x4s—plenty of room to make a clear crosscut.

Is the tool worth buying? You bet. I used the tool about a hundred times slower than the guy in the BladeRunner video online, but it still sped up my process and increased quality.