Quilt in a Day Forums

I think it depends a lot on the mat you use. The harder the mat, the faster the blades dull. I had to change my blade 3 times in just a few days at a retreat recently - and I think it was because of the kind of mat we were using. (I didn't run over any pins!) I use a self-healing mat at home and if I'm careful about the pins, a blade will last a long time. I have not tried the sharpeners.

I'm a first time quilting maker and Im working on making my boyfriend a quilt for his Valentines day present with things that he loves on it and I purchased my first rotary cutter from Wal-Mart and was wondering if that would be an ok fist timers cutter or if I should purchase another one at Joanns or someplace...any suggestions are greatly appreciated and you can pm me or write it on here anyways great to me...

hope to hear from yall on some more ideas
Ash

I bought my rotary cutter from Wal-mart and haven't had any problem. I buy my blades from one of my guild ladies that orders by bulk on the net and am very pleased with them.

I use a self-healing mat and love it but my rotary blades still get dull so I bought a sharpener. It didn't seem to last very long so my hubby bought me some 1000 and 1200 grit sand paper. I replaced the paper on the sharpener and it seems to be working fine. Better than throwing the old blade away.