planer knives?

[James Williams 007]

I started getting a lot of ridges in my stock after running it through my planer so I figured it would be a good time to order a second set and send the original ones out for sharpening. I decided to order the titans from Global. So when they arrived I switched them with the originals and sent some poplar through to test for snipe or any other problems before I ran the good wood through. Everything was good so I started running maple, purple heart, and walnut and there was almost as many ridges in those boards as the old knives!? I checked the boards thoroughly before I ran them through to make sure there was nothing foreign that would damage the new knives so what could have caused this. Another thing I noticed was that the original set of knives seems to have a micro bevel on it and they still feel as sharp as the new knives. Here is a pic of the original knives from grizzly, I took it on my phone so its not the best but you can see the bevel in the light. The new knives don't have this bevel and really don't feel that sharp. Am I supposed to have the knives sharpened before I use them or are they supposed to come sharpened? The noise levels are the same with both sets of knives in. What am I missing? :confused:

[Chip Lindley]

Ridges? running the length of the board? OR across the board? Lengthwise ridges indicate a nick in all planer/jointer blades at the same location. Across-the-board ridges (washboard) indicate too fast a feed rate, OR one knife set higher than the others (it does all the work) When you change knives, each knife must be adjusted to run exactly with the others. This is best done with a dial indicator and magnetic base.

Your new knives should be razor sharp from the providor. You can slice paper with them! Hard to tell from your photo but the edge appears to reflect much light. I doubt this a micro-bevel, but a DULL blade! Micro-bevels are not included unless specifically ordered, and the knives specifically ground that way. I would check the alignment of all 3 blades before blaming a brand new *dull* blade.

I have ground my own blades for 20 years on a fixture in my drill press. Then I hone off the wire edge on an oil stone. There are other ways to adequately sharpen knives *on-the-cheap* in-house, using table saw or bench grinder. And then there are the dedicated knife grinders from Makita and Grizzly, which will pay for themselves over time.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I can't really tell from that angle, but generally when a blade is sharp you can't see the cutting edge. Based on the flash or reflection, they are looking pretty dull. Sorry, just my opinion of the photo. I wish the picture was taken more counter-clock wise with the blades running from the bottom to the top of the picture to provide more detail looking at the blade edge.

On my Delta 22-560 planer, I have found that stuff stuck to the rollers either from use or low DC airflow (full bag, clogged hose, or whatever) will also start to leave ridges, indentations, and scratches on the stock. Have you cleaned the rollers and beds lately?