Jointer knives

[Jesse Ridder]

Hey guy, I've tried searching in the search function and can't seem to find any info on this.
I have a gatco sharpening system that I use for my pocket knives.
Could I use this to sharpen my Jointer knives? I just have a cheapo Craftsman 4 1/8 bench top jointer.
Just curious if this is doable or not.
I've never sharpened planer or jointer knives before. :confused:


Thanks in advance!
Jesse

[Carl Beckett]

Hi Jesse,

I had to look that up - from what I found these are rods (likely ceramic?) with a guide to hold the blade at a constant angle to the edge being sharpened.

My $.02 - it 'might' be doable. BUT - I think for your relatively short blades, you would do better with sandpaper. Do a search here for planer or jointer knife sharpening. A number of people have made simple fixtures that just hold the knife at an angle, and then you turn this upside down on a piece of sandpaper that rests on a flat surface (like your tablesaw top, or piece of glass).

It will work very well.

[John R Hoppe]

Jesse,

If you have a bench grinder the knives are very easy to sharpen. Use a marker to blacken the bevel and set the tool rest on the grinder so that the wheel hits in the middle of the bevel. Then just slide the knives back and forth on the wheel until all the black is gone. If you are unsure or your dexterity. clamp a stick onto the rest to act as a guide for the knife. Take a cut or two and let them cool. Do not overheat the knives. When they are sharp, you can run them over a stone to finish up, but it is not really necessary.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I have not bothered to sharpen my blades of this type (because I use carbide tipped straight blades and they last a long time).

If I did, however, I would probably build a jig out of wood to hold the blade at a specific angle and then sharpen on sandpaper.... I found one example very quickly by using google with


sharpen planer blades jig