I have found that if you sharpen your blades before they get dull it does extend their life. After cutting for a couple of hours run it through a blade sharpener and it really helps. I've used all kinds of thread from Connecting Thread, Missouri Star Quilt Company, Guterman, Coats and Clark and various others. Some thread make a lot more lint it's true but I clean out the lint after three bobbins go through it and it doesn't build up. I use long q-tip type and it grabs the lint to remove it.