Quick Tip Tuesday

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Hello! Today's tip is from over at Scrappin' Queen about Cricut blades-

"Cricut blades wear out quickly, particularly if you are cutting a lot of Bazzill paper. Bazzill has polyester fibers in it that cause blades to dull rapidly. Good blades cost more, but they last a very long time. I prefer the blades for the Pazzles Inspiration. They fit the Cricut just fine, and last a lot longer. The Gazelle blades are also excellent, particularly the ones for medium to heavy cutting projects, and they fit the Cricut as well. I reserve my Cricut blades for cutting vinyl, vellum, and thin scrapbook paper.

You may need to adjust the blade depth a bit if you use the blades for the other machines. Do some test cuts to determine the best setting for you. Even if I have a good quality blade, I would still use a new blade for  intricate designs. They take a long time to cut out, especially if i am cutting them 11.5″x11.5″ and I don’t want to waste time and paper should the blade wear out halfway through cutting one of these designs. I always keep extra blades on hand, because I never know when my blade will go bad, and it is never convenient to get a new blade in the middle of a cutting project. They can go bad very suddenly – good for one cut, and bad for the next. If a tiny tip of the blade gets broken off, you may not be able to see a difference, but you will get more tearing than cutting when this happens."

Another thing about blades, not all are created equal. Since I stopped buying cheap Cricut blades at the craft store but good Carbide steel, my blades last forever. The Cricut and a few other cutters take Roland style blades. eBay has a few sellers but I prefer Elkins Creek. Here is a link for blades that will fit the Cricut machines – http://elkinscreek.com/RolandCutterBlades.html . 45 degree is the regular blade and 60 degree is for the deep cut holder. There is also a discussion here to purchasing better quality blades – http://forum.make-the-cut.com/discussion/16452/roland-blades/ Glitter paper will also dull your blade faster than saying, well, glitter!



I hope you found these tips useful!