These are my faithful rotary cutters… the 28mm and 45mm. Sadly, they are as blunt as a hammer !
Everyone has this in their kitchen, right? And what has the aluminium foil to do with sharpening rotary cutter blade, you ask ?
Well, you simply fold a piece of foil a few times and just slice away with your blunt dull rotary cutter…pausing a few times to test it out on your fabric scraps …till it starts slicing away your fabric too!
You will end up with this and an almost new rotary cutter!
Oh yeah!!!
I found this little trick while hopping and surfing in blogland .
The only catch is how long the blade will keep sharp. Still, it beats throwing it into the trash.
I read that it works too for sharpening scissors.
Disclaimer : I will not be held responsible for any mishap or misfortune in the process of sharpening your rotary cutter blade. Please take caution.
P.S. Let me know if it works for you too 
62 comments:
Wow....that sounds like a great tip...I'm going to try it :)
Kelly
I think I love you :)
thank you so much - it works a treat - I tested it on a totally blunt (like just made dents in the fabric) blade and now ... and it now cuts really well ...
Thanks for that tip Penny, I have lots of blunt blades I can sharpen now.
Penny, I had heard of that trick before but had never tried it. Thanks for posting that you did and it really works. I never throw my rotary cutter blades away... have them all stored in a plastic container. Now I am going to try to sharpen them! :o)
XOXO,
Cyndi
I am going to try it right now...thanks a bunch!!
It is worth trying! I'll give it go when I cutter gets blunt!
Oh wow... I am off to sharpen a couple of blades I kept for 'paper'.... I wonder if this works on scissors too??? I am going to try that too .....
Hugz
Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [06 Mar 12:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria
Penny:
Yes, it does work. I have used this tip on my scissors. It is much better than buying a new blade or trying to find someone to sharpen the scissors. Great tip.
cathy
yeah...i think it's a great tip...i have to try this. thank you so much for sharing
100 times thank you Penny..... my cutter didn't cut 3 to 4 layers of simple cotton... A very sweet kiss dear, I am sure it will work...
Hope you will enjoy your visit if you can spare a little bit to see some napkin folds at
http://craftaworld.blogspot.com/
Love
Farah
Who knew?! I will have to try this on my older blades.
thank you penny for sharing such a a great tip!! i am going to try it
Great tip - thanks. You are doing some beautiful stitcheries - enjoy!
Great tip! I'm off to try that!
xx,shell
That is bloody brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing this! Too bad I just bought a 5 pack of new blades for a ridiculous amount of money! I'm sure I will use them eventually - but for now, I am going to sharpen my blade!
Cheers,
Carolyn
This is the best thing I have ever heard. I just did it and you saved me a trip to the store and some money! This is priceless information
thank you :))I'm going to try
You are fantastic! Great, great idea. I am going to put a link to this on my blog!! You are so clever.
What a clever girl you are. Have you tried it with pinking blades?
I will definitely try this. Thanks for sharing this tip.
will try this
I can't wait to try this!!! Thank you!!!!
Thankssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!
This sounds great, will try it as well. Only thing is, now I will b buying tin foil for my quilt room for sure when on sale....thks. Also, I know Harbor Freight sells them for $1.49 when on sale or #1.99 not on sale, blades....FYI. We all thank u for this tip, the economy does not allow me to keep buying for sure..........
I will be taking this tip along with some foil to quilt camp next year! Thank you so much!
Oh my gosh! I just sharpened three pairs of scissor that my husband has ruined. What a great tip.
Yes this does work. I used foil on an old pair of scissors that I normally used for cutting paper. I cut fabric after using the foil and I could cut fabric. Works great, but don't know how long it lasts.
This also works great for your paper punches. Just put the foil in and punch a few shapes.
You're a smart cookie. I'm 72 and have kept foil with my crochet and plastic canvas supplies for years, for that very reason - to sharpen my scissors! I even blogged about it several times. You just did your readers a big favor.
