Razor blade protraction/retraction device

A hand-held cutting device for cutting a material with a safety feature that maintains a cutting blade retracted in the device, said cutting device comprising:

• a housing having an aperture in a bottom surface thereof through which a portion of the cutting blade can pass;
• a blade holder that is pivotally-mounted within said housing and biased to maintain the blade, releasably secured within said blade holder, within said housing;
• an activator, operable by a user and biased against user operation, having:
• a first state wherein said activator is out of contact with said blade holder and said blade is retracted within said housing;
• and
• a second state wherein said activator is in contact with said blade holder, said activator in said second state contacting and pivoting said blade holder to push a portion of said blade out of said aperture when the user applies pressure on said activator;
• and
• a safety member operable by the user that must be displaced from a first position to a second position that enables said activator to be operated by the user, said safety member being biased against movement to said second position;
• and
• wherein whenever the user releases pressure on said activator, said activator is automatically moved from said second state to said first state to automatically pivot said blade within said housing and said safety slide is automatically moved to said first position, preventing any further operation of said activator.