How much do you pay for sharpening?

[Mike Cruz]

I finally found a guy that sharpens woodworking blades and the likes. He does chainsaw chains, too, but based on his price for those, I have a feeling he's a bit high (in more ways than one).

So, how much do you pay for:

TS (10") blades...

Band Saw blades...

Planer knives...

Jointer knives (though I have a Shelix head, and don't really need a price on those, but others might be curious)....

Miter saw (12") blades...

Hand plane knives...

Yes, I know that some of these could be done by me. I'm not interested in doing that...for many reasons. Thanks in advance to any and all that answer.

[Dick Mahany]

Planer blades cost $1/in in the SF Bay area. Don't know about the rest.

[Paul Saffold]

16" chainsaw, off the bar, $7. Yes, I know, I should know how. But I don't use it very often. But I do sharpen hand saws.

[John TenEyck]

Here are the guys I use and their pricing for what they sharpen: http://dynamicsaw.com/pricelist.html
Really good work, and very fair prices.

John

[curtis rosche]

take a trip up to amish land once in awhile,, good blade sharpeners are plenty around me. I get my chains sharpened for 3$, for a 3inch saw tooth forestner bit done for 8$, I dont know what the rest would charge

[Nelson Howe]

I used dynamic saw and was disappointed that they replaced two 1/8 inch tips with 3/32 tips. Price is good. I'm paying more now. $16.95 for a 48 tooth blade at a local shop. He also has fantastic prices on Whiteside router bits. Northeast saw and carbide tools.

Nelson

[John Piwaron]

I sharpen most of the stuff I use constantly myself - chisels, irons, planer/jointer knives. I have a Tormek and justified the cost of the jig to sharpen the last two by the price charged by a shop. I think it I figured it was 6 or so sharpenings that equaled the jigs cost.

I recall saw blades costing around 25 cents a tooth. I don't remember what router bits cost. Regarding those, I don't like taking them for sharpening. They remove 1/2 of the carbide thickness doing the sharpening. I think that's excessive. Fortunately most of my saw blades and router bits are carbide tipped so I don't have to worry about sharpening very often. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had anything sharpened outside.

[Andrew Joiner]

Hand plane knives...



I have a $30 TS blade that I use for everything but thick ripping. I paid $15 to have it sharpened by a pro who does the big sawmills blades. It cuts slightly worse than new. I don't trust him to do my expensive blades.

For me paying a pro to sharpen my hand plane blades would be like paying a pro to cut joints on my woodwork.

[Mike Cruz]

Thanks, all for your comments, links, and advice. It gives me something to go off of. I thought this guy was loony expensive, but it looks like he's on par with some stuff, but high on others.

He wants 80 cents per inch on planer blades. Which seems about average. He wants $10 for a 20" chainsaw chain...which I think is way high.

Andrew, I understand your "need" to sharpen yourself. I just need it done so rarely, that the learning curve each time would be too frustrating.

[Jim Tabor]

Mike,
I paid to have my chainsaws sharpened for years (about $7) and finally decided that if I were going to live on a farm I had to learn to do it myself. Bought a simple guide and the proper size file, turned out to be a piece of cake.
I pay about 25 cents per tooth for TS blades, but I have now switched to Oshlum blades (best kept secret in woodworking) and they only cost $25. Not sure if I’ll have them re-sharpened or not.
My 15” planer blades were about $15 for the set of three, and now they have a big frown, so I need to replace them.

[Mark W Pugh]

Just found a local guy that charges 85 cents an inch for planer blades.

[Mike Cruz]

Thanks, Jim. I too, ended up getting a sharpener for my chainsaw chains. The investment is WELL worth it, and the accuracy doesn't need to be that of woodworking equipment blades...

Know which TS blades ARE the best kept secret in woodworking? RIDGID combo blades. Yup. Whenever someone's over and sees the cut, they are astonished. I don't remember how much they were. But the cut was so good, they'd be worth sharpening...

Thanks, Mark. That is helpful. Seems like the guy I found isn't crazy after all. He's charging 80 cents per inch on planer blades, and $16 for a 15 tooth TS blade. He's going to get back to me on band saw blades. Not sure if I'll get charged shipping or what because he is part of this co-op thing with other sharpeners...

I might go to my local Amish-type mill and ask them about sharpeners...heck, they might do it for me!