If youre making more dust then shavings or you see chatter marks on the board then chances are its dull.
No light should be reflected from the cutting bevel. If you can see a shimmering shiny edge at the bevel then its dull.
But then again, if you think its dull, it probably is dull.
Replies
It may be hard to judge this when you are standing right next to the machine, but a dull set of blades make a lot more noise than a sharp set. I can always tell, from across the shop, when our shop's big jointer is getting dull by the racket it makes.
Another way to judge the sharpness is to compare the edge at the center portion of the blade, which is probably the dullest area, with the edge at the far ends of the blade which typically are unused. Just (carefully) run a fingertip across the edge in both locations , with practice it becomes fairly easy to feel the difference between sharp and dull.
John W.
My 12" planer gets louder as the blades start getting dull. I never see the shavings as they get sucked up into the DC. The louder noise is my tip off to change the blades. Of course, chipped blades are easy to tell by looking for straiations on the boards. Another way to tell dull blades to when you start seeing tearout where it shouldn't be.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood
All,
According to Delta, another indicator on many of the benchtop planners is when you start experiencing slippage in the outfeed rollers.
Doug
What do you mean by slippage? Just today I noticed that a board going in straight on the right side of my Delta planer canted sharply to the left as it exited the planer. This is the first time it has happened. The board was planed properly without visible tool marks. I tried a second time in the same place and it canted just the same. Nothing similar happened when trying a third time on the left side of the planer.
Does this sound like dull blades or some other mechanical problem?
Not a bad idea to clean your rollers from time to time. I do it when I change the blades every month.
Scott
Larry,
I agree with the Rev, but it could also be a dull section of the blade or a combination of the two. It is also a good idea to check the outfeed roller adjustments according to the alignment instructions in the manual. The manual only speaks to Outfeed rollers but both the infeed and the outfeed should be aligned. What I have found is that the adjustment screws tend to back out causing uneven infeed/outfeed roller pressure. The rollers should be gently cleaned with soapy water and a scotchbrite pad. Don't use any solvent-based cleaning fluids.
Doug
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