What Cricut Blades Cut What?

This, my friends, is a blade →

Blades allow your Cricut machine to cut all of your projects. Depending on the material you want to work with, you’ll need different kinds of blades. Some cut wavy lines, some cut straight lines, some cut fabric, and others cut wood!

When you’re in Cricut Design Space you’ll be able to specify exactly WHAT blades you’re going to use by altering the ‘line type’ of a particular element.

When you send your project to ‘make it’ in design space, the software will tell you what blade to use with the material you selected…so don’t worry ok? Just make sure you select the correct material in the program because if the blade you use isn’t made to cut the material you inserted…you could damage your materials or even the blade itself. Eek!

This is the most common of Cricut blades. It’s made from German Carbine (it’s VERY strong and durable). It can make very intricate cuts.

Price – around $34.99 HERE
Colour – silver/gold
Material type – cuts medium weight materials
Compatible with – Cricut Explore family machines and the Cricut Maker
Will cut:

• Printer Paper
• Vinyl: Glitter vinyl, printable, outdoor, holographic
• Iron-on or also HTV (Heat transfer vinyl)
• Cardstock
• Washi Tape
• Parchment Paper
• Vellum
• Canvas
• Light Chipboard
• Faux Leather (Paper Thin)

If you need to cut thicker materials, this is for you. The angle of this is much steeper – 60 degrees instead of 45 like the fine point…so it can penetrate and cut deeper into materials.

Price – around $34.99 HERE
Colour – black
Material type – thick materials
Compatible with – Cricut Explore family machines and the Cricut Maker

Will cut:

• Craft Foam
• Aluminum Foil
• Genuine Leather
• Metallic Leather
• Magnetic Sheet – 0.6mm
• Corrugated Paper

This is just like the fine point blade, except it’s color-coded so you only use it with fabric. To have a better experience using it on fabric, don’t use it on paper or vinyl first. M’kay?

You can use it on the pink fabric mat. It can also be used with the fine point blade housing.

Price – around $34.99 HERE
Colour – pink
Material type – bonded fabric
Compatible with – Cricut Explore family machines and the Cricut Maker

Will cut:

• Oil Cloth
• Silk
• Polyester
• Denim
• Felt
• Burlap
• Cotton

Please note that the fabric you use MUST be bonded to a backing material. The backing is a type of material (like heat & bond) that you need to ‘bond’ to your fabric so you can cut with this blade. If you don’t bond your fabric properly, you risk tearing and stretching your materials or breaking your mat.

This cuts through *pretty much* any fabric AND doesn’t require you to need any backing material to stabilize the fabric on the mat. It’ll glide right through. This blade actually comes with the Cricut Maker model so you won’t have to pay extra woo!
It’s worth noting that the housing (the bit that holds the blade in place) isn’t interchangeable with other blades. If you need a new blade, you’ll need a particular kit.

Price – around $17.50 – (but comes with the machine remember) Colour – silver
Material type – thick and dense materials
Compatible with – Cricut Maker only

Will cut:

• Bamboo Fabric
• Bengaline Canvas
• Cashmere
• Chiffon
• Corduroy
• Cotton
• Denim
• Felt
• Fleece
• Gauze
• Silk
• Lycra
• Microfiber
• Nylon

** There is one small limitation to this blade. The image/project you are cutting MUST be at least 3⁄4 of an inch (19mm) thick. Cutting smaller than this will wear the blade and cut short its life.

*use this on the pink fabric mat!! (learn more about mats here)

Ohhh, this one’s new! It allows you to embellish beautiful crisp foil effects on your projects! Of course, you can use iron-on foil but it does not give such a level of intricacy that this has. It comes as a ‘3 tools in 1’ kit, with thin, medium, and bold tips to suit your project.

Price – around $44 HERE
Colour – blue
Material type – medium weight materials
Compatible with – Cricut Explore family machines and the Cricut Maker

Will cut:

• Cardstock
• Deluxe Paper
• Pearl Paper
• Vellum
• Printable Vinyl
• Printable Sticker Paper
• Matboard
• Poster Board
• Copy Paper
• Photo Paper
• Faux Leather

The essence of the Cricut Maker machine. The projects you can cut with this are just amazing. You can create wooden signs, cake toppers, DIY leather luggage tags… and more! Like the rotary, the housing isn’t interchangeable with other blades. Sorry.

