sharpening planner blades.

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
Has anyone been able to sharpen 13 inch dewalt planner blades? I know they aren't that expensive, 3 for $35 on ebay and you can use both sides.

I used to sharpen 6 in jointer blades on a surface grinder with magnetic chuck, but retired and no longer have access to surface grinder.
George
 
Check around you maybe able to find some one in your area that does saw blade sharpening and if so they should be able to do those blades for you
 
Pickup for the sharpening services here would be an independent home center or a real hardware store or a larger shop. Several grinders near me, and very little industry around here. No problem with my 12 inch jointer knives, but they"re only sharp on one side.

My considerably larger planer came with a grinder attachment, real nice. No need to remove the knives from the cutter-head, the grinding wheel travels down the knife.
 
Old, that someone who shapens saws blades is writing this post. Have my own sharpner. I know it's too expensive to pay someone to sharpen planner blades. What I have is said to be throw aways. I put lots of wood through the planner before I change blades. Just trying to visualize how I could make an attachment for an 8 inch grinder. Hoping someone has sucessfully done it.

I miss having access to the machine shop at school. Even though it was a WW2 army surpluss surface grinder, it worked perfectly. Loved the magnetic chuck too. Wish I had a surface grinder. Might have to add that to my bucket list. Currently there is nothing in the bucket.

Anyone have an old surface grinder that a retired person could afford?

George
 
I just used a few different fine stones and sharpened them myself. Saw on a woodworking site someone cut 2 slots in a block of wood to hold tha blades at the right angle so he could sharpen 2 edges with a hand stone at one time. Unfortunately, I don't know the angle to set the saw to make those cuts.
 
I have, I welded up a jig a little over 12" long I believe the angle on my blades was 37 deg.after welding I set it up on the Bridgeport with the head tilted to 37 deg. and trued it up I milled a step for the blade to set on and drilled and tapped a series of holes then made a stepped plate to clamp the blade in place. I grind them on the surface grinder can do my 6" jointer blades as well.A few strokes with a fine stone does it.
 
Would a floor model large belt sander like the old Craftsman work/ I have one and many more metal work projects on it than steel. It also has the disc sander and table on it. Indispensable.
 
Ya the guy I would go to to sharpen things like that was 72 back in 1992 and is long since gone. He was very good but also got to old to do it any more. I know a guy who could still do it but he is also a machinist and has many tools I would love to learn to use
 
I've been using my bench belt sander for years works pretty good. Take out the material stop and use complete bed (long part of bed not across) Try to hold original angle with final touch up on flat side of blade with a stone,also use a fine grit belt.
 
The Dewalt blades are thin so I do both edges for the same price as a 12 inch single edge.I have been sharpening planer blades since 1973.My grinder is limited to 1/4 inch thick and 20 inch long blades.Little sharpening done now.You can touch up blades with hand stone in the head but they get very uneven.
 
36 coupe,
What kind of grinder do you have? Where did you get it? Can you post a pic? Want to sell it? How do you sharpen with a stone?
George
 
Grizzley tools makes a grinder that does the job pretty good. I think it was around $150, IIRR. It is a rotating disc on top of the motor, and has a jig for doing planer blades.
 
If you don't sharpen, and buy new, don't throw away the old ones.

Nephew of a huntin partner of mine grinds 'em down and makes hunting knives. I have one, beautiful piece - almost afraid to take out in the field for fear of loosing it.

Don't know how he goes about it, but think he may use some sort of a surface grinder setup, based on what his product looks like.
 
If you check out dw7352 you will see the blades are double sided, about one ince wide 13 inches long and 10 holes in them.

Don't think they will make a good knife.
 
evilboweivel,
Thanks. Now I will have to find something else to put in my bucket list.
George
 
I used a Belsaw sharp All for many years but it was limited to 12 inch blades.The big grinder came from Wilke Machinery Co in PA.Friend was buying a planer and the grinder was offered for 150 bucks if bought with planer.I paid the 150 and my share of the trucking.Its an import with no name.Crude but does good work.Not for sale.I use it to sharpen my planer blades.You can sharpen with a round axe stone enough to finish a job but the blades will be uneven.It shows up when you grind the blades.
 
