I had two of the same one you have. I loved them. Cutting on your ironing board is not a good practise unless your ironing board is stabler than mine. My I ironing board is a real old timer made of some type of metal. it also has a large board over top of it to allow me to Orion bigger pieces of the quilt. The padding makes it difficult to cut on it. Now back to the cutters ... I have used both Fiscars and Olfa and even one I found at the flea market which is red. They all work fine when I have a sharp blade in them. Try your kitchen countertop or your kitchen table and you will see a hundred % difference