How do you hone blades on Oliver 299D?

[Dimitri Kulp]

I got this Oliver 299D planer a couple years ago and just recently sharpened the blades for the first time. Had to just figure it out myself. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to hone them afterwards though.

Can someone explain this step to me? Thank you!

[J.R. Rutter]

I think you mean "joint" the knives, that is get them all into the same cutting circle. I do not have a knife planer, but have used the basic process on a jointer. After sharpening them in place, you switch to a stone that touches VERY lightly the high spots on the knives. With the head running, you work it side-to-side with the goal of getting light even contact along every knife. This puts a secondary bevel on the tips of the knives, and if they were sharpened accurately this small bevel will not reduce the sharpness TOO much. You can typically joint once or twice between sharpenings before the knives are dulled. The advantage of doing this is each knife taking a finer shaving and doubling or tripling the cuts per inch on the finished surface.

[Rick Lizek]

I suspect you thinking of honing as you would a a hand plane blade. 40 years repairing and tuning machinery, no one does this on planer, jointer knives. Keep a spare set of knives sharp and ready to go is the industry standard. I can change four 24" planer blades within .0005" faster than you could set up a knife jointer/grinder.

[peter gagliardi]

Back when we had regular HSS knives in planer and jointer, I would do this all the time to extend knife changes.
On the planer- mine is an L.Power 24" unit, I would remove the shaving hood, and turn till a knife was about at the top of the cutting circle. I did it standing at the out feed end. Take a medium grit stone, and wet it with denatured alcohol. You rest the stone laying level bridging from the knife tip back along the bevel grind till it rests as well on the head just behind the knife. You can feel it contact these two points- you need at least a 2", and a 3" wide stone would be even better.
Anyway, wet the stone, and the knife with the alcohol, be extremely, and I mean extremely careful and focused, slowly slide the stone from one edge of head to the other in complete strokes. Make sure it all stays wet while doing so. It used to take 40-60 strokes per blade, when you see a very very small land immediately behind the cutting edge , you are sharp enough.
This takes concentrated skill and focus, I can't stress that enough! If you slip, it will be a trip to the ER, for many stitches.
Sounds dangerous, and it is a little, but with a little time it becomes second nature.
Usually you can do this twice before change outs if your careful.
I don't need to remind you to make sure the machine is disconnected from power!!

[Rick Lizek]

http://woodworker.com/search.asp?search=Honemate
I can still change the knives faster than using this honing jig. It's been out for years and I'm not sure when the diamond version was introduced.

[Bradley Gray]

I have an old American Sawmill 24". I used the diamond honing jig for a while but did not find it effective. A few years ago I bought a pair of magnetic knife holders and now I can change knives in under 15 minutes - much better use of my time.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Are you using the Oliver built in Grinder Motor/Wheel Assembly to sharpen blades? If so the honing stone is built into the grinder. Tom

[Dimitri Kulp]

Yes, I'm using the built in grinder and honing stone. So it has the stone, but when I would try to take off the burrs left from grinding, it would work for the first few inches and then stop taking anything off. Could it be loosening up just enough to come off the blades from the force while the machine is on? I tried running the built in honing stone over them while the machine was on. Should you be able to see the micro bevel? Should you see any sparks while honing?

[David Kumm]

I'm assuming you are using the grinding wheel first and grinding with the head pinned at top dead center. You need to be sure that the grinder is set correctly and the wheel contacts the knives pretty evenly across their width. Once ground, you set the jointing stone so it just barely- and i mean barely- touches the knives and turn on the head. Takes courage but you then turn the crank and run the stone across the width. You should see a secondary bevel begin to develop. You have to get a feel for it all and it's been some time since i've done it so don't consider me an expert. Many joint several times before regrinding. Remember that you have to grind to the edge first and the secondary bevel is just enough that you can see it all across the width. Hopefully the knives are set parallel to the grinder wheel and the tables are parallel to the cut. Remember that the pressure bar may need a slight adjustment too. Dave

[Rick Lizek]

Technically it's called jointing not honing hence my confusion over what you were trying to do.

http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Planer%20Knife%20Grinding.ashx

Just running some wood through the planer will take the Burr off. Some manufacturers say to joint first then sharpen and others the opposite. Many say don't even bother with the jointing.