I had a friend who professionally resharpens items and he tried sharpening my old blades but that didn't work. So far, I don't think there is anything out there that really gives the sharpness of a new blade.

I wasted 50 bucks on a sharpener that doesn't work. 90% of my problem is nicks from running over the ruler or pins and the sharpener can't fix those.

If you get a nick, you have to replace the blade or be frustrated with skips. I see many at guild recut several times because of skips. I use to hand them my rotary cutter but not any more. They are too cheap to buy a new blade but will use mine and say how great it is to use a sharp blade. LOL

I have the true cut electric sharpener. I occasionally use it, but they are very clear in the instructions that you will never be able to get a factory sharp edge using their sharpeners on a dull or nicked blade. It does an okay job at keeping an acceptably sharp blade in acceptably sharp condition if you want to extend the use life of your blades. I wouldn't spend money on it again.

Rob <object type="cosymantecnisbfw" cotype="cs" id="SILOBFWOBJECTID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;"></object>

I have the electric sharpener and love it. You need to put a tiny drop of oil on each of the two stones before sharpening. After sharpening, put another drop of oil on each stone and rub it with a fingertip to get all the metal off the stone and wipe it off with a scrap of cotton or tissue. You need to do this with each sharpening pass, because a metal-clogged stone won't sharpen your blade.

I'll try that JustAbitCrazy--I didn't know that you could clean the stones that way, I've been rotating and turning them, but since I've had mine a while all sides show some metal clogging.

thanks for the tip,
Rob<object type="cosymantecnisbfw" cotype="cs" id="SILOBFWOBJECTID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;"></object>

I have the Tru Cut Sharpener and feel it gives my blades a little longer life. Once they're no longer decent for cutting fabric I use them in another rotary cutter I have for cutting anything but fabric so I get a little more use out of them. I have my rotary cutters marked for what they are used for so they don't get mixed up. And yes, new blades are always the best.

I also found that having a seal healing cutting mat prolongs my blades too. I found when I was using my rotating mat which is self healing that I got much better cuts so when I went to replace my table cutting mat I got a seal healing one. This one is green on one side and black on the other side so if the time comes that the green side is too worn out (years from now) I can always turn it over to the black side as it also has the markings. My mat is 4' x 8'. Couldn't find a mat to fit the table I had so built the table to fit the mat I could find.