Just Replaced My Rotary Blades For The First Time In Months!!
 

In January I bought an electric rotary blade sharpener from the QIAD website. Yesterday, I changed my 45mm and 60mm blades for the first time since I purchased the sharpener! How awesome is that!! Granted, they were getting pretty dull in the last few weeks and the sharpening just wasn't improving the cut, so I changed them, but that was quite a long stretch. I would definitely recommend the sharpener.

Thanks for the recommendation!

I wait till thsy skip a bit... for a few weeks. Im just cheap, id rather spend cash n fab. Great to hear you got so muchuse out of it

I have the TruSharp too. Love it! I got it from joann.com half price with a coupon

ut oh, you've made me nervous. I've never changed my rotary blade. Did notice it's skipping every once in a while now, but I've had it forever. Granted it only cut pieces for 2 lap quilts and one quarter of an oversized king...what's the recommended amount of time before changing blades? :shock:

there is no "recommended" time, per se. Rather, when the blade skips or gets nicked or seems less good than before, it is time to change. I'm trying to get better (less cheap) at changing the blades because sharp is so much easier to use than dull or nicked.

I always wait way too long to change blades. Then when I do ... its just so wonderful I ask myself "why did I wait this long".

I've stopped using all blades except Martelli's
They are wonderful blades, last a long time and cut cleanly
Got my last batch thru amazon.com

Me too. I have the fresh blades right there but hate to stop what I'm cutting so I end up having to run the blade through the fabric twice instead of once.

I have found some blades are sharper and cut great longer than others, from the dame package and maker. Sometimes I wait too long also. I do have lots of new ones and hate to use them. Not too bright on my part.

Dull blades are dangerous blades. You push harder and use more force and are prone to making bad things happen.

Guess I am the odd one out. I am still using the 2 blade package that I purchased about 10 years ago. I have the old sharpener that looks like a biscuit cutter. My trick is to sharpen the blades the same way my father sharpened knifes and axes. (always turn the sharpening disk the same direction - do not rotate it back and forth as you sharpen) I sharpen one side, remove the disk and flip it over to sharpen the other. Works great for me.

I bought the new Gingher blades and love them. Still using the first one. And it's just as sharp as when I first bought it! Don't know why I bought extras so soon.

why do we wait so long? looks like we're all guilty of the same thing here!! too funny

Me too...finally. Joann's has Olfa blades Buy One, Get One Free this week.

I am waiting for my TruSharp rotary cutter to get here. Glad to hear those that have one love them, hope I love mine too. Have lots of dull blades waiting to be sharpened.

I see they have the TrueSharp sharpener kit for quite a bit less at Amazon.com. Would this be the same thing?

I don't go through several layers of fabric when I cut (maybe four at the most), so I don't have to push down hard. The 45mm blades seem to last quite a while. I've often wondered if the larger 60mm blades would last even longer on multiple fabric layers, since they don't have to go around so often.

I have not heard good things about the sharpener, so I just watch for the 50% off coupons at Joann's (sometimes they have all quilting tools at 50% with no coupon so I get to use the coupon on something else!) and just buy them every couple times I am there and "stock up" on them. I get alot of use of them.. just two days ago I changed to a new blade, but the one I had I know I haven't changed that in about 6 quilts! But it was taking more pressure to cut and I know that cutting iwth a dull blade can pull on the fabric and distort the square size you are cutting.

I totally agree. The cost of fabric reminds me to treat it well. Life is too short to not splurge on new blades.

JoAnns only carries the electric Tru Sharp on joann.com. They dont have them in the stores. Coupon!! Amaon has a good price too.

I got mine at amazon. Love it!

I love the electric TruCut sharpener. There is an old adage about cutting with a dull knife being more dangerous than cutting with a sharp one. I think the same is true of rotary blades. It takes more pressure to cut with a dull blade. It's harder on your wrist and harder on your cutting mat. It just takes a sort time to uninstall the blade and pop it in the sharpener.

Sounds like a sharpener may be in my future. I agree some blades just last longer than others. I also think it has to do with the quality of fabric.

Please change your blades. When you use a dull blade, you tend to use more pressure, and there is more potential to cut yourselves.

After reading this, I went in search of this product. Ordered from Amazon. They got it for about half the price of any place else with free shipping. Worth a try.

After reading all the comments here,first thing before I start my cutting ,,blade change !!
Thanks for all the info.

Joann seems to have a 50% off regular coupon available right now http://www.joann.com/static/coupon/0.../halloween.gif maybe it helps someone (don't know it it works for everything though). Saw the coupon here http://www.printablecouponsbirthday....table-coupons/

You can also use this code AE290 to get 40% off single item at Joann Fabrics (so almost half price online). If the item is over $50, with the code AE290 you get free shipping for Joann.

Happy shopping! Hope it helps someone.:thumbup:

P.S. it seems to me it's cheaper to buy blades directly from Joann (with coupon codes) rather than Amazon. Or maybe I'm wrong.