I was just watching a show on PBS and they were talking about knife sharpeners. The handy little gadgets that you can use to keep your blades nice and sharp.

The main point they were trying to get across was that most sharpeners only work if you continually use them, keeping/maintaining the edges nice and sharp. If you let it get too dull, then you need to use a grinding type of sharpener to get that nice sharp edge again. (The gadgets they were using/sampling were very similar to the rotary blade sharpeners available)

This made me think about all of the discussions on rotary blade sharpeners. From what I could remember seeing, most of these are made to maintain a sharp edge. So you need to use them more often than what we probably do/did, before giving up on them.

I don't know about the rest of you, but my rotary cutters get WAY more use than my knives :roll: When my kids were home and I was cooking a lot, I used a knife sharpener once or twice a month, and took them to DB if the kids did something to knick or really dull them. So with that in mind, I would probably need to give my rotary blade a touch up atleast 2-4 times a month to keep a nice edge on them. Also this is probably why these sharpeners won't take out knicks, because they are not made to "grind" down the edges.

Thought I would share this with you, and get your thoughts/ideas on it also. Am I way off base?

Makes sense that if it's too far gone, you are too late. They don't fix them, only hone them. I know that with my woodworking tools, I can hone them often, but if I let it go too long, I have to grind them back into a sharp edge.

I bought the circle sharpener - does 45 and 60mm.....I have to say that I am disappointed in it. I follow the directions (Imagine that!) but am not impressed with the outcome of this $32 spend.

ditto. I bought 1 too thinking look at all that money I'll save on new blades. Well I'm back to buying new blades.

I have never bought one. I think they cost to much. Some members of my quild have them, but never heard them comment on them one way or another. I don't buy much fabric at Joanns but do get the 40% of coupons. Blades are cheap enough with coupon.

Right now blades are 50% off at JoAnn's. I bought two.

I bought one and I was dissapointed in it. I just wait for sales at Joanns and buy new ones.

thank you for sharing the information.

Has anyone used this one?

http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/9443.htm

Do you all wait til they are pretty dull before trying to sharpen them? I have been looking at these different sharpeners for a while, and the new one that allows you to sharpen without taking the cutter apart looks interesting :D:D:D