Sharpen or replace jointer knives?
Quickstep
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
One of my neighbors was nice enough to ive me some clear cedar. It had been posts for a staircase. I was in the process of recycling it into door parts when……… NAILS !!! (followed by some bad language) I dug out the nails and continued jointing when….. More NAILS (and more bad language). I gave up after that, I’ll recycle that wood into kindling. But, in the process, I put some pretty nasty nicks in my jointer knives. Should I even try to sharpen them, or just replace them? If replace them, is it worth getting carbide knives. Or,,,,, are those helical cutterheads worth it?
It’s an 8″ Delta.
Replies
Q',
With a series of nail induce blade dings, it would be best to take them to a professional machine blade sharpener for a regrind. They will let you know right away if they are worth salvaging.
Unless you are a professional or a very dedicated hobbyist, the carbide blades and helical cutter heads aren't necessary. For the price of either, you can have 2-3 sets of high quality HHS blades sharp and ready to go. If you have three sets, you can have one in the machine, and one or two of the others off at the sharpener. Just remember to replace all of the blades at once to maintain the best cut.
Dan Kornfeld, Owner/President - Odyssey Wood Design, Inc.
Jackie Chan'
Wow! you and I have a totally differant take on this.. I would say that the helical cutter heads are a real salvation.. so fast and easy to take care of exactly this problem!
If you hit some nails with one of those you can be back planning/ jointing in a few minutes where as if I pull out a set of planner blades and replace them It takes me at least 20 minutes and there is a chance that when I run my test board I'll find a need to reset the blades due to uneven settings (in spite of care taken) In addition my planner blades never last as long or produce such a great finish as those I have professionally sharpened. (I own a Tormex but in retrospect The scary sharp method of sharpening works as well or better and just as fast) The four cutting surfaces on a blade for the spiral head cutterheads are so simple to turn and place a fresh cutter surface.
Carbide doesn't seem worth it to me,, Grit in the boards quickly will dull any material and carbide shatters too easily for me..
"I would say that the helical cutter heads are a real salvation... If you hit some nails with one of those you can be back planning/ jointing in a few minutes..."
Frenchy,
I agree with you, the helical cutter head is the way to go. But from a cost stand point, for anybody that isn't using their jointer on a very regular or daily basis, a few sets of HSS blades can be purchased for the cost of the helical cutter.
I have helical cutter heads on a couple of my machines, but they are being used consistently each day. Dan Kornfeld, Owner/President - Odyssey Wood Design, Inc.
If you only have a few nicks, loosen one blade and move it over a little. It'll take out the lines left by the others.
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