Pay to Resharpen, Esta quickchange or buy sharpener

[Geoff Siemering]

I am now at the point where I HAVE to have my two sets of jointer/planer knives resharpened. I've got a Robland XSD 310 12" jointer/planer combo. I only need to put fresh blades on once a year (not enough time in the shop!) and since I bought the machine two years ago and it came with an extra set of knives I haven't had to resharpen any until now. The machine has three 12" blades.

My dilema is whether I should send them out for resharpening (suggestions on a good shop are welcome), install the ESTA quick change system, or buy a sharpening system and just do them myself.

The pros and cons of each situation (as I see it) are:

Commercial resharpening: will cost $28-35 a set, but then I still have to reinstall them with the lame Robland jig. It is a metal part that sits over the blade and the blade is pushed up by two springs. It took me about 1hr and 30 minutes to get the knives level last time. The least expensive of the three options.

Install the ESTA quick change system:
This will run about $350, but will make the knive changes a breeze. With ESTA's new Posiset magnets installation should be easy.

Buy a sharpening system and sharpen them myself:
Will also run a few hundred dollars, would still be left with lame Robland jig, but would have new tools! I currently sharpen my chisels and handplane knives using waterstones and am proficient enough that I don't need a jig for the waterstones so I don't really need a grinder for other tools.

All three options are definite possibilities, I'd appreciate any feedback others might have.

Thanks,
Geoff

[Jim DeLaney]

How many sharpenings will you get before you need (two sets) of new blades?

Plus, how much do you value the time you spend (or waste, depending on your view) setting up the new blades.

At $35 for sharpening, 1.5 hours (?$) and probably $75 per set of new blades, it'll only take maybe three blade changes to approach the cost of the Esta setup.

I think that's the way I'd go...

[Ian Barley]

You don't say that cost of new blades for the Esta system. I'm gonna guess that the cost is similar to Tersa which I have done a little investigation of. I have found that a Tersa edge costs about the same as sharpening a standard edge. So the cost issue between those two options is probably neutral with the difference being the time takento set up.

If you say that set up took you 1.5 hours and you have to do it on average every six months. Setting the Esta blades is still gonna take some time but if we assume that you save an hour you will be saving 2 hours per year. Only you can value that time in dollars but I think it would be at least a few years before you got your money back.

As to sharpening yourself - I would definitely think long and hard before shelling out for a Tormek or similar. I have one and use it to sharpen HSS blades for my 12" Startrite Pllaner/Thicknesser. The difference is that when I am in full production I change a set of blades about every 2 or 3 hours (hard woods / high volumes/ need for good finish) and the Tormek enables me to lick an edge back on to a set of blades fairly quickly. I still however send them out to get a proper sharpening from time to time. If you find setting up the blades in the machine fiddly you don't want to go near the jig used for setting them up to the sharpener. I do it a lot and sharpening a set of blades takes me at least 30 mins. Setting up from new took me about 4 hours.

I would float one more option. I have recently installed a set of TCT blades in my machine and so far they have lasted about 5 times as long as HSS and are still going strong. Reportedly they will keep their edge something like 10 times as long. The cost is about three times the cost of an HSS set and they have to be sent to a suitable shop to be sharpened - which is also about 2-3 times the cost. This would mean that you would proabably be looking at changing your blades about once in 4-5 years at your current usage rate.

[dave nichols]

I have the Esta knives in my 6" jointer and am very happy with them but a few years after I got the Esta knives I bought a Tormek with all the jigs, I use it to sharpen my 15" planer knives and am very happy with the way it's working, almost makes me wish I didn't invest in the Esta knive set for the jointer

[Paul Kunkel]

I use a Makita wet wheel with great sucess. I have enough sets of knives so I only have to worry about sharpening when business is slow. My time then is worthless, so sharpening is free-right? :confused: