new jointer knives vs. resharpening

[Terry Dean]

Anyone have any recommendations about what is the best way to go on whether to buy new jointer knives or to pay someone to resharpen. A new set of Freud blades on Amazon.com runs me (incl. shipping) less than $25. I have heard from my local Woodcraft store that they can put me in touch with a fellow who will resharpen for $10 to $15. Then I have to drive to his place and then pick them up when they are done - with gas at $4 per gal and my truck getting only 10 or 11 MPG thats another $8 to $10 bucks. About even in cost, but here's my thoughts - how do you know if they will be "right" when the fellow's resharpened them - probably not until you re-install them and find they are not the correct bevel or are not straight, etc.

Just thought it would be interesting to know what everyone else is doing - or even any ideas on an inexpensive way I could do it myself - maybe sandpaper on glass with a guide? I have never been very good at sharpening things.

[Mike SoRelle]

Anyone have any recommendations about what is the best way to go on whether to buy new jointer knives or to pay someone to resharpen. A new set of Freud blades on Amazon.com runs me (incl. shipping) less than $25. I have heard from my local Woodcraft store that they can put me in touch with a fellow who will resharpen for $10 to $15. Then I have to drive to his place and then pick them up when they are done - with gas at $4 per gal and my truck getting only 10 or 11 MPG thats another $8 to $10 bucks. About even in cost, but here's my thoughts - how do you know if they will be "right" when the fellow's resharpened them - probably not until you re-install them and find they are not the correct bevel or are not straight, etc.

Just thought it would be interesting to know what everyone else is doing - or even any ideas on an inexpensive way I could do it myself - maybe sandpaper on glass with a guide? I have never been very good at sharpening things.

I ocassionally run a fine stone over mine while they are in place just to deburr them but in my case as well, I can get Freud's delivered via amazon for less than 20$ (free 2 day with Amazon Prime) so I tend to just replace them when it's time. If you're not in a high volume production environment I'm not sure sharpening makes economic sense, especially since I might go through 2 sets a year. That 40$ cost isn't worth the time to take them somewhere, much less the gas/wear and tear to do so.

That's my $.02 YMMV

Mike

[Bart Leetch]

Go ahead & get a second set of blades & then get together saw blades & planer blades to go with you jointer blades & take them all in at the same time. This is the only way to save money when having items sharpened for your shop. Bringing only 1 item in at a time doesn't make sense even if the fuel was cheaper & you truck got 25 MPG.

[Bert Johansen]

I just had mine sharpened. My jointer is a 12-inch with three blades. I was quoted $0.60 per inch, or about $22 for the job. When I got the blades back they were useless as two still had nicks in them and two were not consistent in width--by O.040 inches. Took them back and after three tries they got it right.
And they charged me over $30 for the job!

I think purchasing new ones makes economic sense and ensures peace of mind.

[glenn bradley]

I think you have your answer but as a general rule, if I can't find a recommended sharpening service (ask your local upper-end cabinet shop where they go) I would ship. The wasted time and money to take a sharpening job back to the guy who did it wrong will probably cover shipping.

[Bart Leetch]

"(Ask your local upper-end cabinet shop where they go)" This is the answer your looking for!!! You should be able to find someone local that does a good job of sharpening. With a local sharpener after the second round of not doing the job properly I would probably nicely say well you had your chance I think I'll try & find someone who can do this job right.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Here locally we have TWO EXCELLENT sharpening services, but I ship my stuff to Dynamic Saw in Buffalo NY. It is an eighty mile round trip to locals, as they are on the other side of county. Two trips, times 80=160 miles, divided by 39.5 MPG is approx. four gallons of gas at $4 per gallon, which works out to around $16, but FOUR hours of lost production time. A call to post office, and postman brings me an $8.95 flat rate box. Put blades in it and call for pick up, or drop at post office (four miles away) when going that way. Blades are back in about two weeks. Last time I shipped four saw blades and a set of jointer knives. Shipping both ways was about $20, which works out to about $4 per item. Add $4 to the $13.50 for sharpening, and new knives from either Amazon, or Global Tooling are about the same. The only way I will have jointer knives sharpened is in conjunction with a shipment of saw blades to sharpener. My 15" planer knives also go to Dynamic Saw. Want to have a real expensive sharpening job, just send them to Forrest. Set of 15" planer knives, not including the freight to Forrest, $76

[Jesse Cloud]

I'm with Bart. I have a backup for most blades and knives. I'll wait for a few items to need sharpening, then drop them off next time I'm in town. No need for a special trip.

