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Sharpening a Silhouette Blade with Tin Foil: Test Results

Silhouette blade, sharpening, tin foil, test

Alright so perhaps you've heard the advice that sharpening a Silhouette blade with tin foil will breathe new life into a dull blade. Well, my friends - I have too. And last week when I cut an intricate design and had the vinyl tear I went through my checklist of reasons why my blade wasn't cutting properly.

Three cuts later..I finally gave in and changed the blade, but kept the rest of the settings the same and whatdoyaknow: perfect cut!

Silhouette blade, sharpening, tin foil, test

So it was the blade after all and I'm just cheap and stubborn. I didn't throw that blade out yet though - I wanted to test out this little tin foil experiment since clearly the blade was dull.
I mean it couldn't be due to the fact I had used the blade every.single.day for the past year or anything. Ya know. Actually up until last week I was cutting vinyl on a blade depth of 1 instead of the recommended 2 because the blade was that sharp.  But then yesterday - before my three-peat tearing episode - I went and cut three full sheets of magnet paper and cardstock which clearly dulled my blade. 

Anyway back to why you're here. I figured I'd try to sharpen my Silhouette blade to see if I could get a few more uses out of it.  According to some blade sharpeners you can ball up a piece of tin foil and use it to sharpen the blade. So that's what I did.

Silhouette blade, sharpening, tin foil, test

I formed a golf ball size piece of tin foil, removed the white cap from the blade, and then proceeded to stab the blade into the tin foil ball at least 100 times. I mean I didn't count - but it had to be close to 100.
Silhouette blade, sharpening, tin foil, test

I put the blade back in the machine and attempted to cut the exact same vinyl with the exact same cut settings and the exact same design....

Silhouette blade, sharpening, tin foil, test

Wah wah wah...didn't work. My vinyl still tore. It even tore in the same places!

Silhouette blade, sharpening, tin foil, test

I took the blade out and "sharpened" it more before giving it one last go, but I got the same result.

So put your tin foil away, throw out that old blade, and stop wasting your vinyl because the moral of the story is: If you've been cutting with the same blade for a good long time AND you've exhausted every other reason that your machine is not cutting just suck it up and shell out the $7 or $8 for a new Silhouette blade because you're wasting that much in vinyl anyway.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine! 

Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School.  If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!


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13 comments

  1. okay so one could conclude that perhaps the magnet and CS combo dulls a blade??
    I have the Sil chipboard and I have been hoarding it because I am afraid it will dull my blade. Can you give me an confidence to use it ....I'd like to be more adventurous than just using my machine for CS (oh and I did use it for the gold foil cut and print paper! Oh yes I did!! LOL)

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  2. I have a blade for each type of medium. May sound extravagant, but I always get a clean cut!

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  3. I would love to make some stencils but havn't the heart to try it, incase it blunts my blade. haha

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  4. Just bought a new blad for a job on cover stock, cut out 140 pieces and did great. Then I tried a test cut abt 6 times on some cheap glitter paper that were all unsuccessful and now my blade is dull! Wish the foil thing worked!

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  5. Have you thought about trying the Graphtec CB09 that you can find on ebay? This way you can just replace the blades?

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    Replies
    1. Does the Graphtec CB09 fit in a Silhouette? Do you use the Graphtec holder?

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  6. Happy to know this does not work - great share


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  7. Just got my cb09 blade but haven't had the chance to play with it.

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  8. I have tried sharpening my blade by slicing through flat sheets of foil rather than stabbing at a ball. This worked for me for a while.

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  9. Also, I have the Graphtec blades and they work just fine. I have one in each of the pink, blue and yellow blade holders which saves me time.

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