sharpening jointer blades/knives

[joe maday]

A question regarding sharpening jointer blades. 1) send out to a blade sharpening service, 2) sharpen by self with a machine (a makita for example), 3) Sharpen by hand on diamond or oils/water stones, freehand or with jigs???? I quess that longer blades 16"+ would need to be sent out because of their lenght, but shorter 4,6,8-12 could be done many ways.

[Richard Coers]

Not even a consideration to me, send them out. Ever try to use a Makita? Miserable!!!!! You are dragging a blade across a flat spinning stone. You touch the tip of the stone, and across the stone closer to the middle. This means you are touching a stone at different surface speeds and makes material removal a real challenge. These blades are hard! Trying to remove steel on a hand blade plane takes some skill, 12" wide on a diamond stone? Forget it! I am blessed by having a fantastic grinding service in our town. These guys sharpen large paper shearing blades, and their machine is 16' long. They align all three of my 24" planer blades on a magnetic chuck, against a straight edge, and grind all three at one time. Perfectly sharp and all 3 are perfectly the same width. No balance issues, ever! Let me know if you want the name and address. They are in East Peoria, IL.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

If I intended to do this, I would probably (in order of preference):



Make or purchase a jig to hold the blades at the correct angle then run them on sandpaper.
Pay a service (if cost is good)
Purchase the jig for my Tormek and try that.


I expect that I would not be able to do this on a water stone very easily because of the size of the blade. I am able to sharpen a kitchen knife on a water stone so it should be possible

[Frank Drew]

Joe,

I sharpened my hand tools myself, but sent out machinery knives, keeping at least one spare, sharpened set on hand to avoid unnecessary downtime.

[John TenEyck]

No question for a pro, send them out, but if you are a hobbiest like me then time is off less importance than money so I do my own. It's really not that hard and it's pretty hard to screw it up if you use a jig to hold the knives and sharpen them by hand on sandpaper, waterstones, etc. I sharpened my 10" and 12" that way for years until I bought a Grizzly knife grinder at an auction. With great trepidation I gave it a go with one set of my 10" jointer blades. I'll admit there was a learning curve, but it's not a real steep one, and I can sharpen a pair of blades now in only a few minutes. They are so good straight from the grinder that I don't even bother to follow up with the waterstones anymore. But don't get me wrong, it is easy to burn up a knife with an uncooled grinder if you don't know what you are doing. I think with my setup I could handle a knife up to around 15 inches. Beyond that I would go back to hand sharpening. In any case, the knives I sharpen are within 0.002" across their length, which is good enough for me.

John

[Michael Koons]

I built the jigs below. One for jointer and one for planer knives. 42° angles and set screws. A few passes on the sharpening stones and the blades are good to go. I was having problems with my DW 13 1/2" planer sticking with dull knives. After I run my blades on the stones with this jig, no more sticking.

263437

** Don't mind the groove in the smaller jig. That was just screw up and I didn't want to cut a new block. So I used the other side. :)

[David Kumm]

If you find a good sharpener they should ask about the diameter of the head, the type of wood cut and the rpm of the machine. Might be marketing hype but the guys who know how to sharpen and tweak the knives for the machine are worth whatever they cost. Dave

[Jeff Duncan]

Wow......6 replies and not a single mention of swapping the cutterhead out for an insert head yet:eek:

I send my knives out along with my blades as it's just easier and more cost effective. I agree though that if I were just doing it as a hobby it I may be inclined to at least try to sharpen them by myself once.

good luck,
JeffD

[George Beck]

Anybody try using a Tormek for this?

[lowell holmes]

The last time I dealt with this, it turned out to be cheaper to buy new blades. My jointer is a 6"Jet.

[Tom Walz]

Check out the Deulen system.

http://deulentools.com/BuySharpeners.html

Nice folks. Nice little jig. Good videos on how to sharpen on sandpaper.

We thought about selling their system but can't compete with their prices selling direct.

[Ole Anderson]

Check out the Deulen system.

http://deulentools.com/BuySharpeners.html

Nice folks. Nice little jig. Good videos on how to sharpen on sandpaper.
I got one of their 12" jigs on sale for $20 off at my local tool supplier. Works great. I go 180/400/600 on a granite block. The 180 and 400 came from my local automotive supplier in 2-1/4" rolls of PSA. I've used it on both my 13" Delta planer and an old 6" jointer.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Joe
I picked up a Quik-Hone from Peachtree when they first came out. Very pleased with there performance. Used a sheet of 1/2" glass for flat base to stick PSA sandpaper to, was able to do 5 sets of jointer-planer knives in under an hour, finished up with 400 grit. Longest blade 13". Tom www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmXuFqmqTvk‎

[Nelson Howe]

I did what Hendrik Varju suggested in FWW, and sharpened mine in place. It worked quite well. I have straight carbide knives. I think you can only do it a few times before they have to be ground again, but it got them sharper than new. http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/sharpen-jointer-knives-in-place.aspx. I think you need to subscribe to get the article. And it may be an illegal link. Sorry, if it is, axe it out.