Use the purple strong grip mat when you’re cutting with the knife blade. If your materials are still moving, try sticking down the edges with painter’s tape. You can thank me later.

Price – around $45.99 HERE
Colour – silver
Material type – thick and dense materials Compatible with – Cricut Maker only

Will cut:

• Tooling Leather
• Balsa 1/16 in + 3/32 in
• Basswood 1/16 in + 1/32 in
• Heavy Chipboard 2.00mm
• Matboard

To create tear finishes – with this you can make coupons, raffle tickets, and even Valentine cards with ‘tear to reveal’ secret messages…be creative!

Price – around $30 ($50 including housing) HERE Colour – silver Material type – medium materials Compatible with – Cricut Maker only

Will cut:

• Corrugated Cardboard
• Metallic Poster Board
• Cardstock Glitter
• Cardstock
• Heavy Cardstock
• Felt
• Craft Foam
• Glitter Craft Foam
• Iron-On
• Faux Leather (Paper Thin)
• Tooling Leather – 2-3 oz. (0.8 mm)
• Vellum
• Plastic
• Acetate
• Foil Acetate

All the other tools cut nice straight lines. Not this one! Give your project some cool wavy effect on your final cuts. Getting curved lines on Design space can be a little tricky so this tool will come in handy.

Make cards, envelopes, unique vinyl decals, gift tags, or banners…

Price – around $30 ($50 including housing) HERE Colour – silver Material type – medium materials (inc. fabric!) Compatible with – Cricut Maker only

Will cut:

• Heavy Cardstock
• Corrugated Cardboard
• Kraft Board
• Metallic Poster Board
• Foil Poster Board
• Poster Board
• Glitter Cardstock
• Flannel
• Fleece Fusible Fleece

Write personalized text or monograms… draw embellishments on inscribe quotes on a keepsake… make a dog tag! With this tool, you can also engrave on aluminum sheets to reveal the silver underneath. Cool.

Price – around $26 ($45 including housing) HERE Colour – silver Material type – thick materials and metals Compatible with – Cricut Maker only

Will cut:

• Anodized Aluminum
• Brass
• Bronze
• Stainless Steel
• Faux Leather ( Paper Thin)
• Garment Leather – 2-3 oz. (0.8mm)
• Genuine Leather
• Tooling Leather
• Vellum
• Acetate Foil
• Acetate

This tip pushes the material in to create beautiful and detailed designs. Create 3D cards and monograms or draw floral patterns on a gift box 😊

Price – around $25 ($45 including housing) HERE Colour – silver Material type – medium materials Compatible with – Cricut Maker only

Will cut:

• Foil Poster board
• Heavy Chipboard – 2.0mm
• Kraft Board
• Light Chipboard – 0.37mm
• Matboard 4 Ply
• Metallic Poster Board
• Poster Board
• Foil Acetate
• Vellum
• Faux Leather (Paper Thin)
• Genuine Leather
• Tooling Leather
• Craft Foam Glitter Cardstock
• Heavy Cardstock
• Balsa – 1/16′′ (1.6 mm)
• Balsa – 3/32′′ (2.4 mm)

With this, you can create beautiful, edgy, crisp folds on your materials. Unlike the other tools, it has two different tips. Design space will tell you which tip to use based on the material you select.

Tip 01 – for light materials such as printer paper and regular card stock

Tip 02 – for heavy and coated materials such as chipboard, glitter and cardstock, metallic poster-board, etc.

Price – around $30 for each tip only. $70 for both tips + housing. HERE Colour – silver
Material type – medium and thick materials (depending on the tip) Compatible with – Cricut Maker only

Will cut:

• Corrugated Cardboard
• Damask Chipboard
• Flat Cardboard
• Foil Kraft Board
• Heavy Chipboard – 2.0 mm
• Kraft Board
• Cardstock
• Foil Acetate
• Plastic Packaging
• Copy Paper
• Corrugated Paper

The Cricut Joy is made simple as it only uses a ‘fine point blade’. The blade housing has a white cap so easy to tell it apart from those other blades we’ve talked about.

Price – around $13 (or $33 with housing) HERE Colour – silver with white top
Material type – medium materials Compatible with – Cricut Joy only

Will cut:

• Smart Iron-On and Vinyl (Without a Cricut Mat)
• Copy Paper
• Cardstock
• Insert Cards with a Card Mat.
• Writable Vinyl
• Corrugated Cardboard
• Glitter Cardstock
• Foil Poster Board