super surfacer knife grinder?

[Kevin Jenness]

What sort of machine is required to maintain the knives of a super surfacer (fixed knife finish planer)?

[brent stanley]

Hi Kevin, here is a video my Mark Hennebury talking about a dedicated machine for the job, though I expect this may have been the Rolls Royce approach.

https://youtu.be/caixlHgND6I?si=UuZZ-2snef3nHJWS

B

[Bill Dufour]

Surface grinder or maybe a jig to hold the blade on your planer bed then use the planer knife grinder on it.
Bill D

[Richard Coers]

I use a Jet version of the Tormek with a Tormek planer blade attachment for my Makita SS blade. I also do my jointer and planer blades

[Mark Hennebury]

Here is a manual grinder. They have the rough grinder and a super-fine cup wheel for honing a 1deg micro-bevel. the geometry is pretty specific.
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[Richard Coers]

Not bad for a what ,a $5,000 grinder?

[Mark Hennebury]

They are a lot more than that new. But they can earn their keep in the right situations. The are incredible machines, they do an incredible job for sharpening incredible blades that go on incredible machines, that do an incredible job surfacing incredible wood.....I guess you have to appreciate incredible though.
Almost forgot the grinders were made in the 70's ...not a bad Return on investment.

Not bad for a what ,a $5,000 grinder?

[John Pendery]

They are a lot more than that new. But they can earn their keep in the right situations. The are incredible machines, they do an incredible job for sharpening incredible blades that go on incredible machines, that do an incredible job surfacing incredible wood.....I guess you have to appreciate incredible though.
Almost forgot the grinders were made in the 70's ...not a bad Return on investment.

That right there is incredible!

[Richard Coers]

Here is a manual grinder. They have the rough grinder and a super-fine cup wheel for honing a 1deg micro-bevel. the geometry is pretty specific.
Royal FX 012.jpg Royal FX 013.jpgRoyal FX 010.jpgRoyal FX 009.jpg

What is the specific geometry they require? The blade in my Makita super surfacer is a single bevel.

[Matt Tebo]

Kevin,

Kanefusa also makes disposable knives that fit in a dedicated knife holder, eliminating the need to have the grinder. Mark probably knows more about these.

Thanks
Matt

[Mark Hennebury]

hollow ground backs on the blade and back-knife.

Knife Rough grind 30° ± 30´
Knife Lap 31° ± 30´ lap 0.3 - 0.5mm micro bevel.

Back-knife Rough grind 35° ± 30´
Back-knife lap at 65-80° ± 2° micro- bevel is 0.2 - 0.3mm
Round off the edge between the rough-grind and lap face.

Chip-breaker set-back is critical to surface finish
On hardwoods 0.2 - 0.3 mm
On Softwoods 0.3 -0.4 mm
Throat opening 0.4 - 0.5mm
Nose bar protrusion above table 0.04 -0.06

Good starting points, but Experiment with these as it is somewhat dependent on the species and grain of the wood, and the shear angle and the thickness of the shaving.

There is a sweetspot, the perfect relationship of all the variables, once you have witnessed it it is like a drug, a bright light, where you need to stay, the sound of a razor-sharp knife slicing through wood fiber's, a beautiful delicate shaving, remarkable separating from the wood surface and gracefully floating down, and the wood surface, shimmering in high definition, with deep vibrant color's every pore clean and visible, smooth a silk.
The pursuit of absolute.

What is the specific geometry they require? The blade in my Makita super surfacer is a single bevel.

[Mark Hennebury]

What fun is that?
Yes you can get disposable knives, with a special knife holder, apparently they do a great job, I have not used them but have bought them in for customers.

Kanefusa make awesome cutting tools! Best router bit that I ever had was a Kanefusa.

Kevin,

Kanefusa also makes disposable knives that fit in a dedicated knife holder, eliminating the need to have the grinder. Mark probably knows more about these.

Thanks
Matt

[Bradley Gray]

A bit of a post ambush. I have been interested in super surfacers since Makita USA released theirs about 40 years ago. I noticed several used machines for sale on ebay from japan - 100 volt. Is it possible to power these in the US?

[Brian Holcombe]

I use the Kanefusa disposable knives, they're excellent.

[Mark Hennebury]

This is a video made in Japan in the 80's i believe. A study of the relationship between several variable's in chip-breaker set-up; shaving thickness - chip-breaker lap angle - chip-breaker setback from the knife cutting edge and the resulting effect on the wood finish. It is quite fascinating. A great educational video for anyone using handplanes or supersurfacers