cutting down jointer knives question

[Warren Lake]

did look at it wasnt loaded but did see some silver there. Its also round front edge now and worn on the sides a bit. I have two types of wheel dressers the wiggle metal discs that spin and a diamond dresser. I think the diamond one might make more sense than those wiggly wheels that spin same time. both of these work fine on my grinder wheels but never used them on a fibre wheel. NO question it changed and just started towards the end of the third knife. ILl try dressing then flip to the other side. I didt stand the stuff up felt it better to be flat but maybe wrong on that. I still felt the side of the wheel would wear and knives get longer as I went. Might have been a better choice.

[Ole Anderson]

Angle grinder with 1/16" thick steel abrasive cut off wheel. Blade stood on edge. But I have cut all sorts of stuff with my Kalamazoo 10" cut off saw with a 3 hp Baldor motor. Again go with the thinner 1/16" wheel, blade on edge.
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[Warren Lake]

in the hand die grinder I did use 1/16 all the time. I could have and likely should have used that and didnt put the time in I normally do reading and testing. I did the one test cut and it was fine, so were the first 3 then that third one had a bit more than a wander burr towards the end. All fine I still have something to work to and if I flip it I could clamp a block of wood on at length and use it as a guide and run the 1/16 wheel down cutting from the backside forward. So nothing lost. This steel cuts nothing like most of the other steels i work with then I use the metal cutting saw half the time as well. Looked at the photos fast and the first three knives all weighed 362 grams.

Put them on a straight edge before cut and they were ou, worst about .01t. They looked unused originall but can see they were in and used in one area only but not much wear seems odd why they would have come out. Its odd as they are sharp over lots of the knives and had cut nothing. Either way will go in for sharpening.


Yeah Ole did go back with the 1/16 wheel in a hand die grinder with wood as a guide. Turns out it also slipped the last knife in the jig. The 1/16" worked well and cut many times faster. Sure there was a better choice of 14" wheel to have started with but agree with you on the 1/16 cut off wheel. The other wheel was 3/32. It cut three and 3/4 knives then start to fail and it wasnt enough that I noticed any big change. On the fourth wheel it was failing fast and I was wondering but thinking im just going slow. The head protection stuff is not in order. Need safety glasses need reading glasses, face shield and light to see. Then the stuff starts fogging up. Last years all metal cut with with the metal bandsaw.


Does anyone get jointer or planer knives hollow ground? I seem to remember they were hollow ground way back then at some point everyone went to a straight grind, some with finer final finish than others. And for those who have checked what type of tolerance are we looking for on a 20" knife for straightness.

[Warren Lake]

Knives were cut and last one messed as it pulled in my jig. I used the edge sander to shorten three to match the one last one where things went sideways. All three weighed the same one was 10 grams less than the others. I measured them all and it was a bit thinner. I took the other three that were all the same weight and ground off two grams. In the end with the one cleaned up there is 9 Grams difference with three the exact same weight. Knives are 20"

Here are the gibs cleaned up with one locking nut missing, or its here but thats the same as missing. It went out to double check buying a few wrenches. The gibs all weighed exactly the same but one that was drilled out int he end??? if that wasnt done then it would weigh the same or very close so see if it can be filled with something.

The middle four knives are the ones I just cut the T1 ones. Ive talked to the distributor and will go visit him and show him a few things and ask before they get sent out. They were new but in a machine for some period of time, both ends still sharp and show the people who put them did not hone them first. The previous knives in it are the four at the front, you can see one of them came from different knife stock, heavier it was the thickest knife as well.

David said it may not make a differece to a large heavy head and that is a good point, this is not a shaper head with two knives where balance is critical.

There are some sort of specs for this stuff and id say as Mel said same length they should weigh the same. Also with some of those weights of the originals one that is thinner is heavier than some others so that says more. Then also for straightness as these knives are not straight either the back side or the edge surface, that would be down from some wear in use. so that makes me wonder about the back of the knife spec, id assume its plus or minus zero and that is important in the jig it sits in when they grind but dont know that part of the process.



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[Andrew Hughes]

I’m a believer in all the knives should be cut from the same bar stock. Different thickness can lead to other problems with springing the head.
I swear this crappy knives selection is new to me as my Older knives from Amana T1 made in Germany are exactly the same thickness and perfectly balanced. They are just getting short in width.
The m2 knives from American National knives are also perfectly balanced.
I often wonder if part of the reason many have trouble setting knives is because they are different thicknesses.
Good Luck Warren thanks for sharing your results.

[Warren Lake]

The middle ones should all be the same, one is not. The bottom four that is last owner so at that point it had a three set in it and one more supposed to match and didnt.

Ive never weighed or checked this stuff before. Knife thickness should make no difference other than weight. Its a gib with a bolt pushing it against the knife, it doesnt care about thickness. Setting is the same you are working to the tip of the knife, they should be the same but its not going to make a difference with setting them. I set them with a dial and am only measuring the tip above the head, how much projection then make the others the same.

[Mel Fulks]

My experience has been that T1 ,and other premium steels, that are cut to exactly the same length will weigh the same.
I guess you could save money and not buy a scale. With the low grade stuff knives cut from same bar to exactly the
same length can need an 1/8 th or more removed from a 7 inch knife to balance.

[Andrew Hughes]

My sharpening service has warned me about using knifes from different bar stock.I have no scientific way of measuring the difference a thicker knife makes.I do know that when the knives get to be the same size as the gibs they are finicky to set.
The Head is affected from the pressure at the top of the knives pockets.
Im guessing they see this problem more then me and I’ve just recently seen t1 knives from China that varied more then .010.
A heavy knife in my 3 knife head vibrates the whole jointer.
Good Luck