Resharpend Planer Knives?

[James White]

What should I expect from resharpened knives. This is my first time using a sharpening service for planer knives. I have in the past sharpened my own jointer and planer knives. Till they are shave sharp. I know not to expect that. I even believe there is a school of thought that planer knives should not be all that sharp. Because they will not be durable when so sharp. Is that true?

Do any of you hone your blades after getting them back. It seems that the knives have about a 400 grit finish on the bevel. That's just a rough guess. But should I hone the bevel and the backs? What is the ideal bevel angle? Would it be good to put a micro bevel on. Or should I just install them as is?

I would like to hear your thought on this and what you normally do. To get the best finish and longest life. Also if you know of any articles or authors that have done some testing on this. Then please share.

I recently read a tip in a mag about making a small jig with a diamond hone in it. To touch up the planer knives. Anyone know what magazine that was? I tried finding it in my magazines. But so far I am unable to find were I saw it.

James

[glenn bradley]

My local sharpeners finish up with 600 grit which leaves an edge about like a razor blade. Not chisel or hand plane sharp but, very much a 'slice your finger if you're not careful' sharp. Durability can have to do with the material and angle.

[Bill White]

Have ya honed/deburred the flat side of the knives?
Bill

[James White]

Oh. By the way this is for a 25" planer. So honing will be a bit tricky.

Glenn,

I am sure these are not that sharp. I used an industrial service and I am not sure what grit they use. But I can tell they are not all that sharp. These are Freud blades and the backs still have a circular pattern that seems just a tad finer than that.

James

[James White]

Have ya honed/deburred the flat side of the knives?
Bill

No I have not.

James

[Van Huskey]

I might be tempted to get a pair of Deulen 12" Jointer/Planer knife sharpening jigs and do it myself. Depending on how often you need sharpening it may save money and you can hone them as high as you like, I wouldn't bother over 400 though since anything higher will get knocked down to the 400 level very quickly.

[Michael Mayo]

I do my own on A Tormek T-7 with the planer/jointer knife jig and they came out superb. I was able to shave the hair off my arm with them when finished. Took maybe an hour to do the three blades but that was the first time I have used the new planer knife jig so there was a little learning curve involved. Now that I have done it it won't take nearly as long next go round. They really cut like nobodies business after I sharpened them up. As to how long they will last I don't know as I just got the Delta DC 380 planer recently so we will have to see. I had my jointer knives sharpened by a service several months ago and i wasn't really impressed with the knives when I picked them up for the price they charged they should have been sharper. So I will just do them myself from now on.

[James White]

I do my own on A Tormek T-7 with the planer/jointer knife jig and they came out superb. I was able to shave the hair off my arm with them when finished. Took maybe an hour to do the three blades but that was the first time I have used the new planer knife jig so there was a little learning curve involved. Now that I have done it it won't take nearly as long next go round. They really cut like nobodies business after I sharpened them up. As to how long they will last I don't know as I just got the Delta DC 380 planer recently so we will have to see. I had my jointer knives sharpened by a service several months ago and i wasn't really impressed with the knives when I picked them up for the price they charged they should have been sharper. So I will just do them myself from now on.

Up till now this is what I have done. I have the Sheppack wet grinder with the planer knife attachment. It worked great for the my 8 " jointer. like I said shave sharp. But with 25" knives it takes a very long time and there is no way to really keep the knife edge strait.

I think I will hone the backs and just barley hone the bevel to get any burs and what not off. I have three sets of knives that I had sent out. So I have some room to experiment with. I think I more or less wanted to know. If what I read about a blunter edge being of benefit in a planer was true. I cant see how that would be possible. But you never know.

James

[James White]

I might be tempted to get a pair of Deulen 12" Jointer/Planer knife sharpening jigs and do it myself. Depending on how often you need sharpening it may save money and you can hone them as high as you like, I wouldn't bother over 400 though since anything higher will get knocked down to the 400 level very quickly.

I would be tempted to make my own. But I don't think I would be willing to experiment with the cost of two of the 12" models.

I really wish that I could get lucky again. And score three 25" Freud knives for less than $40 on Amazon. That was sweet. But I don't expect it to happen again. That is why I haven't had to get any sharpening done till now. I had two sets of knives then did a set on the Scheppak grinder than purchased two more sets. So for the time that I have had this planer I haven't needed any sharpening service. I try not to use my big planer too much. I have a Dewalt 735 with a Shelix head for most of my planing. I only wish I had the coin to drop on a spiral head for my 725.

James

[Phil Thien]

I had previously used a Woodcraft wet grinder to sharpen my 8" jointer blades. But I like fooling around with different ways of doing things so I recently switched to a method with a diamond drum sleeve on the drill press, along with a very simple jig, to grind the bevels (to eliminate any nicks). Then I put the knives in another jig where I use a diamond stone to hone something a little larger than a micro-bevel on them.

The 1" diamond drum sanding sleeve makes pretty quick work of the HSS.

[Bob Hurley]

I use a Jet Sharpener and use a Tormek (they work interchangably) planer/joiner fixture. The blades come out like new. You wouldn't be able to tell them from brand new.

[John TenEyck]

I used to sharpen and hone my jointer and planer knives by hand with waterstones until they had a mirror polish - 4000 grit I think the polishing stone is. Anyway, they were wicked sharp. Then I put a nick in one of them and was in a hurry, so I sharpened them on my Grizzly Knife Grinder. I don't know what the grit of the stone is, but it's pretty coarse. Anyway, after a few passes to get rid of the knicks, they seemed pretty sharp (but not polished by any means) so I removed the burr off the back side with an oil stone and put them back in the planer. They worked great and they seem to last just as long. Oh yeah, I set the angle to exactly what the owner's manual says. I once had a micro bevel at a steeper angle on one set that was a little too long, and the back of the knife hit the work when the blade rotated. Very bad. So if you are going to use a micro bevel, either make sure it's very short, or grind the primary bevel at a shallower angle so that the micro bevel can be set at the correct angle.