How to Know All About Your Cricut Blades

ByCheri

Hello! Today I will talk all about your Cricut blades. I will go over each blade & what it’s for, what blades are for which machines, how to clean a blade, when & how to change a blade & more! By the time you’ve read this post, you will know all about your Cricut blades!

Let me first say that there are blades, housings & tips. I will show you the differences.

Blade Identification & For What Machine

Regular Fine Point Blade – This is the blade that comes with the Cricut cutting machines except for the Cricut Joy. Cricut Joy has it’s own fine point blade. The caps are usually gray. This blade is used the majority of the time in the Cricut Maker & Explore series machines.
Premium Fine Point Blade – This blade resists wear & tear & is supposed to last longer than the regular fine point blade. This blade can be used in the Cricut Maker family & the Cricut Explore family machines. The caps are usually white.
Deep Point Blade & Housing – This blade is good for thicker materials such as thick cardstock, magnetic sheets, foam sheets, etc. This black blade & housing can be used in the Cricut Maker series & Explore series machines.
Bonded Fabric Blade & Housing – This pink blade & housing is for, you guessed it, fabric – bonded fabric! It can be used in the Cricut Maker & Explore series of machines.
Rotary Blade – The rotary blade cuts fabric & delicate materials like tissue paper or crepe paper. It rolls through it’s material instead of dragging or tearing. It can be used only with the Cricut Maker series machines.
Foil Transfer Kit – This blue kit comes with three (3) tips; fine, medium, & bold so you can have different thicknesses of the lines. This is used when you want to add metallic foil to a project. You use with foil transfer sheets. Great for cardmaking. This can be used with Cricut Explore & Maker series machines.
QuickSwap Housing – It works with QuickSwap tips. You can easily change the tip for whatever project you’re working on. This is only for the Cricut Maker series machines.
Single Scoring Tip – This tip snaps onto the bottom of the housing. This single scoring tip is to make sharp folding lines in materials like cardstock & paper. The single scoring tip is marked with an “01”. This is only for the Cricut Maker series machines.
Double Scoring Tip – This also snaps into the housing. The double scoring tip is used when you want to make deep scoring lines in medium to heavy weight materials. The double scoring tip is marked with an “02”. This is only for the Cricut Maker series machines.
Engraving Tip – This tip allows you the engrave or inscribe characters into materials like soft metals & plastic. The engraving tip is marked with a “41”. This is only for the Cricut Maker series machines.
Debossing Tip – This tip allows you to make an imprint or a debossing design for dimension to materials like cardstock, leather, etc. The tip is marked with a “21”. This is only for Cricut Maker series machines.
Perforation Tip – This tip lets you make perforation marks in materials like cardstock to make tickets, booklets, anything where you need a good tear. The tip is marked with an “11”. This is only for Cricut Maker series machines.
Wavy Tip – This wavy tip is used when you want to make say a decorative edge to materials like cardstock. This tip is marked with a “31” & is only for the Cricut Maker series machines.
Scoring Stylus – This tool is for making the folding lines in materials like cardstock & paper. This is used in the Cricut Explore series machines. You can use this in the Maker series, but the scoring tips from above are better; much deeper/clean lines.

Blade & Machines Overview

Cricut Joy

  • Fine Point Blade (has it’s own called Joy Fine Point Blade)
  • Foil Transfer Tool (has it’s own called Cricut Joy Foil Transfer Tool with 1 tip)

Cricut Explore Series

  • Fine Point Blade
  • Deep Point Blade
  • Bonded Fabric Blade
  • Foil Transfer Tool
  • Scoring Stylus

Cricut Maker Series

  • Fine Point Blade or Premium Fine Point Blade
  • Deep Point Blade
  • Bonded Fabric Blade
  • Foil Transfer Tool
  • Scoring Stylus
  • Rotary Blade
  • Knife Blade
  • QuickSwap housing with following tips: Single Scoring Tip, Double Scoring Tip, Engraving Tip, Debossing Tip, Perforation Tip, & the Wavy Blade

