Bob Borzelleri
03-15-2011, 9:24 PM
It had been a while since I last used my planer. Getting a lathe and being otherwise busy with non shop things had left the planer inching further and further back from my normal paths through the shop so when I decided it needed a tuneup before I started a new flat work project, it occurred to me that I still needed to swap out the planer blades with the new ones I had bought way back when.
I dug out the new blades, carved a path to move the planer into the center of the shop and, after cleaning off nearly 2 years of dust and organic matter, I removed covers and things between me and the blades and removed the old blades. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that new blades looked as fresh and sharp as the day they were new.
This didn't track with my recollection of the last time I used the planer and had noticed a groove in the wood, apparently from a nicked blade. Still wondering what was going on, I took the tape off the plastic tube the new blades came in and, to my further surprise, discovered the the "new" blades were nicked. :rolleyes:
And then I recalled saying to myself, "I'm gonna sharpen these blades first chance I get so I better put them in the tube and tape it up".
I would attribute this experience to age were it not for the fact that I might have done the same thing at 25.
I dug out the new blades, carved a path to move the planer into the center of the shop and, after cleaning off nearly 2 years of dust and organic matter, I removed covers and things between me and the blades and removed the old blades. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that new blades looked as fresh and sharp as the day they were new.
This didn't track with my recollection of the last time I used the planer and had noticed a groove in the wood, apparently from a nicked blade. Still wondering what was going on, I took the tape off the plastic tube the new blades came in and, to my further surprise, discovered the the "new" blades were nicked. :rolleyes:
And then I recalled saying to myself, "I'm gonna sharpen these blades first chance I get so I better put them in the tube and tape it up".
I would attribute this experience to age were it not for the fact that I might have done the same thing at 25.