Have you ever cut through your cutting mat?
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 865
Have you ever cut through your cutting mat?
I have! When I trim a quilt prior to binding I always lay it out on the bedroom floor and slide my large Olfa cutting mat underneath and trim like that. Well, I did that yesterday and just as I got started trimming I heard kind of a cracking sound and found I'd cut all the way through the mat! Horrors! The cut through/ cracked portion is only about two inches in a cross or plus shape and close to a corner so my mat is still useable. Now I'm wondering if pressing on the mat with my cutter on the carpeted floor (it's nubby berber) rather than a really solid surface caused it to crack. Do cutting mats get brittle?
#2
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Corpus Christi, Tx.
Posts: 16,105
you may be able to check out one of the resources for maintaining your mat. May be the way you had it stored before cutting. I know there will be a few really good suggestions. Good luck. Would hate to have to buy a new one.
#3
it does sound like a brittle problem to me. But where you live should have a lot of humidity. Olfa mats can be soaked flat and that helps them "come back to life". I've had mine for many years and not done that yet. Good luck.
#4
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,312
I have cut all the way through a mat. It came after years and years of use. It did get brittle, even though I tried every method to revive the mat. I have learned to change my blade more frequently as a dull blade will damage a mat.
#7
Power Poster
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Southern California
Posts: 19,127
WOW, I have always had a large table to be able to use so when I was trimming a quilt, I was able to move the mat around. I prefer the Omnigrid mat but they are NOW ONLY available on JAF's website. The new Olfa mat I just bought last year seems very thin. As Tartan says, I am also afraid to cut on it !!
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