Most professional sharpening shops are all cnc gear now. I can't imagine getting a bad job from a pro.

[Kevin Godshall]

I just bought a Makita wet stone sharpener off of Amazon and I can't believe I was paying for sharpening and/or new blades before. The learning curve was hard at first, mainly because the included instructions were garbage, but once I found an online, step by step guide by someone else who was doing it, my blades were done in a snap, and razor sharp. I have about 10 sets of blades (double sided, 12 1/2") and was paying 50 cents per inch for sharpening. The Makita cost $200 (free S/H), so I figure 8 sharpenings and I'm even (I have 2 under my belt already).

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=108

http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articles/Sharpening/sharpening.htm

PS. I see the price on Amazon is now over $350, maybe have to wait for another sale ?

[Terry Dean]

Sorry I didn't get back sooner to join in on the discussion as each was coming in - I had a lot of chores I had to catch up on over the holiday weekend. Thanks a bunch for the ideas and opinions and references and sharing your experiences.

I guess for right now for me the best way to go is just to buy a new set. I think I was leaning that way anyway, I just wanted to get some valued opinions from some more experienced woodworkers. I don't have any saw blades or other edges that are needing sharpening right now but the idea to bunch and make one trip was good. I also think the idea to mail them off would probably be a good way to go. But I bet sending 2 or 3 sets would not cost much more than a single set, so I may buy a couple of new sets and try that way. With the cost of fuel rising so quickly I suspect that shipping charges for new ones is bound to go up soon - so I probably need to get a couple of sets ordered. By the way, besides the 6" jointer, I have a Ridgid 2 knife planer. With the ability to turn them over for a fresh edge, and it came with a spare set, and a new set only costs about $25 at the local BORG; I don't plan on sharpening them - I don't think they are designed to be sharpened anyway.

As for the Makita wet stone, sure looks like a fine piece of equipment and I would love to have one - looks like just the ticket for handymen (like us). The price is a real OUCH!! though. I am going to save the 2 links in my WOOD folder on my computer desktop for future reference - I am a sucker for new tools - I could have been a TV star just like Tim "the Tool man" Taylor, because as Buck Owens used to sing "... all I gotta do is act naturally." :D

[Charlie Plesums]

The disposable double side blades come sharp and are not readily sharpened. Buy new ones.

In my previous equipment, with "conventional" blades, the replacement blades that I bought were not very sharp when they arrived, so they needed to be sharpened before they were used. Just buying new ones wasn't a good solution.

[Mike SoRelle]

The disposable double side blades come sharp and are not readily sharpened. Buy new ones.

In my previous equipment, with "conventional" blades, the replacement blades that I bought were not very sharp when they arrived, so they needed to be sharpened before they were used. Just buying new ones wasn't a good solution.

I've had good luck with Freud jointer knives with the caveat that while they are sharp out of the box, I ususally end up taking them to a stone for a second to deburr the backs, probably 3/4 of the knives I've gotten had burrs.

[Mike Spanbauer]

I get new knives from these guys: http://globaltooling.bizhosting.com/planer_knives.html for close to the same price as sharpening + shipping and they come fairly sharp.

I've not found a cheaper source.

mike

[Kevin Godshall]

As for the Makita wet stone, sure looks like a fine piece of equipment and I would love to have one - looks like just the ticket for handymen (like us). The price is a real OUCH!! though. I am going to save the 2 links in my WOOD folder on my computer desktop for future reference - I am a sucker for new tools - I could have been a TV star just like Tim "the Tool man" Taylor, because as Buck Owens used to sing "... all I gotta do is act naturally." :D

I've got 4 sharpenings on my current set right now (4x$25=$100= half my purchase price), and I've never had blades cut this good before. My total time, disassembling, sharpening, re-assembling is 20 minutes. Instead of overusing dulling blades, I'm keeping them in perfect shape, saving wear and tear on my rollers and cutter motor. One of the best investments I've made so far.....

And the news gets better......... just started sharpening for some local guys. So far, they are very impressed with quality as well as savings I'm passing on to them