There are so many blades available for the Cricut machines.  Do I really need to buy them all?  In this article I will describe the purpose of each blade.  This will then help you to determine which blades you will need for your particular Cricut Machine and for each project.  For example, if you do not plan on doing anything with fabric, then there are a few blades you will not need to purchase, because they are only for cutting fabrics.  There are also a few blades that will only work in the Cricut maker, which I will indicate below.   

If you are interested in purchasing any of these tools or want more information on any of them, then click here to go to Cricut.com.

When you purchase a Cricut maker (with or without a bundle) you will also get the following items.   

• Rotary blade + drive housing  
• Premium fine point blade + housing  
• Fine point pen  
• Fabric Grip mat (Pink) 12” x 12”  
• Light Grip mat (Blue) 12” x 12” 
• 50 free ready to make projects, including 25 sewing patterns  
• Materials for a practice project  
• A free trial membership to Cricut access (only for new subscribers)  

When you purchase a Cricut Explore Air 2 (with or without a bundle) you will also get the following items.  

• Premium fine point blade + housing  
• Fine point pen, in black  
• Light grip mat (blue) 12” x 12”  
• Free trial membership to Cricut access (only for new subscribers)  
• 50 ready to make projects  
• Materials for a practice project  

When you purchase a Cricut Joy (with or without a bundle) you will receive the following items.  

 Note: The Cricut Joy is a smaller machine and requires specific materials and tools.   

• Blade + housing  
• Fine point pen, in black  
• Standard grip mat, 4.5” x 6.5” 
• Free trial membership to Cricut access (only for new subscribers)  
• 50 ready to make projects  
• Materials for a practice project 

So, you will not need to purchase the blades that will come with the Cricut machine you chose to buy, unless you would like to have doubles/backups.

Rotary Blade:

• This blade will come with your purchase of a cricut maker.  It is only compatible with the Cricut Maker. It cuts through fabrics without needing a backer material.  

• It must be used with the rotary blade drive housing.   

• It is used for fabrics with or without backing, tissues paper, cork, cotton, denim, felt, silk, and lycra.  

• It is recommended that the image being cut is at least ¾” or larger because it will have difficulty cutting anything smaller. 

• Use the pink FabricGrip mat.   For fabric with stiffener a purple mat is used.  

Knife Blade:

• Only the Cricut Maker can use this blade.  

• This blade cuts through thicker materials up to 3/32” thick.  (Moderate detailed designs)   

• It must be used with knife blade drive housing.  

• It is recommended for cutting balsa wood, basswood, mat boards, and chipboard  

• Use the purple StrongGrip mat with this blade.  

QuickSwap Tools:

• Only the Cricut Maker can use these.  You only need one housing for all of these blades, because the heads can be switched out.  So, if you are interested in more than one blade from this category, then you only need one housing. When you are ready to use a different blade from this category, then you can easily switch out the blade/head you currently have in the housing with the one you are now wanting to use.  However, if you do not want to have to keep switching the blades/heads out, then you can buy a few housings.    

Debossing (tip 21) – This tip creates detailed depressions in different materials.  This tip works well on  foil, cardstock, and poster board. This blade works with foil poster board, heavy or light) chipboard, foil acetate, vellum, genuine leather, heavy cardstock, and kraft board.  

Engraving (tip 41) – This allows you to engrave into thicker materials. This tip works well on leather,  copper, and acrylic. This blade works with anodized aluminum, brass, stainless steel, faux leather, genuine leather, acetate, vellum, and tooling leather.  

Single scoring wheel (tip 01) – Applies more pressure than the scoring stylus. Creates crisp creases in   thin materials to make folds. Makes a single score line, which is good for light materials like  crepe paper, light cardstock and acetate.  

Double scoring wheel (tip 02) – Creates crisp creases in thick materials to make folds. Makes two parallel  score lines, that is needed for heavier materials like carboard or poster board.  

Perforation blade (tip 11)- This tip creates evenly spaced perforation lines to allow for easy tearing  without the need to fold. It even works well on curved shapes.  Great for projects that will need  a clean tear. This blade will work on glitter cardstock, felt, iron0 on, faux leather, plastic, foil acetate, tooling leather, corrugated cardboard, and metallic poster board.  

Wavy blade (tip 31) – This tip adds a wavy edge to a design in less time than a drag blade. This is good to  use for decals, envelopes, cards, gift tags, and collages. This blade will work on heavy cardstock, kraft board, poster board, glitter cardstock, flannel, cotton denim, and fusible fleece.  

Note: The scoring stylus can be used in place of the scoring wheels.  For the Cricut maker choose edit tools on the cut screen in Design Space. 

Fine Point Blade:

• These blades are colored coded to differentiate which blade to use for which  materials.  

Premium Fine Point Blade- Gold:  

• This blade and housing will come with your purchase of a Cricut Maker or a Cricut Explore Air 2.
• This blade makes intricate cuts in thin to medium weight materials.
• It is recommended for paper, cardstock, poster board, faux leather (very thin), vinyl (glitter, printable, and holographic), and iron-on.
• The gold premium fine point housing or the silver fine point housing can be used for this blade. 
• Blade angle of 45 degrees.  

Deep Point Blade- Black:  

• This blade has a steeper blade angle (60 degrees)
• This blade is recommended for  intricate cuts on thicker materials. 
• It will work well on chipboard, stamp materials,  magnets, thick cardstock, foam sheets, stiffened felt, leather, craft foam, aluminum foil, genuine leather, metallic leather, magnetic sheet up to 0.6mm, corrugated paper, and cardboard.
• It can only be used with the deep point blade housing.  

Bonded Fabric Blade- Pink: 

• This blade is similar to the premium fine point blade.  However, having a separate blade to cut just fabrics will prolong the life of the blades. 
• This blade is recommended for intricate cuts on bonded fabrics and fabrics with an iron-on backer.
• Some materials it can cut includes silk polyester, denim, felt, and bonded burlap.
• This blade can be used with the bonded fabric blade housing or the premium fine point blade housing.
• You will receive the premium fine point blade housing with your purchase of a Cricut Maker or a Cricut Explore Air 2.  

Cricut Foil Transfer Tool:

• This tool is a 3 in 1 tool for adding foil to projects
• It can be used in the Cricut Maker and the Cricut Explore Air 2. It is not compatable with the Cricut Joy.
• It comes with 3 different tips to allow for 3 different thickness of lines.
• This tool works with the Cricut foil transfer sheets to apply foil detail to a project. You will want to tape down your foil on all edges before placing it in your Cricut machine.

Cricut Joy Fine Point Blade:

• This blade only works with the Cricut Joy and is the only blade that will work in the Cricut Joy. 
• This blade can be used for smart iron on and vinyl (no cricut mat needed), copy paper, cardstock, insert cards with a card mat, writable vinyl, corrugated cardboard, glitter cardstock, and foil poster board.  

If you are interested in purchasing any of these tools or want more information on any of them, then click here to go to Cricut.com.

If you are unsure which Cricut machine is right for you, then check out my other post that describes what each machine can do.

If you are unsure which Cricut mat to use with which blade, then make sure to check out this blog that describes the differences between each one as well as what each one is used for.