Anyone get their planer and jointe blades sharpened?

[Brian Penning]

Referring to planer and jointer blades.
Me? I buy new replacements. Though haven't yet checked how much my new jointer blades cost.
http://www.canadianwoodshopnewsandreview.com/forums/images/misc/progress.gif http://www.canadianwoodshopnewsandreview.com/forums/images/buttons/edit.gif (http://www.canadianwoodshopnewsandreview.com/forums/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=1524)

[Frank Drew]

Sharpening always more sense to me, but I haven't priced new blades recently.

[Myk Rian]

A buddy sharpened my DW735 planer blades but I never got to use them. I bought a Byrd Shelix for it.
He does my jointer blades also.
For the cost of sending them out @ $1/inch, I don't think it's worth it.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I have them sharpened, but have bought extra sets. New sets for my jointers (plural) are about the same as sharpening. Not so for my planer though.

[Jeff Duncan]

If you check out what 16" blades cost these days, you'll see it's certainly a bit cheaper to sharpen;)
If your using smaller you have to weight the costs both ways.
good luck,
JeffD

[Alex Shanku]

Get mine sharpened by Jamison's in Virginia. Incredibly sharp. And certainly way sharper than anything out of the box, new.

Makes much more sense, imo. $65 for new planer blades or sharpen the old ones for 45cents/inch? $45 for new jointer knives or $10 to sharpen them? No brainer, in my situation.

[Rod Sheridan]

I used to send my knives out for grinding, now I own a machine that uses disposable knives, that last much longer.

Regards, Rod.

[Kevin Groenke]

How bad are they?

If they're not REALLY dull (blunt) and/or badly nicked it may be possible to sharpen them yourself.

I made a simple block with 3 kerfs to hold the knifes at the proper angle. I used the block to grind the knives on a belt or edge sander, scary sharp style on sandpaper or just set them on a bench and ran a diamond stone over them. Probably not perfect when ground, but functional in a pinch and very effective for honing knives that aren't too far gone.

Haven't had to it since we got Byrd heads.

If they're traditional ~1/8" thick knives, sending out for sharpening is probably cheaper than buying new. I think we were paying .50/inch

[Chip Lindley]

Anyone with a table saw or drill press can sharpen their own planer/jointer blades! I have sharpened my own knives up to 13-1/8" in a simple maple drill press jig for the past 20 years. Several jigs were shown in old issues of FWW. Here are two from my old post early last year!

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=1035136&highlight=drill+press+grinding#post10351

Remember that a white friable grinding wheel must be used. These do not build up heat and burn the knives like gray wheels do. I've found white wheels at Enco. Oddly, very few if any on eBay! Hmmm...

[Rob Holcomb]

Hello to everyone. This is my first post but I've been reading for a while now. I bought replacement blades (3) for my 15" Grizzly planer at woodworkers Outpost for $39. It was the cheapest place I found.

[Greg Portland]

I got this tip from another forum. Cut 3 trenches into a board (4 if you have 4 blades) with the same angle as your blades. Ensure that the thickness of the trench equals that of the blade. Stick the blades into the trenches... the edges should all be level. Use a large stone (or sandpaper glued to a flat object) and rub back and forth across the blades. This method will remove the same amount of metal off each blade while sharpening. Lap the backs with a few strokes before re-installing in your machine.

[Stan Urbas]

I send mine out. I have two sets for my jointer and planer, so I just swap in a sharp set and drop off the dull ones at the local sharpener. He does router bits, too, but I haven't done that yet.

As for sharpening them yourself you can use the jigs described in the other posts and do the sharpening on a floor model belt sander. I have one belt I use only for blades, chisels, etc. Lot easier than doing it on a grinder, and faster. I used to do my jointer/ planer blades that way all the time when I had a smaller unit.

[David Christopher]

Hello to everyone. This is my first post but I've been reading for a while now. I bought replacement blades (3) for my 15" Grizzly planer at woodworkers Outpost for $39. It was the cheapest place I found.

Just checked it out....you cant beat them prices with a stick..............thanks

[Dan Gill]

Jointer, yes. Planer, no. The planer has disposable blades.

[Rob Cunningham]

I take my jointer and planer blades to work and sharpen them on the surface grinder.

[Rod Sheridan]

I take my jointer and planer blades to work and sharpen them on the surface grinder.


Showoff! :D

regards, Rod.

[Mike Thomas]

Spiral inserts! Well if you have a planer and jointer and can not or choose not to go the spiral route I vote for sharpening. Always made more sense to me and on my machines it was always more economical. Especially if you can sharpen your own.

[Peter Quinn]

Last time I bought them I think my 15" planer knives made with WKW HSS bar stock were in the $65 range, and sharpening was $.40/inch, or around $18, and the jointer knife cost was a similar ratio. For me it definitely makes more sense to send out the planer knives, I could probably grind the jointer knives my self, but time is short in my world, and I prefer wood working to metal working, so until I get much broker than I am right now I will continue to send the jointer knives out too. If I were a little less broke I would throw a Byrd head in the jointer and spend a little less time setting knives altogether.

Most of the machines at work are terminus quick change heads, and that sure makes things easy, though I'm told that ease of use comes at a cost. CHEAP is not one of the words I have heard used to describe terminus knives, and I haven't found them to out last regular straight knives. I think ours can be sharpened at least once, and they are two sided, but I don't know they would save you any money long run depending on how you value your time?

[Jim Facteau]

do mine all the time, I have the Delta sharpening system but a lot of times I just run them on a honing stone

[Bill White]

Sharpen mine with the old and trusty Makita horizontal waterstones.
Bill