I have been using an exacto knife when cutting poly foam and reticulated foam from patterns, and have had with good results.  When it comes to carving these foams, that is a different story.  I have purchased hot wire knives for carving with Styrofoam and EPS Foam.  I know that it is not a good idea to use them on the soft foam due to fumes, so is there another alternative?

I ask this, because when I use the exacto or razor I do not get a clean, smooth surface.

Craig

Good question.  I personally find carving foam a bit frustrating, but an electric turkey carving knife wil help you make large rough cuts.  Refining the shapes after that can involve snipping with a scissors and even sanding but I can't say I've ever had a perfectly clean smooth surface.  I was glad my own first foam carved puppet was covered with fleece so as to smooth out the imperfect foam surface.  I made the tooth puppet this way.

Craig,
You are looking for alternatives to a hot wire for Styro right?  I think that puppetlady thought you meant Poly.

A serrated knife like you use for cutting bread works well on Styro for bulk cuts.  If you have a band saw handy that is also a good tool.  To work the detail of Styro try sanding instead of cutting.  You can use a Dremel for this but be careful. Finer grit papers work best.

Shawn,

No, she got it correct.  I have used a band saw and coping saw on Styrofoam.  It work good, but is messy.  My studio is also our pantry, and the wife does not like little balls of foam in her flour.  That is why I am using a hot wire knife.   My question was for carving polyfoam.

Craig

I used to work at a foam store and their custom shape cutter is two oscillating blades on a base, a bit like a long jigsaw with a base to run under the foam and keep the blade vertical. In the absence of this I'd go the hot wire in a more ventilated area ( and perhaps a good respirator mask, not a silly paper thing) but as puppetlady says the domestic electric knife should be right on as an alternative but as mentioned it
would be coarse.
looks pretty much like poly foam in this but it could be something denser.


I know you have the hot wire already so wade through the how to to watch this guy carve pollyfoam at the end, VERY clean LANGUAGE WARNING!!!!!Written on screen so if kids around that don't read or can't see screen it's ok I'm not at all offended as it's a warning about just how hot they are and gets the message home, but as I'm sending a stranger there to look...WARNING!


THIS is the "jigsaw meets electric carving" knife I meant

Good for flat shapes, but carving? Don't know about that...
Hope this helps illustrate what puppet lady had already said I'd love to carve with the wire. looks so clean. If i was worried about fumes I'd go outside with a fan behind me... Might not be possible for everyone.
Scoob

This is kind of a cool tool available from Chick Tool that is a lot like an electric knife.
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https://youtu.be/KEKcLhr-gU4

Sorry to get off topic but when you put the YouTube clip in the post rather than the link, are you using the "embed" code in the post (seems obvious i suppose) are you cut and pasting it in like a link? the "EZE foam cutter" is the is the "jigsaw meets electric carving knife" clip I posted but so much easier directly in the post like that.

Steve,
At the moment you have to kind of work to get a YouTube embedded. The bbCode tags look like this: [youtube][/youtube]  You have the find the number for the video and place it inside the tags.
If you look at the URL of the page the video is on at YT then it well be after the v= i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEKcLhr-gU4

I hadn't even realized you had posted the link to the EZE Foam Cutter.   I had just followed the first link and then started browsing. That seems to happen a lot when I go to YouTube. 

Wow, I saw the hot wire polyfoam video clip!  Neat!  I didn't think you could do that.  I bet my hubbie could rig up one of those for me.  The hot wire cutter I tried was made for use with stryofoam and had a thicker heating surface.  I bet the thinner wire blade makes a difference.

Thank you, Steve.  I will take that to mind.  Once again I have had my question answered here at Puppetsandstuff.  I love this place.

Craig