I go through lots of blades cause my eyes are bad and I hit my templates quite frequently.
The blade sharpener will not take out nicks in blades, only sharpen a dull blade. And remember if you sharpen a sharp blade it will never get dull. I think the date on my last blade change was sometime last year. I sharpen it right before cutting a lot of fabric and sometimes will stop and sharpen it if I'm cutting a lot. Rotary blades from HF are hit and miss in fabric rotary cutters. Some okay, some crappy. If used in the cutter made for carpet and used to cut carpet they work just fine like they are suppose to.