I *just* got my serger in February brand new. It's already showing signs that I need to change the upper knife. It's leaving little frays of fabric, but it's still cutting well. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep your blades sharp?

TIA!
Danaia

I don't have a clue, but I have never changed a serger blade, LOL. One of my sergers is 13 yrs old, and has been serviced 2x in it's life, and they probably did it then. The other is a couple of years old, and has not had the blade changed yet either.

my serger is about 5yrs old and I have never ever changed a blade , heck I just cleaned it last night for the 1st time in like a year and I used it a lot. Yes, it was yelling at me. lol

My serger is two years old and I've never changed a blade either. I thought it needed blades awhile back but dh oiled it for me and tightened some things and it's been fine ever since. I baby it though, not sure if that matters?

I think serger knives should last 2-3 years. I've had my serger for 3 years and have had it serviced three times and the mechanic said my blades were still good. I've serged through lots and lots of heavy stuff too. That's odd!!

Maybe it's because it's a Janome 634D and it's not the best machine? I don't know...but I sew at least 10 hours a week...is that a lot?

Girl, you know how much I sew ... and I've never changed my blades. LOL!

Maybe it's because it's a Janome 634D and it's not the best machine? I don't know...but I sew at least 10 hours a week...is that a lot?I serge at least that much too. My serger is a low-end one also. Very puzzling!

If Im not mistaken, that Janome isnt considered "low end." I think thats the one bArb owns.

Its just MY experience that Janomes EAT serger blades. I have a 734D that I have had 5 sets of blades on in a year and a half. I paid $600 for the stupid thing and have had it in at many shops, and talked to service reps from the company. I have been told "reasons" the blades were dulling so fast that ranged from it being my fault, all the way through to it being a crappy cutting assembly design that causes the blades to come out of alignment.

That will make it act like the blades are dull. You might want to take it in for an adjustment and see if that helps. Should be cheaper than a full service. As soon as I can afford one, I getting a new one.

I have a cheapie Brother for about 3 years and I've never needed to change the blade. The stitch finger has broken 3 times, though LOL.

My babylock imagine goes through blades. I buy them in bulk now. :P I'm not sure why, though I've had two people in the sewing business agree that babylock does this. It does not seem to be the consensus among users though. Of course, I do wholesale and sew a ton of hemp and organic twill. The twill has a huge amount of sizing or something on it. I can tell the minute mine needs new blades, because when I do a rolled hem on the twill the little threads stick out. I keep mine tuned by the dealer and cleaned and oiled regularly, since I use it so much. Only changing the blades corrects my problem. I do know that running over a pin, or a few, will cause them not to work correctly. You can take it out and see the notches in the blade when this happens though. I change mine every 6 months at the minimum and sometimes closer to every 4 months, it just depends on the volume of wholesale I'm doing.

I also ran over a pin the other day and my blade is still working perfectly. I swear this machine is indestructable lol

Geez...maybe I should trade mine in for a different brand? And FTR, I like to live on the wild side and don't use pins :lol:

I have a BL serger, and had another one and the only time I ever had to change the blade was recently on my new machine... I ran over a pin and broke the blade :eyes: Didn't break the pin though :rolleyes:

Geez...maybe I should trade mine in for a different brand? And FTR, I like to live on the wild side and don't use pins :lol:
ROFL! I quit using pins, too...I do pin my pattern down, but I've heard of some nifty pattern weights, so I'm thinking about getting some.

I have a brother serger for almost 5 years and I've never had to change a blade. It was acting like it was gettn dull awhile back but I cleaned it up really well and found a sliver of fabric caught in between the cutting blade and the machine. I guess it was puching it out of alignment since it has worked great since. I've also ran ove more than one pin in my time. lol

ROFL! I quit using pins, too...I do pin my pattern down, but I've heard of some nifty pattern weights, so I'm thinking about getting some.


I use the kid's Ikea ceramic plates lol
I used to use tuna cans.

Oh and I don't usually pin either. When attaching sleeves, I do pin the middle, but that is it :)

Michelle, that is the machine I have had for 5yrs too. It's when I first started sewing my diaeprs with my biz and all the diaper sewing mamas had that machine back then lol

I have been using my serger for 7-8 years and have never changed a blade. :)

Thanks for the info mamas :)

Caroline had thought she needed to and the problem was that the blade had come loose as I recall. Make sure the blade is totally flush against the surface it is using to cut against.

I changed the blades (both of them) in my New Home (Janome) machine once. But that machine saw a LOT of use before it got to that point. LOTS AND LOTS of wool, not to mention dipes = hemp fleece, micro, etc... I bought another upper blade a few months back for it, trying to fix a problem I was having, but I'm sure that wasn't it.

At any rate, I'll agree that needing new blades after just a few months doesn't seem right. I would try cleaning, oiling, and tightening. :)