No longer hesitant to ask a sharpening question; jointer knives

[David Sloan]

Now that I have chisels, plane blades and even some of my wife's Japanese kitchen knives that are sharp, I am looking at my 8" HSS jointer knives. In case some might suggest it, I am not going to send them out to be sharpened. I have researched the Deulen jig and seen conflicting but mostly favorable reports on this website and other places. I see also that Lee Valley has a jig designed for jointer knives. Has anyone used it? I have read that some people do it freehand as well. Finally do people find a micro bevel helpful in this situation?

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I sharpen jointer and planer knives on the Tormek, and they take a while to sharpen due to the hardness. If doing by hand, I would recommend diamond stones. As for a microbevel, I don't use one.

[Jim Belair]

Maybe ask on the power tool side....

[Patrick Chase]

Now that I have chisels, plane blades and even some of my wife's Japanese kitchen knives that are sharp, I am looking at my 8" HSS jointer knives. In case some might suggest it, I am not going to send them out to be sharpened. I have researched the Deulen jig and seen conflicting but mostly favorable reports on this website and other places. I see also that Lee Valley has a jig designed for jointer knives. Has anyone used it? I have read that some people do it freehand as well. Finally do people find a micro bevel helpful in this situation?

This is the neander forum. Our jointers are bench planes that use "irons" or perhaps "blades", but never "knives".

Seriously, I gave up on knife-sharpening long ago and switched to carbide, first with the conventional Infinity knives that go in your existing head, and later with an insert-based Shelix (helical) head.

[Ray Selinger]

The Lee Valley jig is just for honing knives. For that, it works.

[David Sloan]

I addressed the question to this forum because of the collective sharpening expertise. For the record I have a no 7 jointer and a old wood jointer both of which I use. If you have a Shelix head Patrick, you are using more than bench planes. Lee Valley makes a jig designed for jointer knives that allows one to make a microbevel. They also sell a knife honing jig, which I have but haven't used. I was hoping someone might have used the LV jointer jig. I am sure the Tormek works great.

[Art Mann]

I used a Deulen sharpening jig for several years when I had a 6 inch jointer. It worked well for me but it isn't a quick thing. For best results, you need to go all the way from the coarsest grit to the finest grit in sequence. I used a piece of 3/8 (IIRC) plate glass as the flat surface and I could create an edge that was better than 0.002 over the length of the knife as checked with my precision straight edge and feeler gauge. The sand paper sharpening also works well on my one hand plane and set of chisels with a suitable jig.

[Glen Johnson]

+1 on the Deulen.

[Patrick Chase]

If you have a Shelix head Patrick, you are using more than bench planes.

Absolutely true, as it is for many of us on this forum.

As has been discussed many times before there is nothing wrong with Normite woodworking, but this isn't the appropriate forum for threads about it. That was the only point I was making.

I realize that in these days of Karadashian-style Kimono-parting the very concept of "appropriate" may seem dated...

[Ray Selinger]

You mean the Viel belt sander jig? It's for 6" knives . I have one ,never used it when I had a 6" General.

[Jim Koepke]

As has been discussed many times before there is nothing wrong with Normite woodworking, but this isn't the appropriate forum for threads about it. That was the only point I was making.

There is nothing of my experience that can be offered to the original post in this thread.

On the other hand it does hold my interest and would have been missed if posted in a different forum.

Is it possible the sharpening knowledge of this forum may have more to offer than what is on the machine tools forums?

jtk

[David Sloan]

Well sorry if I posted on the wrong forum but at least I learned a new word 'Normite'. I suspected what it meant and was right when I googled it! Are you a Normite if you have all of Norm's books? I must say I enjoy all of the Creek forums and have found them helpful and entertaining. I also found some old Creek threads on jointer knife sharpening which were helpful.And I found that some people put a microbevel on the knives and even (gasp) a back bevel! Anyway, I think I'll go with the Deulen jig. Thanks everyone

[Andrey Kharitonkin]

I used Veritas jig for sharpening on glass with sandpaper. Worked alright for my 6" blades. Went up to P2000 sandpaper.

Important thing to watch - both blades have to be sharpened to the same amount. Not to bring disbalance to the knifes block. Also sandpaper has to be flat, or at least bent parallel to the blade. Can bring camber to it otherwise.

[Jim Koepke]

Well sorry if I posted on the wrong forum but at least I learned a new word 'Normite'.

There haven't been any complaints from a moderator. If it was the "wrong" forum they could have moved it.

My interest in this is a few people who are 'Normites' have asked me to sharpen jointer and planer blades. So far it has been declined for not knowing enough about the procedure. Maybe in the future that will change.

jtk

[Stewie Simpson]

Important thing to watch - both blades have to be sharpened to the same amount. Not to bring disbalance to the knifes block. Also sandpaper has to be flat, or at least bent parallel to the blade. Can bring camber to it otherwise.

So, based on your advise, If I had to grind back the cutting edge on 1 of my 12 inch thicknesser blades to remove a nick, I would also need to grind back the other blades to the same degree. That wont be happening.