I have a sharpener. It works okay once, but I found it doesn't bring them back to original sharpness. Replacing is the best thing.

Not often enough!

I use titanium blades and they last a very long time.

I have a sharpener for my blades and try to sharpen them a couple times. When they no longer cut well through several layers of fabric I change it. There is no set time, I hate when it starts skipping and doesn't give me a nice cut.

I replace mine when it is "skipping" and I need to go over it more than once. Of course, when you run over a pin that is hiding on your cutting board ( :thumbdown: :thumbdown: ) that does not help.

I did purchase one of those sharpeners at JoAnns - the small rotary one - in hopes of when I AM a dummy and manage to run over a pin I could reclaim the blade a bit. It doesn not work badly but never as well as a new blade.

I just bought a stack of new blades from

http://jhittlesewing.funoverload.com...new_items.html

They work great and a lot less expensive than retail. I will change them more frequently now!!

I agree. I always try changing the blade over to the other side. That seems to work for a small amount of time. Have never tried adding a drop of oil, but, will the next time.

I'm glad to hear that they last for a very long time. I have a titanium replacement in my knee and 3 titanium anchors in my shoulder and want them to last the rest of my life. :thumbup: :lol: :lol: :lol:

In a class I took last year, I learned a tip about making the blades less likely to develop nicks. After making a cut, I (and many other folks too) use the rotary cutter with blade exposed to push or slide the just cut piece away from the ruler. By sliding the blade along the surface of the cutting mat, this apparently causes the blade to nick. The class instructor advised that we never use the cutter to push a piece of fabric. Hope this makes sense. As far as changing blades, I usually wait until it's just not cutting smoothly or I end up with a spot or two where the blad did not cut thru both (or all) layers of the fabric.

The sharpener I had didn't seem to work real well.

I purchased a sharpener for the rotary blades and I cant say that I am too pleased with it. Either I am not using it right or the darn thing is no good. There are two kind. Mine is a twelve inch channel with emory or some such material in between two channels....My friend had a circular one that she likes.