Saving money on rotary blades
 

I just spent a little less than $20.00, tax included, for 5 - 45MM Fiskars blades at Walmart yesterday. That was after trying Harbor Freight's $1.99 package of 2 carpet blades. They were worse than the dull blade they replaced. The last time I had a JA's coupon for 40 or 50% off anything, their blades were still even more expensive than Walmart. I looked on Amazon and they have all manner/brands of rotary blades with a wide variety of prices, a lot as inexpensive as $1.00 or so per blade. The same brand I bought at Walmart, Fiskars, was $15.62 with tax (I'm on Amazon Prime, so no freight charge), so you're still talking over $3.00 per blade. Have you tried any of the oddball brands on Amazon?

I just read this thread, looking for a less expensive option: https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f...s-t288716.html. Some people said Harbor Freight's carpet blade was good and worked well. My one experience was awful. (Maybe I got a bad batch, but I'm glad I was cutting sashing, as all those nicks and boo-boos can be cut off when I square up.) Did Harbor Freight's carpet blade give you good results?

Some say the sharpeners work. Some say they are useless. They range in price from $15.00 to the $50.00 range and some were more expensive than that. Did they work for you and which one did you buy?

This site was mentioned on the thread. Has anyone tried it? http://ormkraft.com

Since I've retired, I'm trying to watch my spending more carefully. $4.00 for a rotary blade seems rather excessive at this time of my life. However, even at $4.00 each, I'm not ready to go back to scissors.

What solutions have you found?

bkay

Try eBay. I just checked and for $11.99 and free shipping you can get 5 45mm Friskar blades from a 100% positive vendor. I buy Olfa blades from ebay.

Haven't bee doing too much sewing lately so I've been saving coupons and little extra money I spend on blades. I have tried the blades from Harbor Freight twice and super disappointed. Not again. Have small stock pile of 45 mm and 60 mm blades, a few 28 mm. Got a gift card for Mother's day and used it at JoAnn's for more blades with coupon.

I too tried Harbor Freight blades and think that's a waste of money.

I like these, she has a money back guarantee and I have not had a bad one yet and the price is right. I have gotten into the habit of replacing my blades when I start a new project (I've been sewing lots of king and queen size lately) so I am happy with these and so is my fabric.
https://www.amazon.com/Rotary-Cutter...+cutter+blades

I responded to an ad on Facebook. 10 blades for 11.99 so I ordered them. It took forever to get here since they were shipped from China. I changed the blade and what a difference. Love cutting my fabric now.

The weaker my hands get, the more often I have to change blades. Someone suggested recently that an old cutting mat could be responsible for blades getting dull more quickly. I was thinking of buying a second rotary cutter; then I could switch the blade to that one when it's too dull to cut through 4 layers, and could use that one when I'm only cutting through 2 layers.

I buy Clover or Martelli blades when they're on sale at Connecting Threads. They typically go on for 50% off a couple times a year. This way I know I'm getting good blades, not risking my money on unknown quality. I now have about 40-50 blades stockpiled, so I've quit buying for a while!

I bought the electric sharpner from Nance Zimmermen . Not worth the money. The blades are more dull after I tried to sharpen them than before I started. Got harbor freight blades, they were no good either.

I'm currently using a Harbor freight blade. It's a little weird...seemed not sharp when I first put it in, but seems sharper after using it awhile.

I just buy my fiskar blades at walmart too. I use so many because I cut ans sew so much.

Someone on here, a while back suggested a deal of 10 blades for a cheaper price. I tried them and the dull fiskar blades cut much better than those.

From now on I will stick with fiskar.

I ordered the Ormkraft blades. They got here really fast. Think I will go and try them out. (5 minutes later) OMG they are SHARP!!! So Canadian pricing including tax and flat rate shipping these work out to less than $4 a blade. For those of you in the US they will be even cheaper.

I've been using the same blade for quite a while now. I sharpen them with a piece of aluminum foil. I just cut a few strips of the foil with the blade and it works amazingly well!

Great Blades
 

I too, buy my blades from eBay but only from one manufacturer - Diamond Cutter American Quilting Blade! The 45mm cost [email protected] - 60mm cost $19.99 for 10. I love these blades they seem to stay sharp forever - I've made 8 Queen size quilts with the one I have in my 60mm cutter right now. I've been ordering them by the hundreds for my local quilting guild because buying in bulk reduces the price to about a $1.00 per blade. We all use the different cutters Olfa, Fiskars, Clover, Dritz, True Cut and so far every one has been very happy with the blades.

Look. Good to know, Sewfew. I'll check it out.

The secret to the blade sharpeners is use them on a sharp blade to keep the blade sharp. Don't wait until the blade is dull. Ever see a knife lover not whet their knife blade before using? I sharpen a sharp blade before each cutting session. My blade last for months before skipping if I don't get a nick in it. The fist skip I replace it.

I've had good luck with the Harbor Freight carpet cutters but I also buy Martelli blades when there's a 50% off sale. Sorry, I'm no help whatsoever.

I just ordered these today. I'm looking forward to trying them out.

Try eBay. I once bought a "lot" (not "a lot ") of brand blades for $1 apiece. Haven't run out yet. Also more likely to get rid of a dull blade. I have a sharpener that buys a few more cuts but doesn't sharpen like new.

