First time getting my blades sharpened on my DeWalt planer, #733......took it to a local guy, $25, sharpened together as a matched set. Bought a new replacement package of the same blades on e-bay for $31 and $8 shipping. Guess its cheaper to sharpen, but not by much. This guy had professial equipment to sharpen blades and was only 2 miles away. Got 3 sets now, should last awhile. Guess my question is, are those disposalbly blades any cheaper. I think the newer 3-bladed DeWalt is that way; not sure. My planer works great, just wondering. .............. George........ Gotta clean my shop, spring is almost here...outside work......yeah.....
You can sharpen these yourself with a small layout for a piece of plate glass, some fine grit papers and a piece of scrap hardwood 12" long x 3" wide x 1-1/2" thick.
Scary Sharp method works very well - now all you need is a holder for the blade. Take a piece of hardwood, face joint it so you have a nice flat surface. Now make a bevel cut in it down the center at the depth needed so the blade edge sticks out about 1 thou. The bevel angle is the same angle of the blade and the width of that cut is either 1/8" or 3/32" (full blade or thin-kerf blade). I forget which it is since it's been awhile since I made mine. But the depth is not critical since you will be using a paper shim that not only works to hold the blade in the slot but also to shim it out.
With the blade in the slot and the blade protruding ever so slightly, place two sheets of paper, lengthwise on a piece of glass or use your jointer bed. Use some 3M spray glue to hold them in place. Now use Scary Sharp to sharpen the blades. I used this method for about 3 sharpening's as I recall then found a deal I couldn't refuse on a Makita sharpener that has a holder for these type blades. Works okay and sharpens the blades okay but it's actually easier to use Scary Sharp than it is to get the Makita set up and adjusted.
Wide enough to comfortably hold and keep blade at proper angle Add Scotch tape to blunt edge of blade to shim out the blade. Scotch tape is .002". Be sure each end of blade protrudes equally or you'll end up with a wedge shaped blade. __________________________________________ | | | / /
The blades I have professionally sharpened at a local shop have a much better edge than DeWalt puts on them. I also had him back bevel a set that I pop in for figured woods.
The disposables used to be about $30 per pair 6-8 years ago. I could have my blades resharpened for 75 cents per inch back then. So back then it was a wash. Now that most of the portables use disposable blades I believe the price of the blades are going up.
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