where to get sandpaper for scary sharp blade sharpening?

[cody michael]

hello, I just purchased a craftsman 15 inch planer and a delta x5 6 in jointer, planer was 275$ jointer 200$ and a delta dust collector was 100$ were those good deals?

but ok now to the question I want to be able to sharpen these blades myself the scary sharp (sandpaper glued to glass with a jig to hold it) method seems easy enough, but I don't want to spend 50+$ on sandpaper, where would be an inexspensive place to get 1-2 sheets of each grit I would need in order to start sharpening?

[Dave Gaul]

Good deals? Depends on the models and what shape they are in.

Sandpaper: for just a couple sheets, you could try your local hardware store, a small store might sell single sheets, places like Ace sell their house brand at a decent price. Lee Valley sells individual sheets as well http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?cat=1&p=42500

[Brian Tymchak]

I just sharpen chisels and plane blades with sand paper. Never thought about trying to sharpen planer blades that way. Wouldn't you need paper larger than the standard size sheets? Or maybe there's someway to anchor the planer blade and bring the paper to the edge, vs bringing the edge to the anchored paper?

I've been buying the coarse/fine sandpaper packs (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5983&filter=sand%20paper%20sharpening%20glass) from Rockler.

[phil harold]

walmart has wet and dry upto 2000 grit in the auto dept

I always send my planer bladed and jointer blades to the sharpening shop have an extra set of each to swap them out

[Jay Jeffery]

I got some recently at Northern Tool.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

I believe Joel at "Tools for Working Wood" has inexpensive sets to get you started (and keep you going . . .!) follow this link http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=toolshop&Product_Code=ST-MAF.XX&Category_Code=THS, the prices are 12 - 14 bucks for a set of all the grits you'll need. I have also purchased sheets from Woodcraft as well.

[Joe Angrisani]

Check local body shop supply houses for super fine grit papers. They should have 5-packs for about $4/pack. I pay $3.50 to $4.25 depending on grit (P60 to 2000).

[Myk Rian]

Planer and jointer blade sharpening is a different animal from doing chisels and plane irons. It takes a mill and jig to do it properly.
A Tormek or Work Sharp will do jointer blades, but I'm not sure they can handle planer blades.

[John McClanahan]

Are the planer blades adjustable? If not, you may not be able to use them after sharpening. For the jointer, will you be sharpening your only set of blades? If so, consider buying a set of replacements to use while sharpening the dull ones. You will then have something to compare your sharpening skills to.

John

[Curt Harms]

There's a jig around to sharpen planer knives. It's a block of wood with a 45* V cut out. Put the blades in the block V then use the "cutout" triangle to clamp the knives in place. I've only seen drawing and pictures. It holds both blades at the same height with the edges above the block and the blade bevel horizonal. You use sand paper on a block to sharpen. I don't guess it'd work very good with 3 knife cutterheads.;)

[Brian Tymchak]

There's a jig around to sharpen planer knives. It's a block of wood with a 45* V cut out. Put the blades in the block V then use the "cutout" triangle to clamp the knives in place. I've only seen drawing and pictures. It holds both blades at the same height with the edges above the block and the blade bevel horizonal. You use sand paper on a block to sharpen. I don't guess it'd work very good with 3 knife cutterheads.;)

I just saw last night in the latest ShopNotes a jig for sale to do this. Can't remember the name of it though. I think it said it could be used somehow to do 3 knives.

[Dave Gaul]

I just saw last night in the latest ShopNotes a jig for sale to do this. Can't remember the name of it though. I think it said it could be used somehow to do 3 knives.

I read that article too. You can only do two at a time, so with 3 blades, you just rotate them two at a time...

[Andrew Hughes]

Here is the jig i use to sharpen my dewalt planer knives.I used to have one for my jointer knives.I have inserts on the cutter head now.I like to use a smith diamond with the ribbed back i cut myself once with the dmt plastic plate.So be careful if you want to try this one.one more thing is try not to use too much water the jig will last longer.And it will be easy to get the knives out.I wedge them with strips for a good fit.The knives should be the same width to keep the top surface flat you dont want short ones mixed with long knives.Bad for your machine and you.So start with new knives the need sharpening.I also used to put a small back bevel on my jointer knives for figured woods.Helps alot.Hope this helps.

[Navin Rao]

$3-$4 for a 5 pack at Pep Boys.

[Curt Harms]

Here is the jig i use to sharpen my dewalt planer knives<snip>

Now that's clever!!

[Ron Kahn]

Your best bet would be any auto supply shop that sell stuff for body work. Some places will even sell by the sheet.

[Harvey Pascoe]

Are those "disposables" Andrew? People say you cant' do them because there is no adjustment but it would seem that there might be some leeway for at least a sharpening or two? I just don't feel like dismantling the machine to find out.

[Richard Gonzalez]

Check out you local Woodworkers club or Guild. My local guild does a bulk sandpaper buy every couple of months. We have great quality silicon carbide wet/dry in 14 grits from P80 to P2000 for $0.28 per sheet (in 10 sheet increments). We have 25 meter rolls of Pressure sensitive (great for scary sharp) for less than Lee Valley's price for 30 feet (less than 10 meters).
The prices though my guild are way cheaper than anywhere else I have found.

[Andrew Hughes]

Yes they are the disposable ones.I can get two before the screw heads start hitting the wood.I think it was the screw heads.Something starts marking the wood when they get too short.

[Peter Scoma]

Bit off topic but does anyone go beyond 2000 grit. I was on a site yesterday that had bulk paper up to 6000 grit. Ive also seen paper for polishing rocks that goes up to 50k. Anyone using this stuff?

[Donny Lawson]

I buy mine at our local auto body supply store. It goes up to 2500 grit. I buy it by the sheet.

[Nicholas Carey]

I buy sandpaper for sharpening from Klingspor as stickyback rolls. I have to give them kudos for customer service. The first time I called them up, they took my number. 45 minutes later, the local sales rep called...from his cell phone on the side of the freeway. Took my addmittedly small order of less than a dozen rolls of sandpaper. Some of the sandpaper I wanted they didn't ordinarily stock as stickyback rolls...but even at my size of order, a custom order was no problem -- they'd just slit it off the big rolls. Even with the custom order, I received in Washington state from North Carolina in about 3-4 days, IIRC. Free [and bright yellow] coffee mug to boot :D

Highly recommended (and reasonably priced): http://www.klingspor.com/

I had a glass shop cut me 1/4 plate glass slabs sized to the roll width, one for each grit. The grits and abrasives come from "Sharpening Beveled Blades With Abrasive Sheets (http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/sharpening7142.pdf)", by Spencer Hochstetler and Bill Tindall, originally published in The Eastman Woodworker and archived at WoodCentral's archive of the now-defunct Badger Pond forum (http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/bpindex2.shtml):

http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/sharpening7142.pdf

The article has a lot of good information, as well, WRT to grit equivalences between CAMI and FEPA abrasives, how much sanding is required to to get a uniform scratch pattern (given a well-chosen progression of grits, less than you think), etc.

I use the following grades of paper, where each step is about a 30% reduction in grit size:


alumina-zirconia

P100
P150

aluminum oxide

P220
P320
P500

silicon carbide

P800
P1200
P2000



With this grit progression, it takes no more than 5-15 strokes per grit to get to "scary sharp". You don't need to go down to the coarser grits, either unless the tool is either really dull or you've nicked the blade (and for anything bigger than a minor nick, I'd go to the grinder).