I still have several packages of the Harbor Freight blades that I will never use. In my humble opinion, they won't cut hot butter. Been checking websites for coupons for 40 to 50% off at Michael's, Hobby Lobby that I can use on blades plus ordering from Missouri Star, Quilt in a Day etc whenever they have a pack on sale. Currently I'm about 15 blades ahead of myself. If the blade isn't sharp I'm not a happy quilter!

Has anyone ordered from J.Hittle, wholesale sewing supplies? 100 blades for $169 plus free Olfa cutter. I've been eying them for some time but don't want to be stuck with 100 useless blades.

I get Fiskars at Walmart. Jim works there and gets an employee discount.

I buy the 45MM blades through Amazon Prime. They come in a ten pack for $15.97 and are made by Quilting Bee, called just bee in the first part of the description. I just checked to see if they were still listed as It's been a good year since I have purchased any, and they were for our local 4H girls. They are, and the price is still $15.97 for 10 and are still a prime item.

I also tried (and hate) Harbor Freight blades. Couldn't cut more than one layer of cotton fabric at a time. As far as sharpeners: I've tried them all. The first ones consisted of a flat 'donut' with a sandpaper 'inner donut' and a thing you screw the blade to, then twist it over the sandpaper. OK for slight dulling, worthless for bad dulling, and the sandpaper rings didn't last long. Tried the one like a ruler that you put your cutter into and scroll forward and backward. Not helpful. Got the $70 one with electric motor. Also only good for slight dullness and I have found it impossible to change the sharpened block, cause I can't get the old block out of the unit. I'm retired too, but that level of frustration is way more than the cost of new blades on sale.

I have ordered blades from J.Hittle several times in their 10 pack & the blades are pretty good. I have no complaints with them. I assume they are the same blades as the 100 pack but you could call him & ask. Several years ago when someone here posted about the Harbor Freight blades, I bought some & they worked great. I repeat bought them online about a year & all the sudden they wouldn't cut & were terrible. I thought I had a bad batch so I had my sister pick me up some at her HF store. They also was terrible. They must of changed their suppliers or something but at first they really was great blades. I also recently bought some from Ormkraft & I really like the blades & they have good prices.

I did the same. They did take a long time getting here but worth the weight.

I buy the Olfa blades at Wal-Mart on the rare occasion they go on sale.
Blades & needles do add up, but I personally had too many injuries trying to work with dull ones (same thing with knives).

The trick with sharpeners is that they must re-sharpen the blade at the same angle at which it was originally sharpened. Otherwise, it's not going to do much good. I haven't been able to find that information out for rotary cutters (it's available for knives through manufacturers or sometimes even with literature in the box) but if you could match up the angle of a particular brand of blades with a particular sharpener, it would work.

Thank you for the head's up on the rotary cutters. I'm also an Amazon fan. Just ordered them and will try them on Thursday when they deliver.

Hi, thought I'd insert my 2 cents.. I have used these blades for quite a time now, & reordered, I love them, they cut thru multiple layers and stay sharp a very long time. I've been very happy with them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041V8SQ2/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AMX5T13O2 KBVS

I think the blades are like everything else. Everyone has their preference. I have never tried the Martelli blades so I can't comment on them. I prefer Olfa blades myself. My friend gets them for me at a good discount. I don't change my blades as often as I should because I just don't think to do it until they get pretty dull. A couple of members of my Quilt Guild own a shop that sell supplies for Home Ec classes etc. They have some sewing supplies. They brought a couple of blade sharpeners to retreat for us to try. The one we preferred was long and thin and you ran the blade down the groove to sharpen it. I don't know what brand it was. While it worked ok, none of us was impressed with it.
I guess for now I will have to continue to just keep replacing my blades.

I am still kicking myself for buying a TrueSharp rotary blade sharpener, I found it worthless, and I could have bought quite a few blades for what I spent. I usually look for brands I recognize, searching for good deals on Amazon or E-Bay. Walmart is usually cheaper than JoAnns, even with a coupon.

I buy Improved Cut blades from Amazon and I like them. I used the Harbor Freight blades for awhile and at the beginning, I didn't have any problems, but the last couple I bought were not good at all.

I watch ebay and stock up when I find a brand I like at a good price. I gave up on bargain blades and Harbor Freight blades..just a waste of money. I bought a new mat a few months ago and cannot believe the difference it made! I had my old Olfa mat for a good 20 years...what a difference a new mat makes!
I use my old blades to quickly cut cardboard for recycling...it's so much faster and easier than tearing it! Just use a sharpie to mark your old blades.

i would say check ebay i use no name blades from where ever is cheapest i buy blades for myself plus blades for a group house we quilt at and we go thru alot of blades i try to stay with the titainium blades as they seem to last longer from experience. but you can get named brand blades much cheaper there too. i usually order my blades in a qty of 10-20 at a time and from a bad experience with the post office once i never wait til the last minuate i did that once and it took 3 mo to get them the seller had already sent a replacement. i must admit i havent tried the new endurance blades from olfa yet ive been watching for them to go on sale and just havent gotten around to it yet. i tried the harbor freight blades and wasnt impressed either. im not patient enough to do the sharpening thing.
buts thats my take on blades lol.
carla m