Hand sharpening machine planer blades

[Mike Davis]

Have any of you tried this planer blade jig for hand sharpening?

http://www.ptreeusa.com/edirect_100212.htm







p.s. we need a sharpening forum.

 

[PeteM]

I haven't tried it but I just ordered one!
Seems simple enough. I don't see why it shouldn't work as advertised.
I have sharpened my jointer blades by hand with acceptable results, but this should make it much easier.
I'll let you know how it works

 

[Mike Davis]

Thanks Pete! With 6 mouths to feed I have to be very careful where I spend. Knowing that it works is paramount to the buying decision.

 

[merrill77]

I almost bought one of those before I upgraded to a spiral head in my planer. I'm looking forward to Pete's review as well.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

I looked at this one at Woodcraft awhile back and thought very hard about it. They come in 6 & 12" models. My only concern is that you can only sharpen two knives at a time, and both my jointer and planer were three knife heads. Of course you can take one knife out and put the other one in, but does that wear down the other knife too fast?

Rather than buy one, I came home and designed one in SketchUp, based on the angle on my knives. I'll send you the plan if you want it.

Now it's a moot point, of course, because I upgraded to spiral heads.

Bill

 

[dupont6480]

Bill,

I will take you up on that offer sir if it is still available.

Hope all is going well,

Tim

 

[Gotcha6]

Why not keep a spare set of blades & sharpen both sets at once?

 

[BWSmith]

This may be a longish post....but stick with it.


I have a insatiable appetite for books...mainly antiques and reproduction furniture,but also a huge collection of historic architecture.Runnin prolly 50-50 with buying online and surfing old bookstores.Theres a cpl bookstores near UVA thats warmed the old credit card a few times,haha.Just sayin,I read alot.


Anyway,awhile back I'd gotten a stack of books and was reading them.In one was an article written.....prolly around mid 1970's?It was a general article about WW equip,here and there....or some such.

Now for the jointer part.......In the article,the author goes and does a tour/vist at the Rockwell factory and the Powermatic factory.I believe it was the Powermatic factory that used to have 5 day? clinics on their equipment's "care and feeding"(my words)....as it related to that co's dealer network.IOW's,dealers could send techs to the clinic and once "up to speed" they would be sent to service individual machines.Mostly about problems arising that may be mitigated by tech going onsite vs sending equip back.The three biggest gripes about the jointers was gib adjustment......fence warpage....and heres what applies to OP,knife shapening/handling.The knives,according to the Powermatic engineers were sposed to be taken out..."one at a time".The engineer in article explaining how the lockscrew forces were such that its quite,"upsetting" to the general wellfare of head if the're all removed at once.This had been a major source of trouble or "callbacks".....hence their need to include this in the clinic.Just sayin.

That seemed logical enough and we've adopted that in our shop....no biggy.What was of WAY more,"oh how you say"....importance(and thats not the right word/)?Its about jointer fence warpage.Long enough discussion in the article.....the crux of which is that CI,even when properly "aged"(deep discussion right there)....can and does warp.We do enough machinery fabrication/repair/CI welding that this caught my interest.The factory procedure for the "ONE TIME ONLY" straightening of a warped twisted fence was not for the feint of heart,haha.

I can't remember the book it was in?Duh....but it'll show up.....so.if anybody needs the reference be patient.

 

[sawman101]

That is an interesting concept. If your blades aren't chipped, it doesn't take much stock removal to get a sharp edge again. I've know owners of old, belt driven planers to sharpen them with an angle grinder. I guess that might be alright for construction grade lumber.

 

[walnutjerry]

I looked at this one at Woodcraft awhile back and thought very hard about it. They come in 6 & 12" models. My only concern is that you can only sharpen two knives at a time, and both my jointer and planer were three knife heads. Of course you can take one knife out and put the other one in, but does that wear down the other knife too fast?

Rather than buy one, I came home and designed one in SketchUp, based on the angle on my knives. I'll send you the plan if you want it.

Now it's a moot point, of course, because I upgraded to spiral heads.

Bill

I have the same concerns you had with 3 knife heads. It is not only important to have sharp knives but you need BALANCE as well.

