Sharpening Planer Knives

[Tom Bender]

I have the DW 733 planer with resharpenable knives, and I have a spare set. Have always sent them out for sharpening, which works ok but costs about $25 including shipping. Then I saw Willian Ng's video on sharpening (it's worth watching for entertainment). Followed his method, it took me an hour to make the fixture and about 40 minutes to sharpen both sets, including removing and replacing. I am able to get them sharper than the pro I had been using and it will take about 10 minutes just for sharpening a set. This is a big improvement. It's now practical to sharpen often.

[John TenEyck]

Good on you. I learned to sharpen my J/P knives after the local lumber yard sent them to some hack who nearly ruined them. That was nearly 30 years ago, and I've been sharpening them myself ever since.

John

[Andrew Hughes]

I think my Fixture is better then Willians. Because all the knives are touched at the same time. 45 degree tablesaw cuts or what ever your bevel angle is.

[Metod Alif]

Good on you. I learned to sharpen my J/P knives after the local lumber yard sent them to some hack who nearly ruined them. That was nearly 30 years ago, and I've been sharpening them myself ever since.

John

John sharpened my planer knives a few weeks ago. The nicks were too much for (hand) honing. Great job. Thanks, John.
Best, Metod

[Metod Alif]

That is a great fixture. Yes, better than Ng's.
Best, Metod

[Gary Petersen]

Do the wood strips fill the gap between the blade and the slot to hold them in place? Nice fixture.

[Andrew Hughes]

Do the wood strips fill the gap between the blade and the slot to hold them in place? Nice fixture.

Yes the shims are there to make up the difference. I haven’t tried a thin kerf tablesaw blade to see how close it is to the Dewalt blades. We just don’t want them flopping around during the honing.

[Roy Turbett]

I have the Tormek planer jig but its way too slow to use on the Tormek water wheel for removing nicks. The jig itself works fine except that my 15" knives are too wide to do in a single pass. What works best is a Tormek bench grinder tool rest on my large Milwaukee grinder. The wheels are far enough apart that they don't interfere with each other when I reposition the knife for the second pass and the 80 grit CBN wheel provides a nice edge.