Originally Posted by
ckcowl
I have a little ( tool) from Nancy's Notions, very inexpensive, it is like a smooth sanding disc with a handle. I've been using it for 10+ years. It works great to smooth my mat.
I bought one of those, or maybe something similar, and it just scraped my mat up. I was really disappointed. I rubbed the lines off of an area with that thing, and it didn't really do much about the slices I was trying to smooth. I ended up replacing the mat and I don't use that thing anymore. Maybe I was doing something wrong? This is the one I have:
http://smile.amazon.com/Colonial-Nee...s=mat+smoother
The reviews all say it doesn't harm the lines, but that wasn't my experience at all. Maybe I rubbed too hard? Maybe my mat is weird? (I use Alvin mats)
Now when I get slices I rub at them with a canvas scrap to get all the extra fibers out of the slice, and then I lay a warm damp hand towel over the area and weigh it down a little. I have a pretty large mat so soaking it is a HUGE pain, but spot-dampening like that seems to do an OK job helping it heal.
For you, OP, I think your mat may have had it. If you can flip it that'll give you a lot more life out of it, but if you're line-dependent, it's a good time to look for mats on sale or to put one on your Christmas list!