When to Change a Blade

This differs with every person & every machine. It depends on how often you use your Cricut & what type of materials you cut the most. If you use your Cricut every day & cut a lot of, say glitter cardstock then you’re going to be changing your blade more often than someone who uses their Cricut once a week, & cuts mostly thin cardstock. I use my Cricut every day & I cut a little bit of everything, but I clean my blade & sharpen it every week or so. I sometimes don’t change my blade for a year! You only need to change it after you have cleaned & sharpened it & it’s still not cutting good. For the most part, I think a blade should last like 6 months depending on what I said earlier. I do use the premium fine point blade too.

How to Clean & Sharpen a Blade

The first thing to do is get some aluminum foil & make it into a ball. Now take your blade & push it into the aluminum foil ball; go back & forth about 50 times. This will not just clean the blade, but I believe, sharpen it. My blade always cuts better after I do this! I do this about once a week. Now, if I’ve been cutting something like glitter cardstock, which always gets caught on your blade, I do this after that, regardless if it’s been a week.

Cleaning the blade.

How to Change the Blade

It is very easy to change the blade, so don’t be nervous. I’ll show you step-by-step.

Open Clamp B & pull out the housing.
Push the plunger on the end of the housing. This will release the blade.
Carefully pull the blade from the housing.

Pull the cap from the new blade & set aside. We’ll use that again in a minute.
Put new blade into housing. You will feel it pop in there because of the magnet.
Put that cap onto the end of the old blade. This will make disposing of it much safer. That’s it! Just put your housing back into Clamp B.

Which Blade for Which Materials

Cricut Joy – They have their own Cricut Joy Blade & Housing. Below is some of the materials the Joy can cut.

  • Smart Materials
  • Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets
  • Cardstock
  • Glitter Cardstock
  • Paper
  • Adhesive Vinyl
  • HT Vinyl

Fine Point Blade or Premium Fine Point Blade – below is some of the materials you can cut with either of these two blades.

  • Cardstock
  • Paper
  • Smart Materials
  • Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets
  • Glitter Cardstock
  • Adhesive Vinyl
  • HT Vinyl
  • Sticker Paper
  • Faux leather & suede

Bonded Fabric Blade – below is a list of some of the materials you can cut with this blade.

  • Bonded Fabric

Deep Point Blade – below is a list of some of the materials you can cut with this blade.

  • Cardboard
  • Chipboard
  • Foam
  • Real leather
  • Magnet sheets
  • Wood Veneer

Rotary Blade – below is a list of some of the materials you can cut with this blade.

  • Canvas
  • Cotton
  • Flannel
  • Felt
  • Linen

Knife blade – below is a list of some of the materials you can cut with this blade.

  • Chipboard
  • Foam
  • Balsa Wood up to 3/32″
  • Basswood up to 1/16″
  • Leather

QuickSwap Tips – below is just a few materials these can cut.

Scoring Tips – Single

  • Paper
  • Cardstock
  • Crepe Paper

Scoring Tips – Double

  • Thick Cardstock
  • Poster Board
  • Cardboard

Engrave Tip

  • Aluminum
  • Acetate
  • Vinyl materials

Debossing Tip

  • Cardstock
  • Paper
  • Foam
  • Leather
  • Vellum

Perforation Tip

  • Cardstock
  • Adhesive Vinyl
  • HT Vinyl

Wavy Blade Tip

  • Cardstock
  • Paper
  • Foam
  • Adhesive Vinyl
  • HT Vinyl
  • Felt
  • Leather
  • Acetate

Summary

Well, I know that was a lot of information! You can always print this or look back at this post when you wondering about blades & tips, etc. I hope this post on “How to Know All About Your Cricut Blades” has helped you! If you liked this post, please share it on social media, & I would love it if you followed me while you were there! I would appreciate it so much! If you are interested in my new “Complete Font Guide – How to Work With Fonts in Cricut Design Space” there are a couple places on my home page that you can sign up for it. Have a good one! 💕

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