How do you sharpen kitchen fruit peelers?

[dadiOH]

China.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I don't. I use mostly smaller bit that I can't easily sharpen and I'm not going to invest in a fixture or Drill Doctor. Brad points I do with a file.

But I buy a new peeler every 25 years.

[Don Wiss]

It is not good to sharpen anything on a dry wheel bench grinder. Items should only be sharpened on a wet wheel. Without the water the metal will heat up. Then the item being sharpened will lose its temper. Without the original temper it will not stay sharp for long.

Here is a fellow using a wet wheel:

Don.

(e-mail link at home page bottom).

[Joe]

I don't even own a peeler. I don't feel the need to peel fruits and veggies.

[Angel Rodriguez]

That peeler in the photo cost around $20 (same as the chain saw).

[Angel Rodriguez]

It's easy to sharpen drill bits with a bench grinder. You don't need no stinking fixture or drill doctor you know.

[Angel Rodriguez]

It's $20. Same as a chainsaw chain.

[Angel Rodriguez]

I worked in tool and die shops while putting myself through college. We sharpened them a few times a day, and did it all by eye, regulating the angles and pressure on the fly.

As in the video, we used the tool rest as we angled the bit. We didn't go horizontally across the wheel edge, but up and down, up and down, up and down, lighter and heavier, lighter and heavier, lighter and heavier, twisting the bit slightly back & forth.

Unlike that video, we didn't measure anything formally. It was all by eye. Plus, we did all the steps together, in a single

3D up and down twisting motion, for each side in turn.

Never did we grind flat & static like he did.

[DerbyDad03]

Your point?

[rbowman]

Ah, there is the problem. I probably can't see anything under a 1/4" bit anymore.

[Not]

If you can get the edge to the vegetable, you can get it to a small stone.

[Angel Rodriguez]

Some people said that it would be $5 which it isn't anywhere close to since it's four times that, which factors into the re-use equation.

[Ralph Mowery]

It was the late 60's before I started shaving. I tried several blades and the Wilkinson worked the best for me. I hated it when they seemed to dissapear and those modern double and tripple and more blade things appeared.

[Harry K]

1. If they are concerned about the cost of a peeler, anyone who pays for a simple peeler is nuts
2. The chainsaw chain needs to be sharpened often. 10 minutes and a realatively cheap file saves bunches of money over the life of he chain. A peeler? Maybe once in a lifetime and then it is easier and faster to buy a new one.

Harry K

[Angel Rodriguez]

Let's be clear that the whole point is simply to maintain our tools, period. So, for the same reason we sharpen a knife, we'd want to sharpen a kitchen peeler.

The fact the sharp peeler on the right costs $20 while the dull peeler on the left costs $5 isn't the point.

The point is HOW to sharpen the peeler.

I get your argument, but mine is that it must be even easier to sharpen a single-angle kitchen peeler than it is to sharpen 75 or so angled blades on a chain, so, I would have thought everyone does it (just as everyone sharpens their own knives).

The fact that I didn't know how seems to be universal, as neither does anyone else (since they don't bother).

OK. I got the point. I will try on my own then.

Since I bought the $20 peeler to replace the dull $5 peeler, I can afford to make mistakes while learning how to sharpen it on my own.

[trader_4]

The vegetable doesn't go where the stone has to go. Only the thin peel coming off the vegetable does and it's a small, narrow opening.

[TimR]

Yup.

I used my wife's vegetable peeler to shape a piece of HDPE I needed for a project. You can't sand that stuff, it just fuzzes.

Then I tried to sharpen it before I sneaked it back in the silverware drawer.

Did not succeed. Maybe with a tiny file and a lot of patience? It's hard to get the right angle on it.