Thread: Sharpening Joiner Blades - Service or DIY

Tool Sharpening, Design & Manufacturing, Tool Repairs & Re-Tipping Services Knoxfield In Knoxfield, 21mins according to google maps, so half your time

Champion!
Many thanks!

I sharpen lots of things, but straight planer blades are one thing that I wouldn't touch unless I had a sharpener that was capable of giving a full straight edge to within a few thou. It is hard enough resetting the blades to all be at an even height without adding the complication of un-straight edges.

There are very few DIY sharpening devices/jigs that can do a good job with that... e.g.

https://www.timbecon.com.au/sherwood...EaAtl1EALw_wcB

and, if you have a Tormek, it does have a jig that costs almost as much as the above dedicated planer blade sharpener. However, you can get a lot of professional resharpening of your planer blades done for the cost of any of those DIY options.

If you can get one of the following that fits on your planer, a helix head is another way to go that has other benefits, like being quieter and less load on your planer giving it a longer life... and rotating the cutters is far less effort than resetting the straight blades, besides needing to be done far less frequently.

W761 - SHC6-28 Spiral Cutter Head with Carbide Inserts | Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse

Inspired by a youtube video about hand honing straight blades I copied the idea by sawing three kerfs at the correct angle into an appropriate piece of material. The three (in my case…Sicar Brava 350) knives are thus held at a common angle and height. Then just hone the edges with your regular series of stones then finish the backs individually.

I wouldn’t try to remove nicks that way, but I do hone to 8000 before installing. Sometimes the resulting finish is too glass like, but it is impressive.

Originally Posted by NeilS

If you can get one of the following that fits on your planer, a helix head is another way to go that has other benefits, like being quieter and less load on your planer giving it a longer life... and rotating the cutters is far less effort than resetting the straight blades, besides needing to be done far less frequently.

W761 - SHC6-28 Spiral Cutter Head with Carbide Inserts | Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse

This is what I did with my Carbatec 6 inch Jointer and have never regretted it. Simple job to change it out and you don't have to be over cautious in what you put over the cutter as the carbide holds its edge on all woods really well.

wondering if I should spend that kind of money on a HafCo?

At $30 per sharpen, that equates to almost 16 sharpens, at two per year, that’s 8 years of work. It makes sense to change the head if you’re 30 years old and plan on using it for another 30 years, but if you’re older than 60, it wouldn’t.

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

At $30 per sharpen, that equates to almost 16 sharpens, at two per year, that’s 8 years of work. It makes sense to change the head if you’re 30 years old and plan on using it for another 30 years, but if you’re older than 60, it wouldn’t.

Your financial argument is sound, Riverbuilder, but there are some other benefits for the helical TC cutter heads that may or may not be justified by the additional cost.

I have just rotated the inserts on the thicknesser head at my local men's shed after six years of frequent use with them in the original position, leaving three sharp sides to go. The old straight blades would have needed many re-sharpenings in that time. A spare set of blades avoids downtime while the blunt/damaged set of blades are being re-sharpened, but resetting the knives each time always takes time and care.

Nick tracks were a constant feature with the straight knives on recycled timber until we moved over to the TC inserts. Rotating a few inserts to eliminate any nick tracks is very quick and cost effective with the inserts.

Additional benefits that would not be worth the additional cost in themselves include a quieter shear cut and finer sized shavings for dust collection systems. The long shavings off the straight knives on the wide thicknesser caused problems with plugging in our dust extraction system. Making offset nicks in the straight blades helped a bit with that, but the shavings off the TC inserts have been trouble free.

Ha!

All I Heard was:

...but if you’re older than 60, it wouldn’t.

60 this year!

Originally Posted by barrysumpter

Ha!

All I Heard was:

...but if you’re older than 60, it wouldn’t.

...but if you’re older than 60, it wouldn’t.


60 this year!

Well! you had better hurry.

But the real advantage of helicals is noise reduction - measurably half the noise of straight cutters. Unless you are already deaf!