Sharpening jointer knives

[TDeal]

Does anyone have any experience or information about sharpening jointer knives? I replaced the knives on my Powermatic 60B 8" jointer and would like to sharpen the old set to have in reserve. I have a machinist friend who will grind them, but I'm not sure if there is only one angle involved. It appears that there may be a slightly different angle on the very tip edge but it's width is so small I can't determine what it is, if any. If anybody has any information as to the angle(s) involved, or comments on the intracacies of sharpening jointer knives I'd appreciate them

 

[Joe Scharle]

Re: Sarpening jointer knives

Can't comment on the benefit of a micro bevel on jointer or planner knives, but here's a knife jig I saw in Wood Mag. Unfortunately, it's a home made video with background audio that overpowers the narrative. If you preserve, you can get the message.

 

[gator]

Re: Sarpening jointer knives

Just my opinion, but, unless you know what you are doing, you can really mess up the sharpening. I send mine to Raleigh Saw and have always gotten back well sharpened knives and don't have to worry about angles or such. The cost is very reasonable.

George

 

[Jim Wallace]

Re: Sarpening jointer knives

+1 for Raleigh Saw. I think my last set was $17 for 8" knives.

 

[CDPeters]

Re: Sarpening jointer knives

Your machinist friend should be able to put a nice clean grind on them which will be fairly sharp. Invest in a knife hone like this one from Rockler:

This will likely yield a microbevel like you are seeing on your old set.

C.

 

[Bryan S]

Re: Sarpening jointer knives

Your machinist friend should be able to put a nice clean grind on them which will be fairly sharp. Invest in a knife hone like this one from Rockler:

This will likely yield a microbevel like you are seeing on your old set.

C.

Not trying to hijack this thread, but I take it you have one and it works well?

 

[CDPeters]

I have one, and it works well. The trick is not to let the knives get too far gone. I take a pass or 2 on each knife before each major use of the jointer. Once you hit something and get a knick, it's time to take them to the sharpening shop for a fresh grind.

The guy I use has a nice linear grinder setup on which he can do knives up to 28" long. He is usually able to get me right back to perfect edge just taking a pass of a few thousandths. He charges me 25 cents an inch, so the full set costs me about $5.00 to get done. BTW, you can use this on the planer knives as well.

C.

 

[hockey1]

A while back I bit on the Deulen sharpening system and can say that I'm very pleased with the results. I have also never taken anything in for professional sharpening so I can't compare it to what the professionals produce. Once I work the blades through the different grits I can shave the hair off of my arms. I bought the 12 inch version just because it is universal between large and small length blades.

 

[junquecol]

The micro bevel you are seeing is probably where the cutting edge is worn away. If you don't have a second set of knives, buy a set (Amazon, Global Tooling, Holbern etc.) Then you can play around with sharpening your knives when you want to, not because you have to.

 

[ehpoole]

The micro bevel you are seeing is probably where the cutting edge is worn away. If you don't have a second set of knives, buy a set (Amazon, Global Tooling, Holbern etc.) Then you can play around with sharpening your knives when you want to, not because you have to.

Actually, Jet/Powermatic jointer blades do come from the manufacturer with a microbevel.