Thin blades have to be clamped in a jig.in fact all blades have to clamped.Make shift methods may work but its best to buy the right machine for the job.My Belsaw sharp All and Planer cost money but they paid back.I had a moderate income when I bought them but the machines made money.My 4x6 power hack saw made it possible to build things that were impossible before I had it.You will never get any where being a pinch penny.There are Belsaw Sharp Alls for sale cheap.I see the Lincoln 225 welders for sale for 100.00 on Craigs list often.My Log hauler cost 200 bucks to build because I have the welder and 4x6 saw.Ready made 2000.00.If you smoke cigaretts you are wasting 300 bucks a month.That money could buy a new planer blade sharpener.A bit of advise from and old man who has been there and done that.Take it or leave it.
 
Yep, that's the one that I have George. I was a little off on the price, or inflation has hit, since I bought mine. It also sharpens chisels and plane blades well, too!
Same one
 
Diydave
I was reading reviews on the grizzly and some said they were a little sloppy where the blade clamps in. Is this ture?
George
 
(quoted from post at 16:54:05 05/11/13) Thin blades have to be clamped in a jig.in fact all blades have to clamped.Make shift methods may work but its best to buy the right machine for the job.My Belsaw sharp All and Planer cost money but they paid back.I had a moderate income when I bought them but the machines made money.My 4x6 power hack saw made it possible to build things that were impossible before I had it.You will never get any where being a pinch penny.There are Belsaw Sharp Alls for sale cheap.I see the Lincoln 225 welders for sale for 100.00 on Craigs list often.My Log hauler cost 200 bucks to build because I have the welder and 4x6 saw.Ready made 2000.00.If you smoke cigaretts you are wasting 300 bucks a month.That money could buy a new planer blade sharpener.A bit of advise from and old man who has been there and done that.Take it or leave it.

Agree with 36, look around for a Belsaw. I see them 5-6 times a year on CL or in the sales papers. They might go $300 with attachments and books. But you need to know what you're looking at. I bought a saw filer but didn't get some of the parts. Still looking for them, not real hard though, no time.

I have seen people who made jigs for doing planer knives on table saws, radial arm saws, grinders, etc. I've seen a set up to do 4" knives using the cross slide on a 6" lathe. It can be done, but how accurate it is I don't know.
 
Diydave,
Trying to decide if I should go with a more expensive Makita water cooled or the grizzly. Read both good and bad things about both sharpners. Does your grizzly burn the blades? I think both use A 1000 grit wheel.
George
 
On these little planers where there isn't enough metal to sharpen more than a time or two you can just freehand grind them sharp. If you have a deviation of a hundredth of an inch who's going to know it.
 
If you or anyone sees a sharpner on craigslist, please give me a shout. I'm in no hurry to get a blade sharpner.

Thanks,
George
 
Hey George, I made a jig some time ago and just used it for the first time the other day on my Makita planer blades. It"s a very simple jig made of 2 layers of wood. The bottom piece is about 1" x 4" a half inch longer than the blades. The second layer,screwed on top of the first is cut from from one piece the same length as the lower piece, but just a half inch thick and the same width as the lower piece This is ripped into three pieces on a 45. You wind up with two outside pieces with a 45 cut on one side, and a center piece with two 45 cuts. You then clamp your blades between the slots by screwing down the center section. It sounds complicated, but is really very simple...Just three pieces of wood, with opposing 45 degree angles. You then run a whetstone across the surfaces several times. Worked great for me. I"m just to cheap to replace something I can fix for nothing.
 
I told you wrong George. Was just in the shop and the width is 6", not 4. The center section on top is about 2 and 1/4 wide and the sides about an inch and a half.
 

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