Jerry

 

[hockey1]

I have got the "12 inch deulen jig" and it works great for my jointer and "disposable" dewalt planer knives. The three knives thing is not all that bad. It just takes a little patience. Let say you have 3 knives and assume it takes 30 even pressure strokes per grit to shapen each blade. You do 15 strokes with knives 1 & 2 then remove knife 1 and replace with knife 3. Take 15 more strokes then remove knife 2 and reinsert knife 1. Then do 15 more strokes and switch grits. As long as the blades are equally deep then the angles will not change as the jig fixes them in place. My jointer is a 6 inch with 4 knifes. I just gang them up side by side and go to town. All this is real easy and I can shave arm hair when I'm done.
Good Luck.

 

[dsimpson]

I just saw this thread and was willing to gamble and try them. The discount doesn't seem to work though so I am hesitant to click that last button. PeteM did you get the 50% off and were you able to see the new price in the shopping cart?

 

[PeteM]

PeteM did you get the 50% off and were you able to see the new price in the shopping cart?

Yes, I think it came to $31+ with shipping.
I'm in the middle of a move to Pittsboro so it will be a while before I get around to trying them out.

pete

 

[DanR]

Regarding taking off the same amount on each:

If you sharpen knives:

one and two ten strokes

then

two and three ten strokes

then

one and three ten strokes

they each end up with twenty strokes.

I bought an extra set of knives from Holbren so I could swap out one knife at a time like Powermatic recommends.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

DIY versions of both those jigs have been around for quite awhile. Some years ago, on another forum, a guy (Dizzy or C. John?), made a jig that looked just like the Duelen sold at Woodcraft. Basically it is a guide made from a block (of wood or plastic) with angled slots that hold the blades at the same height and set angle so you can use the "Scarey Sharp" method to sharpen them. Once the blades are mounted in the slot you run the jig back and forth on some wet-dry abrasive stuck to a flat surface (with adhesive or just water tension).

It can be difficult to do with longer blades because you need a long strip of wet-dry (if it even comes that way) or set individual sheets end-to-end, and a long flat surface- something like the 3' long X 4" wide piece of scrap granite I got for a jointer fence.

I see no reason why you couldn't easily make one from a length of good, stable hardwood. I was going to use a scrap piece of 5/4 Ipe' decking. You could even make it with three or four slots to ensure you take the same amount from each blade. The slot angles should all be the same which is easy to do on a tablesaw. It is not necessary that they match the blade bevel precisely. If the angle is off by just a few tenths of a degree, it will only matter the first time you sharpen the blades- even then you have a 50-50 chance of just creating a micro bevel which is a good thing.

The jig and technique make quick work of manually touching up your blades. They are not so good if you have nicked blades however- it can take a lot of manual labor to grind those off.

Another, possibly more desirable option I have seen is a DIY version of commercial "in-place" blade sharpeners- the manual one consists of a frame that attaches to the journal and has a sliding carriage that holds a sharpening stone. You move the stone back and forth a set number of times on each blade, one at a time. The frame controls the height of the stone (so you remove the same amount from each blade) and sharpening angle. A semi-powered version of the jig could hold a small (diamond?) sharpening wheel mounted on a Dremel- that really makes quick work of sharpening.

 

[BWSmith]

Just a short note and gotta get back to work.Regarding Powermatics replacing one at a time....its not only about it being easier to set knife height,but about the heads balance being "disrupted"(my description)....WRT to internal stresses being released that "may" be present from machining the head.

We got a Crescent 12" jointer in the other day for a general clean-up/service.It had a very recent proffesional balance of the motor and head.This is the kind that the motor's armature...extends to include the head(direct drive).Its a four blade.Anyhow,fresh from the balancer....theres still an inbalance.Its not at full running speed....but shows up when machine is turned off,somewhere "down the line" so to speak.Not to make a novel here but,generally speaking....the longer the shaft,the more important balancing is.Look at a big disc sander....compare that with a cars flywheel(relatively easy to balance....comparing a M/C wheel to a wider car wheel,and how M/C wheels are still static balanced even though they're runnin 200 plus MPH...its narrow).Now,look at a much longer driveshaft.Thats whats happening to jointer/planer heads.Its secondary or dynamic balancing rearing its head(sorry)......Just sayin.