Nelson

[Myk Rian]

Something I'm a bit confused about. If the jig holds 2 blades, what about having a 3 knife head? Does one blade get sharpened twice?

[HANK METZ]

I do mine on my radial arm saw, the local shop makes too much money from me on it, and the radial is a near- duplicate of their machine. I use an 8” wheel, a fixture, a straight edged clamp, and take light passes, it doesn’t take much to get a shaving edge back on them, even with nicks present on the edge. Image shows the method, blade guard removed for clarity, also use blade stabilizer washers (large) both side of stone.
263466

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Myk Rian]

I do mine on my radial arm saw,
Now, that's a good idea. Never thought of that.
Do you pull the saw across the knife, or is that a clamped fence to run a jig down.
I'm trying to grasp it according to the pic.

[HANK METZ]

You're correct Myk, the fence serves as the guide rail, just scoot the jig along the leading edge. To obtain fine adjust I simply lower the motor via the column height knob. Do all three knives in succession with one jig setting and they're a perfectly matched set.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Dave Zellers]

I wasn't going to bother since it is obviously a niche area I inhabit, but I've been sharpening my jointer and planer blades on my Makita wet sharpener for at least 20 years with excellent results. I love being able to turn around a blade change in a few hours without leaving my shop. Since I've had the Makita for so long, I consider the sharpening free.

Spare me the "your time is money" lectures. If I bought new knives or sent the old ones out, I'd still have to make the change.

It woks for me and has for a long, long time.

[joe maday]

The reason i posed the question is, I am able to get a makita sharpener for under 100.00 in box, never used, with extra 60 grit stone and was wondering if it was worth the effort to use/learn to sharpen my own jointer blades instead of sending them out.

[Metod Alif]

'your time is money'
If one has skills, he/she gets much more time for the same amount of money.
Best wishes,
Metod

[Myk Rian]

You're correct Myk, the fence serves as the guide rail, just scoot the jig along the leading edge. To obtain fine adjust I simply lower the motor via the column height knob.
I made a jig out of a chunk of honey locust that will hold up to an 8" knife. Found a 6" 80 grit wheel at the hardware store. I'll never have to send knives out for sharpening again. Works great.
Thanks for the tip, Hank.
VIDEO : http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad222/MykRian/Sharpening/?action=view&current=20130612_150742_zps7f76ae07.mp4

[HANK METZ]

Honey Locust, man I love that stuff, it's like cast iron.
Great jig Myk!

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Alden Miller]

Anybody try using a Tormek for this?

I used to sharpen blades for my 8" jointer with my Tormek, it did a nice job and went relatively quickly.

-Alden

[John Piwaron]

I use a Tormek to sharpen my planer and jointer knives. It works pretty well. It didn't take very many sharpenings to justify the money spent on the jig for the grinder compared to the cost of sending them out.

[Carl Beckett]

OK, I will fess up:

I put a friable wheel on my table saw in place of the blade.

Then a jig to hold the blade.

clamp a fence horizontally across the tablesaw and just slide the jig back and forth by hand. Use the blade lift to increase cut.

(I do have a Makita, and Lapsharp, but just knock planer blades out on the tablesaw this way)

Another fixture Chip posted some time ago uses a grinding wheel on a drill press.

I will say that sometimes when I have sent the blades out to be sharpened, the service overheated the edge in a couple places. I have a 15" planer with two sets of blades, and an 8" jointer with two sets of blades. Three blades each. Pushing 140 linear inches for sharpening.

[Dave Zellers]

These RAS and Table Saw sharpeners sound very interesting.

Do you worry about sparks in the sawdust?

[John McClanahan]

I do mine on my radial arm saw, the local shop makes too much money from me on it, and the radial is a near- duplicate of their machine. I use an 8” wheel, a fixture, a straight edged clamp, and take light passes, it doesn’t take much to get a shaving edge back on them, even with nicks present on the edge. Image shows the method, blade guard removed for clarity, also use blade stabilizer washers (large) both side of stone.
263466

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.


OK, now show me something you don't do with your RAS, Hank. :D:D

John

[Myk Rian]

Do you worry about sparks in the sawdust?
The sparks go to the side where the minimum sawdust is.

[HANK METZ]

The sparks go to the side where the minimum sawdust is.

Just to augment what Myk says, I also blow off the tool & work area before commencing the grinding. Not to be dismissive of the possibility of inadvertent fire, but I take great comfort when I see the survival professionals having a tough time igniting a campfire with sparks from flint, even with a well- prepared tinder pile at hand- preparation is everything.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.