The USA Sharpeners company approached me back in November and asked if I would be interested in doing a product review of their Orbital Rotary Cutter Blade Sharpener. Given the number of blades that I go through in a year and the cost ($35.00 per five pack), I agreed to do the review. As with any company, I informed them that I could only endorse a product I fully believed in and I have to say I do believe in this product.
Things I Noticed:
- This product comes with two different blade size options, 45mm and 60mm. Both are common sizes used by quilters. I personally own multiple 45mm rotary cutters.
- Comes with detailed instructions on the packaging, and the company kindly sent me a troubleshooting guide as well – I ended up needing the troubleshooting guide (more on that later).
- This product comes with oil, it is essential to use when sharpening your blades, you do not damage them.
- Outstanding customer service – I struggled with this product at first and was able to talk at length with them on the phone as well as exchanging multiple emails. Between their assistance and my dad’s I was able to troubleshoot my issue (more on that later).
- Made in the USA! How often are products made locally? This company is out of Vancouver, WA and I do love supporting local companies and products.
Recommendations:
- It is absolutely vital that you put something under the sharpener while you are working in your sewing area. If you spill the oil it will not be easy to clean off your cutting mat. Protect your work surface!
- Make sure you have some fabric you don’t care about on hand to test your blade to make sure it is sharp and ready to go after running it through the sharpener.
- Finding the right pressure is the key to getting this product to work. My issue was that the directions said don’t put too much pressure on the blade because that could dull the blade, so instead of putting too much, I didn’t put enough. Sort of had the same results – dulling the blade. Once my dad was able to figure out what the heck I was doing wrong, I was able to properly use it!
- Make sure you take the time to read through the Troubleshooting Guide if you are having problems. I was super skeptical at first but wanted to really give this product a fair try and figuring out it was complete user error made me very happy.
- When in doubt, call them! Their customer service is outstanding and they will walk you through using the product properly and give you additional tips and tricks.
There are no improvements I would offer on this product, only a recommendation on their packaging to protect the work surface from the oil. We don’t want oil spots on our precious fabrics!
Have you ever used a blade sharpener before? This is the second product I have used and I am fairly happy with it now that I am past the learning curve, and who doesn’t love a locally made product?
Have a happy Monday!
They don’t sell those things over here in Europe so I haven’t used one. We talked about getting some with my friend though. We’ll see as theexchange rate is not friendly at the moment 🙂
I bought a True Sharp a couple of years back. Bonnie Hunter had reviewed it and recommended it. My problem is that the sharpener cannot sharpen blades with nicks. Most of the time I have to switch blades because I have nicked them. I haven’t used mine much because of this.
We were just talking about buying one of these for our quilting group, and were wondering if they really worked. Thanks for such a timely post! X!
That’s an interesting product. I didn’t like the ones that came out before, and have just sent all my blades, usually 20 at a time, to a friend of Paul’s who sharpens them and returns them and charges me a small per-blade fee. I don’t generally nick the blades, so usually all come back and are nicely sharp. I would consider getting this, depending on the price.
I am skeptical, but it might be worth the try if the price is right. My RA has to have a new blade often.. I save old blades for folks, because they arnt “old”.. so my blade cost is high, I only buy with a coupon. you should Youtube it.. Or your DAD.. lol. thanks for the review.
Cool product! Great review…I need to check out their site and see where to buy. 🙂
Wow, this is a timely post. I just posted today about my problem with blades dulling so fast.
What brand blades did you sharpen with it? Was there a difference between brands? I need to check out their website and see what the price is too.