I have the mat you are speaking of, and I haven't found my blades wear any faster than when I used the Olfa or Dritz mats. I love my big mat and can't imagine how I got along before I bought it.

It sound like you might have got something like I got. I got the large matt to go on top of my cutting table that I also bought at JoAnn's. Then after a few times cutting I couldn't figure out why all of my new rotary blades wouldn't cut; I tried different ones. Then I tried them on a reqular cutting matt and they cut just fine. The large matt isn't self healing so after a couple of times cutting it won't cut on that area again.

I have tried 3 different mats and as I have mentioned on here before, prefer the self-healing Olfa. I ended up taking the gray mat (hated that slippery non-healing thing) and the one you are talking about and cut them up to use when I made my own templates. I feel I didn't lose any money by not using them for the initial intended use. Quilting sure is trial and error, and what works for some may not work for others.

"...did you ever try that running the blade through aluminum foil..."
Just a flat piece of aluminum foil or do you crinkle it up?

Yes, those non self healing cutting boards dull your rotary cutter fast and I brought one of those acrylic boards which was even worse. Get the 18 x 24 inch self healing mat as they last longer and this size is perfect for any cutting of 45 inch material or smaller.

Absolutely YES!!!! It's the board!!! I have one of them that I've had since first staring to quilt. I did not know at the time it was dulling my blades because I didn't know any better. But after reading on this board I found it was better to have a self healing board so I bought one and I no longer change my blades like changing socks. LOL Yep I did a lot of cutting and almost had to change the blades daily with that mat. NOT ANY MORE!!! I can now go several weeks if not months before changing the blades and yes I still cut tons of stuff.

I stopped using the mat I bought at JoAnn's because the surface was too hard and it destroyed the edge on my rotary cutter blade. It was also harder on my wrist. I now have an Olfa and the difference is amazing. The Olfa mat seems to have a little "give" to it so my wrist doesn't hurt as much and the blades last a lot longer.

Hey Pickle--did not know this trick--thanks for sharing it with us.

Mine is The Cutting Edge by Sullivan. It is fairly new and I have cut a few things on it, but haven't noticed the blades getting duller any faster. Will keep an eye out.

Interesting comment as I cut on my big board for the main cuts and often use the little padded flipable June Tailor for trimming and small cuts, the surface is much harder, but I truly havent noticed any difference in the blades wear. My big one is an OLfa, but when my blades get dull, I just use that cheap Dritz sharpener with a little oil on the sharpening surface and keep on going. My blades last a long time. They are OLfa, and I have an Olfa cutter as well, outperforms all the others EVEN Gingher and Fiskars.