The self healing mat is suppose to be conditioned by soaking in water before it gets grooved up, not afterwards. IThe soaking keeps the mat self healing longer. A mat is certainly not a one time buy if used a lot. Walmart sells titanium rotary blades the cheapest I've found not on sale. They stay sharp a long time.

MaryK .... Suggestion ... Take your not-so-good blade on your rotary cutter to Triangle and ask to see their manual blade sharpener. Of course, by taking yours, you can ask for a demo and see if it makes a difference for you. Nancy says she just runs it thru it a few times every so often. I said I was going to take mine in and let her prove to me the difference that it makes, but haven't done that yet. Let me know what you think when you go! :)

I think that with your specialized type of quilting, you do a lot of heavy duty cutting at times. So it could be that you are harder on the blades than many are. As suggested by others, it could be your mat is wearing out, and that can dull your blades faster, though it shouldn't put nicks into the blades ... but one never really knows, do they? :) Nicks usually come from running into your plastic ruler or over a pin or some other obstacle.

It never seems to fail that right after I put in a new blade I will hit the end of a ruler with the blade. I don't do this but have been told that batting isn't good for blades and you should use old blades to cut batting.

I think because of the cost of blades, we try to 'make' them last longer than we should. I have really cut up my first mat because of this. I have tried to be more aware of how much pressure I have to use to cut, change my blade & 'head thump', why didn't I do that sooner. :)

Nicked blades vary for me. It usually isn't as fast as your problem. Often I think I comes from running my rotary cutter into the ruler when I first start cutting a line.

Try eBay for blades. Just keep checking the auctions. I caught one that no one was bidding on and won 20 - 60mm blades for 23.99. You have to be persistent in checking and don't get caught in a bidding war. Once anything I want goes over a price I decide, I just drop out and try another time. Sometimes people get so competitive they pay more than retail for items.

I keep a separate cutter for using with batting, craft items etc. and keep my 'good' cutter for strips and the like. I've also started using my 60mm cutter quite a lot - the blades seems to last much longer, which would make sense as there's a bigger cutting length :)

I switched out my Fiskers matt to an Olfa. Now my blades last a lot longer. Also if you have grooves worn in your matt, that will make the blade skip

I totally agree, been there, done that. You DO pay for both sides.

Off to my LQS to buy a new mat! P.S. I am going to start using my Harbor Freight blades to cut batting from now on and save the expensive blade for fabric.

Are you toeing the blade in toward the ruler while cutting? That will dull them in a big hurry.

Hugs,
Charlotte