Sharpening jointer blades

[Chris Barnett]

Jointer needs blades sharpened [for the first time]. My jig can hold the plane blades and chisels for the scary method, but not the 6-inch blades. Is there a simple means to hold the rather awkward blades for scary sharpening, and not investing big bucks on a Jet or Worksharp or Tormek? A helical cutter jointer is on my future tool list, so these sharpening systems are not needed long term. Perhaps send out is the best solution.

[Chris Bruno]

The method I was going to try was one I saw in a recent magazine where you make a wooden knife holder that holds the knives at an angle such that the beveled surface is facing up and horizontal. Make slots for all three blades and then you can use your stones on top of them.

I suspect the difficultly is getting the slots as even as possible, but I suppose if they are off slightly it will take care of itself when you set the knives back in the jointer.

...wish I could find a picture...

-Chris

[Phil Thien]

I made this little jig to hold my knives (for my Inca) so I could use sandpaper on glass (scary sharp) to touch-up my knives. It is just some plywood used in conjunction with one of those cheap, adjustable commercial jigs ("Eclipse" or "Elipse" come to mind). It is adjustable and works great. But I did get a Woodcraft wet grinder (on sale) because I wanted to speed the process up. I can say, though, that the scary sharp method does result in sharper knives than the wet grinder.

[Jim Barstow]

I just sharpened my inca planer blades using a veritas jig and
the scary sharp system (adhesive backed abrasive paper mounted to glass). It was a little tedious (I had a knick in a blade) but it worked great. The results were better than the commericial sharpening service I used last time.

[Richard McComas]

http://www.fototime.com/6936F5094A95222/medium.jpg (http://www.fototime.com/pictinv/6936F5094A95222)

[ken gibbs]

The Rockler catalog has a sharpener for sale that you can use to hone jointer blades while installed on your jointer. Has anybody tried it? It would be nice to have so you could touch up your jointer blades before you start to joint down wood for a project. Any users out there?

[Keel McDonald]

I sent mine out for sharpening. I think it only cost $10-12. If I remember right, I was charged by the inch ($0.60/in).

[Gary McKown]

Ken - I have that thing and have used it with mostly disappointing results. Grit is pretty coarse, kinda hard to hold it steady with the knives still in machine, also problematic to whet the same off each knife. If I have to reset the knives, might as well take them out for sharpening.

[Eddie Darby]

Veritas makes this jig.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=&p=33002&cat=1,43072,43078

[Eddie Darby]

I made this little jig to hold my knives (for my Inca) so I could use sandpaper on glass (scary sharp) to touch-up my knives. It is just some plywood used in conjunction with one of those cheap, adjustable commercial jigs ("Eclipse" or "Elipse" come to mind). It is adjustable and works great. But I did get a Woodcraft wet grinder (on sale) because I wanted to speed the process up. I can say, though, that the scary sharp method does result in sharper knives than the wet grinder.

Now that's a jig!:):):):):):):):):D;)

[Chris Barnett]

Now, just why couldn't I think of those ideas .. guess that is the difference between the creative minds and muddy water. Just call me Muddy for short :D . Many thanks; I have a few jigs to try making.

[David Romano]

I just started a thread about this the other day. I also have the Veritas jig and it works great. The thing about jointer blades, or planer for thqat matter, is that you need to grind and sharpen them very evenly. I would stay away from and sort of frehanding, especially with the grinding. I now use a 6" bench grinder and a white 60 grit wheel. I bought a Veritas bench grinder tool rest. It is very adjustable and has a slot in it for sliding the piece back and forth. I mounted my Veritas joinnter blade jig to another small jig I made to facilitate sliding the blade very evenly across the wheel. Any unevenness in the graing will be hard to correct with the scary sharp papers becaus ethe wheel takes off alot of material and the papers just touch up the dge with a bit of honing.

Anyway, my sequence now is grind out the chips, then switch to the veritas jig and use 320 grit paper, 15 um paper and then 5 um papers.

works great

David

[Kevin Godshall]

Amazon is selling the Makita 9820-2 wet wheel sharpener for $211 and free shipping right now.

http://www.amazon.com/Makita-9820-2-Horizontal-Wheel-Sharpener/dp/B0000223JC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1206987395&sr=8-1

[Mike Goetzke]

You might want to check out holbren.com. I paid just over $10 per set for my 6" jointer. I believe they have discounts for many of the woodworking forums.

[Steve Sawyer]

The Rockler catalog has a sharpener for sale that you can use to hone jointer blades while installed on your jointer. Has anybody tried it? It would be nice to have so you could touch up your jointer blades before you start to joint down wood for a project. Any users out there?

I have one of those, and the operant word here is "touch up". As pointed out in another post the stones are rather coarse, but they're great for removing that wire edge that appears after running a quantity of something like hard maple through the jointer. I wouldn't try to restore a dulled edge with it though.

I notice that Infinity offers a more spendy (about $35) but finer-grit diamiond hone version of this that might be better.

[Jon Crowley]

http://www.fototime.com/6936F5094A95222/medium.jpg (http://www.fototime.com/pictinv/6936F5094A95222)


This looks great. So simple that I'd never think of it either. :D I assume you sharpen two blades at a time with this?

[Eddie Darby]

This item is only valid today!:rolleyes:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=56737&cat=1

:D:D:D:D:D:eek:

[Yun-Fong Loh]

Phil, I really like your jig! Richard's is pretty clever as well.

[Will Blick]

Eddie, don't get me excited!!!! I almost fell for it! Till the absurd nomenclature.

Richard, that jig is Brilliant! However, it must be precise, otherwise, you will sharpen unevenly between the two sides. The concept is brilliant, best made out of metal with some good QC. Then, have an insert made for different blade types. I am surprised LV hasn't produced this yet :-) maybe now they will!

[Garry Smith]

This page on my site shows how I made a holder and fence to sharpen the jointer knives at the correct angle.
Very simple and accurate
http://www.superwoodworks.com/Projects/JKnifeJig.htm

[Kevin Godshall]

I just got my Makita sharpener from Amazon, and although the instructions included were horrible, I managed to figure it all out relatively quickly (it may have helped that I spent 15 years cutting meat and sharpening my own knives........).

Put my first attempt on the planer and WOW....... I won't be paying anyone ever again.