So... am I supposed to cut on this cutting board? Or not?
 

I have one of those big 36" x 54" no-name translucent gridded plastic cutting boards that I bought at JoAnn's. It's nice and big. But when I rotary cut on it, my blades get dull ever so fast.

By way of contrast, I have a little 12" square June Tailor cutting board, and I've been cutting little blocks on that for a very long time and my blade is still ok.

So... is it the board that is the problem?

yes. I dont usually cut on mine I use it to square things or as a work surface.

I have one of the large translucent cutting boards, but mine is a Beba. I think my blades actually last longer on this than they did on my self-healing mat.

The June Taylor mats are hard surface mats. The blade does not cut into it, it rolls on top. The blade cuts into the self healing mat so you are cutting mat and fabric. I've seen cutting tables at fabric shops with the mat you have on top and they cut on it.

I've had one of those large white cutting boards from Joann's for years. Just replaced the one that I had for. probably 8-10 years. When it got grooves in the places that I usually cut the most we cut it in half and turned the center pieces to the outside. I haven't noticed my blades getting dull quickly.

I actually prefer the nard mats like june tailor because blades don't dull quickly

I cut so much fabric, my blades get dull no matter which of my boards I use.

I use mine for lining up and whatnot. Like you, I find my blades dull quickly, plus it leaves marks on the mat.

Very interesting! I have a 36" x 68" white board such as you describe (made by Sew/Fit Co. in IL) that I've had since I first started quilting; it is the same size as my plywood "table top". I've always done all my rotary cutting on it while the smaller cutting boards just hang on the wall and never get used. So I do not know if the blades would last longer if I used the smaller boards; I must try it when I cut something small. I do love the fact that I can cut long lengths of fabric on the big board without having to fold it; for me, that trumps my blades getting dull.

Speaking of dull blades did you ever try that running the blade through aluminum foil someone on here suggested? That works pretty good and I have an old white cuttinig board and I clean it with the yellow or green pot scrubbers rather than buying the cleaners for them.
If I had to repace mine I think i would busy the harder one.

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.

I have a strip cutter from Fiskars. It works very well with the green self=healing mat. It will eat blades though. The blade sharpener didn't work very well for what it cost.

I had the same experience. Gave mine away.

NO!!! I have one of them and yes they do dull your blades very fast. They are for laying out your fabric for clothing etc. They are not self healing like the Green, pink, yellow etc Self healing boards.

You can use it for routary cutting but as you have found your blade will dull and the board ends up with a lot of cuts in it. I still use mine but I put my self healing cutting board on top when using a routary cutter

According to the Sew Fit Company, who manufactured my mat, it IS a cutting mat. (I just looked at them on-line.) I don't know if all the large ones, regardless of manufacturer, are the same, but I've not had problems with mine and I've had it for about 30 years. I have some small bits to cut for the quilt I am currently piecing; the only 2 small-ish mats I have are Fiskars & June Taylor, so I'll be doing some experimenting with them & my rotary cutters/blades within the next few days. If I come to any conclusions, I'll share with you.

I have this large white mat--I did use the fold up cardboard types for years but you can't cut on those--then I saw a professional seamstress using the white mat and chatted with her about it and she loved it and cut on it and I do the same but usually I use it to measure fabrics and still put the Olfa mats on top when I cut--just habit I guess.

I have the one from Joann's but I don't have enough experience with any other to know if it is dulling my blades. http://www.joann.com/36x59-cutting-mat/xprd74039/

The description says "great for rotary cutters & blades"

I have noticed my blades get dull fast, and thought maybe the 60 mm blades get dull faster than the 45 mm blades I used to use. Now I'm thinking it is the mat. It definitely is not self healing!