How To Cut Seamless Paper Background Rolls

Seamless paper is a staple in the photo studio. It is commonly available in widths of 26", 53" and 107" but can also sometimes be found in 86" and 140". I picked up some 9' (107') rolls of Savage background paper but the layout of my home studio was a little odd and I needed to trim the roll down a little.

Cutting a roll of seamless paper is a pretty simple process. If you have a hand saw you can just go at it with that. A hacksaw with a fine-toothed metal cutting blade will leave a clean cut but it will take a long time.

If you have a wood trim saw and a miter box you can get a straighter cut and the blade is a little more aggressive. The cut will still be clean.

I've used a reciprocating saw in the past but it's hard to get a good, clean cut with that. I've only used it to break down rolls for recycling. A circular saw isn't quite big enough to cut in one pass and it's hard to get a straight cut on a round roll.

The best results so far has been using a miter saw to cut seamless paper. The cut is clean and it's fast. I was using a smaller miter saw that only has an 8-1/4" blade so I couldn't cut through the whole roll in one pass. After making the first cut I had to roll the roll a little to complete the cut.

It's important to support the other end of the roll level with the base of the miter saw. Clamp it down so it doesn't move while cutting. I also put some tape over the area to be cut to keep the paper from fraying. I did a test cut in my waste piece first to make sure it was cutting well before moving to where I marked the paper for the final cut.

Here's a video on cutting seamless paper with a miter saw.