Can you sharpen rotary cutter blades

Even a dull blade can be sharp enough to cut your skin. If sharpening your blades doesn't appeal to you, then you can purchase new replacement blades quite cheaply. Don't forget to match the blade size to your rotary cutter.

Ideally, you should also match the brand of your replacement blade to your cutter. Personally, I don't go through enough blades to justify a sharpener so just buy replacements instead.

If you are cutting regularly, however, it will be more cost effective in the long run to purchase a sharpener. Great article! Thank you! But when it comes to sharpening rotary blades, there are no options better than having them sharpened professionally.

DIY sharpening devices produce inconsistent results, usually cannot remove nicks in the blade, prematurely wear out the blade, and tend to break or wear out before becoming cost effective. It is not expensive or difficult to have rotary blades professionally sharpened.

It can drastically increase the useful life of your blade. Your email address will not be published. Share this article:. I would love to hear about your experience in the comments below. Be sure to check out these other sewing posts! Next Post: Binder Pouch Tutorial.

Comments Thanks for a great tip. My grandmother cut fine sandpaper to sharpen her scissors. This is real neat! Have pinned this! Can you use this technique with scissors as well? Great tip!

I have heard this idea used to sharpen paper punches also. This technique is really smart and efficient! Makes a blade sharp with no efforts. Thanks a lot! Thanks for sharing. Great idea. I will try it today. Thanks a lot. This makes sense since this is a useful tip tip to sharpen scrapbook punches!!!

What a great trick. I had my wife give this a try and it worked perfectly. Wow thanks! I get so frustrated when my blades dull and it becomes more tacting to do my cuts. I learn more by watching videos than trying to read directions. Great article — thank you. People seem to have mixed results with the manual rotary blade sharpeners. These devices also have trouble removing nicks in the blades. Your email address will not be published. Currently you have JavaScript disabled.

In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. It's going to take awhile for us to hunt down new sources for those patterns. Pros: Takes about a minute to sharpen a blade. Cheaper than replacements in the long run. Better for the environment than recycling or throwing away dull rotary cutter blades.

Blade is very sharp after sharpening Cons: A little gimmicky to put blade between handles Only works on one blade size. You have to be very careful after sharpening not to cut yourself. No instructions as to how to properly sharpen your blade.

See below for instructions. So how many rotations are necessary to sharpen your blade? Separate the handles by rotating anti-clockwise to the left. Place blade on the handle with the screw. Rotate the blade 20 times on the rough side of the sharpener. Turn the blade upside down and repeat. Make sure you apply pressure to push the blade against the sandpaper edge while rotating. Rotate the blade 10 times on the finer side of the sharpener.