Answer: Most likely not.
I commonly get customers of our Upcycle EZ-Cut Bottle Cutters tell me their cutter blade is worn and dull. After researching this, we have found in every case that the blade shows no signs of wear and it looks as good as a new replacement blade. We further test these blades and find that it also cuts bottles as good as a new blade. The below photo shows what a new blade looks like.
Technically, these blades don’t directly cut the glass, but instead score the glass so it can separate (or break) along the line. If you are having issues getting a good score with our bottle cutters, you may have to adjust the blade up for a good pressure point or use some of the other tips we will post soon.
A close up photo of the high-quality glass cutter brand, Toyo. The wheel shows a slight tip
Glass Cutters Are Based on Hardness, Not Sharpness
Our bottle cutter blades are made of high-quality, long lasting carbide which matches specifications of professional named brands such as Toyo.
Whether you use our blades or other brands used by glass artist professionals, you may have to take a close look at how sharp it is before you begin to use it. This will help give you an idea if it is indeed dull.
You will notice they typically only have a slight point. All high-quality blades aren’t necessarily sharp. They score the bottle well based on how hard of a material they are manufactured with.
High-Quality Glass Cutters vs. Low Quality
As I have stated before, the high quality usually comes from how hard the cutter blade wheel is. Unfortunately, there are a lot of cheap brands out there made from low quality materials such as steel which does not do a good job. Yikes!
How Hard Are Our Cutter Blades?
Another view of how sharp our Upcycle EZ-Cut Bottle Cutter glass cutter blades are.
If you recall science class in school, you will know materials are classified on their hardness based of the Moh’s Scale of 1-10. One being the softest and ten being the hardest.
Glass is about 6 to 7 on the Moh’s scale. Since our bottle cutters contain carbide wheels, it measures about 9-9.5 Moh’s. Any cutter with 6-10 Moh’s will score your glass. However, the harder the cutter wheel is, the better it will score the glass and the longer it will last.
How Long Does Our Glass Cutter Blade Last?
If you take care of the blade properly, you should be able to cut hundreds of bottles without them needing replacement. Other competitor bottle cutter kits provide a replacement because they have need to be replaced often. One of our blades might outlast 20 of their blades. Most folks will never need to replace their cutter blade since we provide long-lasting, high-quality blades.
How to Prevent Wear of Your Glass Cutter Blade
- Reduce Amount of Times You Double Score Glass– the most important thing to prolong the life of your glass cutter blade is to only score the line with one solid time so you don’t have to do it a second time. Going over a score line a second time causes the most wear because the cutter is rolling over an area that is not smooth like a regular glass surface.
- Please Double Score Light Lines! If you use our bottle cutters, we do actually recommend scoring areas of a line a second time if they are lighter. In fact, you need to do this or the bottle will crack after the hot-cold cycle is done to separate it. We only suggest you don’t go over areas that already has a deep, solid score line.
- Use Glass Cutting Oil? Placing oil on the blade lubricates it and is known to reduce wear. However, this seems debatable since a few glass professionals say it doesn’t really help. Overall, cutting oil can help the roller glide over the glass easier and might reduce wear in an insignificant way.
- I personally don’t think it is necessary using cutting oil with our bottle cutters. If it does reduce wear slightly, the mess and trouble isn’t worth the effort.
Replacement Bottle Cutter Blades
Although most folks will never need to replace the blades included with our bottle cutters, we do offer replacements which are listed on Amazon here.
Overall
Whether you are cutting glass sheets or bottles, just remember most professional cutters may not be worn out. Some folks have issues scoring bottles with our Upcycle EZ-Cut Bottle Cutter brand simply because the blade needs to be adjusted up so there is a good pressure point. We will have more information on how to best cut a bottle perfectly 100% of the time!
If you have trouble scoring bottles, please let us know below. We are here to help.
In the end, I always like to say “hard blades are for glass cutting, sharp blades are for cutting paper.”