Any kind of foil will work. I have been known to recycle Tootsie Roll Midgie bags this way because they are foil and the candies are pre-wrapped so there is no residue on the bags.
Here's my own post on the subject, in case you are interested...
http://prayersncrafts.blogspot.com/2011/06/keeping-those-scissors-sharp-easy-way.html
I even had a dear friend who had to use a nebulizer every day, several times a day. The little vials of meds came in foil pouches. I saved those puppies and had a stash of "sharpeners" for quite a while!
thaNKS FOR THE GREAT TIP FOUND ON PINTEREST!
hEATHER X
I am going upstairs and try it now!
Thanks!
Paula vintage-2-vogue
Thank you! You saved me hours of work! I cannot buy here a new blade and the old one got really bad. Now it works as good as it got used to be.
Excellent idea, I have 22 years worth of blunt and nicked blades in a bag that need sharpening! Will give all my students a frill to find they are using old blades with fresh new edges. Will pass the tip on if they all notice how well they cut!!! Thank you
thanks for this tip and thanks to anonymous for the idea to look at Harbor Freight for new ones!
Hi Penny,
I have a whole stack of rotary blades I will be sharpening today.
Thanks for the tip. I saw it on Pinterest. Do you mind if I post it on my quilting blog as well?
Tried the trick, it does not work.
So clever....thank you for your blog. Appreciate knowing this tip.
Sarah
Hi Penny!
Just to let you know, the foil trick also works for dies (Sizzix, etc.), paper punches and paper cutters. It's a great trick! Thanks for sharing!
Well, didn't do the trick for me, what am I Doing wrong? I used about 10-12 layers of foil, cut several times and the blade was actually worse than before.
Hi, you have interesting post! Thank you for your info.sharpening scissors
Love this idea! Penny, I love the quilt at the top of your "Penny's Hands" page; what is the name of the block? Thanks! :cD
worked for me! the blade wasn't completely gone, but definitely skipping. and now it's not. thank you!
Thanks for this brilliant tip. So good to know. Cherrie
I head up the Rescue Mission quilting group and we go through a lot of blades. This simple hint will save us a lot of money we can put to better use. I will try it on dull needles as well. Thanks and God bless. O.L.T.
Gotta try this!
A piece of foil a few times and just slice away with your blunt dull rotary cutter…
Wood Chipper Knives
Great idea. Found you through Pat Bravo on Facebook.
For scissors, try cutting through a piece of fine sandpaper a few times. Then, cut through some wax paper. I'm and art teacher and this is what I do to sharpen and clean my student scissors.
I just tried this for a half an hour and it RUINED my rotary blade! I tried thin pieces of tin foil, thick pieces, long ones, short ones, I am so upset. Thankfully Fiskars is sending me a free replacement.
It does not sound good in my ear, but very good in my wallet. I wish we try it next time my blade is dull ...
Translated by Google translate, so maybe it sounds funny ...
Thanks from Mette in Denmark
I've just been considering buying a blade sharpener as I seem to get a dull blade after just a couple of days and I don't sew all that much (maybe I press too hard to my mat is made out of titanium or something...). I am so glad this came up in Google before I did since I can't really afford it at the minute, but equally can't afford to keep buying new blades all the time either!
i tried it but it did not work. my blade became all the more dull. is there a special way to do it?
auntie bot
Thanks a bunch for the great tip.
I have used this trick to sharpen my old pair of scissors.. it works. Just cut through foil several times..
Becky in PA>
This is brilliant!
thanks, it total works.
Hi Penny, thanks for the tip, this worked really well
I have read that this is an 'old trick' for pinking shears.
wow thanks so much for tip big hugs Rachel Neugin
I am really enthralled with your effort which you have so evidently perfected into this content. I have also liked that you have presented your own point of view with this topic, especially while making your points very much clear with this topic
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