Spellbinders Stitching dies quality ?

Most of my Spellbinders dies are older, including the stitched ones, so perhaps the problem is with their more recent ones. I have a few stitched dies that I have used more, and I have had no issues with them.

Most of my stitched dies are from Queen & Co. I use them all the time. No problems. And they aren’t as sturdy as the Spellbinder dies.

You mentioned that you are using a Vagabond, and that the embossing isn’t very good. For dies that have a part that is embossed, using just plates won’t give a good impression. After cutting, you are supposed to keep the card stock in place, change the sandwich to include an embossing mat (a thin, rubbery like piece), and run it through a second time. You also have to remove the ultra thin spacer. A few days ago, I used a Spellbinder die that had an embossed section, and doing it that way gave me a very acceptable impression.

I’ve been paper crafting more years than most here. I bought one of the first manual die cut machines. I have owned a variety of manual die cutting machines, and they always expect you to use an embossing mat after cutting, for any dies that have an embossed portion.

I have never owned a Vagabond, but the LSS where I used to work had a Vagabond. It was easier on the hands/wrists, but I didn’t care for it. I got better results with a manual die cutting machine. I do own a Gemini Jr., which I use for cutting very detailed dies.

Even with manual machines, forcing a sandwich through that is even slightly too thick or has the wrong sandwich can damage or even break the machine. I stupidly ruined my original Big Shot (my favorite machine) that way.

Also, having had multiple manual die cut machines, I have discovered that even the same brand and model can sometimes have slight differences in their cutting pressure. Being mass produced doesn’t always result in identical product quality.

Back to the problem of the dies becoming dull. Not recently, but quite awhile back, some crafters/companies recommended a thin metal plate for use in die cut machines to get better cuts. The metal plate will gradually dull even good quality dies, because metal is being pressed against metal. I don’t use metal plates as part of my sandwich. I don’t know if you do, but if so, the metal plate may be dulling your dies.