Resharpen DW735 knives.

[James Suzda]

Awhile ago I had posted that I had my DeWalt 735 planer blades sharpened by a local shop. Well, I’m here to update that report.
Things are not well with the re-sharpened blades. The other day I was planning some red oak and I could see some “burnished” lines in the surface of the wood. One streak even looked slightly burned. What the heck is going on!
I took off the cover and checked the knives thinking that maybe a wood chip became lodged in the head. What I did find was the heads of some of the cap screws were shinny. Ahhh, the blades are too narrow now and the screw heads are hitting the wood.
So, maybe the knives can be honed, but not sharpened. After measuring them they were quite a bit narrower than the original planer knives.
So, that was $20 flushed down the tubes!

[luc gendron]

Hello,

I've had my blades resharpened 3 or 4 times and everytime my Dewalt planer works like new. I suggest you change shop!

[Brad Townsend]

Hello,

I've had my blades resharpened 3 or 4 times and everytime my Dewalt planer works like new. I suggest you change shop!
Amen! I have resharpened mine myself with excellent results. The place you took them apparently doesn't know what they're doing.

[Jim Becker]

It's important to remember that these tools were designed for the knives to be throw-aways. There is no adjustment available to align them after "sharpening". Minor honing will not matter, but anyone who grinds metal off is going to cause potential quality issues with the subsequent cuts. A really skillful sharpener can likely give you a keen edge that doesn't vary much from the original alignment, but they need to be really good and the knives have got to be in a fairly good state before they work on them.

Consider--you're not really saving much if you damage your workpiece, your tool or cause yourself extra sanding work to remove excessive scalloping from a "too-tall" knife.

[Grant Wilkinson]

I'm a new guy to this forum, but have had the same issues with 735 knives as many others. I spoke to Dewalt yesterday, 24 Jan 07, and was told that they are coming out with a new, harder knife in a week or so. It will still be throw-away, but is supposed to last longer.

Grant
Ottawa

[Brad Townsend]

I'm a new guy to this forum, but have had the same issues with 735 knives as many others. I spoke to Dewalt yesterday, 24 Jan 07, and was told that they are coming out with a new, harder knife in a week or so. It will still be throw-away, but is supposed to last longer.

Grant
Ottawa Did they give any info about how one would identify the new stock from the old at the point of purchase?:rolleyes:

[Gary Keedwell]

It will probably be labled "new and improved" LOL

Gary K.

[Hoa Dinh]

It will probably be labled "new and improved"
Or "Under New Management." :D

[Grant Wilkinson]

Funny you should ask, Brad. I wrote to Dewalt this morning to ask that very question. The reply said that they didn't know who I spoke to on the phone, but there are no plans at Dewalt to make harder blades. There is another thread on the forums about the Infinity blads. They say that they are harder and will last 4 times as long as the Dewalt ones.
Time will tell, I guess.

Grant

[Eddie Darby]

It would seem to me that the Market is ready for a blade that will fit the DW-735, last longer and will have extra material to allow a few sharpenings! Perhaps a little thicker too.

If you remove the exact same amount of material from each blade, then indexing will be the same, and the only adjustments will be in the pre-set depth stops or if you upgraded to a digital read-out, then a re-zeroing.

I should think that a Jet or Tormek plane/jointer blade holder should be able to do the job of removing a set amount of metal from each blade. Perhaps a little modification is required, with the addition of indexing pins to the blade holder.

[Brad Townsend]

It would seem to me that the Market is ready for a blade that will fit the DW-735, last longer and will have extra material to allow a few sharpenings! Perhaps a little thicker too.

If you remove the exact same amount of material from each blade, then indexing will be the same, and the only adjustments will be in the pre-set depth stops or if you upgraded to a digital read-out, then a re-zeroing.

I should think that a Jet or Tormek plane/jointer blade holder should be able to do the job of removing a set amount of metal from each blade. Perhaps a little modification is required, with the addition of indexing pins to the blade holder. I use the ugly green horizontal wet sharpener from Woodcraft, along with the optional jointer/planer knife jig for it. Cost me a little over a $100 on sale. As mentioned earlier, I've gotten excellent results. After sharpening (or honing,or whatever you want to call it), I honestly cannot tell the difference from when the knives were new. I have resharpened two sets of knives twice so far, but probably won't push it beyond that. The savings add up pretty quick. Some may be skeptical. All I can say is it works for me.:D