Grinding planer blades in drill press

[cgallery]

I had a thought to use my drill press to grind my planer blades. Basically, kerf-cut in a block of wood to match the bevel, chuck some sort of grinding wheel in press, run blades under grinding wheel at slow speeds.

Certain that I'm not a genious, I figured someone else would have certainly figured out the same thing. So I googled it and came up with the reference below. I'm wondering if someone knows the article Jack is referring to. Any other references or tips for doing this would be appreciated.

BTW, I can do sandpaper sharpening of the blades, but I would just like to have a technique that will move faster for removing nicks before I move onto sandpaper sharpening.

Thanks, Phil

***** "Saw an article in some mag a few months ago about sharpeneng planer and jointer knives on the drill press with a cup grinder chucked up in it.

"I'm ready to sharpen and can't find the article, or a cup grinder that I can chuck in the drill press. Tried local welding supply and MSC mail order. MSC has a ton of cup grinders,,,,but none with a shaft to chuck

in the drill press. Their tech specialist suggested taking the chuck off the DP and doin something, but I don't want to be hammering my chuck off everytime I want to sharpen.

"Anybody know where to get a cup grinder with a shaft on it?

"Thanks for any help. "Jack "

[CW]

You likely won't find a cup grinding wheel with the type of shaft you can chuck in a drill press and if you do, it will be of questionable usefulness for what you are doing. Get back with MSC (or any industrial supply) and find out about Morse taper shanks to adapt the drill press to a grinding wheel. If you have to "hammer your chuck off", you're doing something wrong. Hopefully, you have a drill press with a Morse taper socket. They come out real easy and are designed to do so. If yours is the type with a taper machined on the shaft, you probably won't be able to find an adapter. If you have this type, you may have to have something made.

[John Martin]

Or, you may have a drill press such as an old Delta with removable spindles. One of the optional spindles has threads and flanges for a cup wheel.

John Martin

[AAvK]

Actualy I made a "wheel strop" for honing plane blades and chisels as a final. I cut three discs (each 3/4" thick) on a band saw and finished the sides on a disc sander once glued and dried, 2-1/4" thick. Leather disc on top of that.

The top piece of particle melamine(?) for flatness and the two lower of basic ply. All wetted and clamped with gorilla glue. Worked quite well, still need to make a base that holds the bottom of the "shaft" for stabilization (bolted to the drill press base which has slots (it's a small bench top type), let's call it an "arbour", which I had made by a local machinist.

The rod of basic 5/8" cold roll threaded for the bolts that clamp the wheel with two different OD sizes of 5/8" washers, for the top and bottom. The top 1" turned down to 1/2" and chamfered for the chuck.

Real nice fellow, gave me a damn nice deal of $20!

Just some addendum for your imagination to work with, hope it helps,

[Roger Shoaf]

You are considering a proposition that will give you a world of grief. A drill press is not a surface grinder, and the precision to do an excelent job on sharpening planer blades is a tough thing to get as you need three exact knives.

The easy way to get this is to take the blades to a tool and die maker. In a few miniutes he can give you back perfection and have zero risk of screwing up the temper of the steel.

I even bet you might be able to find a guy that would be happy to trade his skills for yours, but even if you cant the cost to sharpen the knives is going to be nominal.

[CW]

I think you mean a tool grinder. While a tool and die maker could do a very good job of it, you wouldn't want to pay his shop rate if he would even be willing to do it.

[Roger Shoaf]

I suppose any machinst that was competent on a surface grinder would suffice, but most of the time the tool and die shops are the ones that you find the surface grinders. Make a few phone calls and ask for pricing. You may be plesantly supprised.

[CW]

The point is, if he's going to send them out, send them to a tool grinding shop, not a machine shop. The prices are going to be much better. If he insists on the tool maker, send them to me. $80.00 .