Saw blade charpening

With several saw blades on hand, I hate to purchase more to replace the dull ones. Therefore, I'm considering having them sharpened and asking those who sharpen their blades for recommendations.

I have also considered the option of doing it myself, though I can imagine the machine is expensive. BUT...I saw a blade sharpening machine from Harbor Freight and wondered if anyone uses it? Yea yea, HF, I know, don't do it, but sometimes they have a gem in the rough.

All inputs appreciated.

Reply to
SBH
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Check around, there may be a place nearby that sharpens blades.

I live in a city of about 250000 and there is a local company that does all the blade sharpening for the industrial shops. I think it was about

25 cents per tooth last time I had it done.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

Oops......um, that's "sharpening".

Reply to
SBH

Are they carbide blades or just regular steel? The only thing the HF POS is good for is for a trash bag weight. Depending on where you live there should be a sharpening service around somewhere. Ask around at the lumber yards or call a local sawmill if needed.

If they were expensive, sharpen them. Otherwise the $20 specials at the Borg are really just a disposable blade.

Allen

Reply to
allen476

As others have said, check around. Look in local yellow pages for sharpening, saw sharpening, etc. If there is a cabinet shop or contractor available ask if they have theirs sharpened. When we lived in Wichita, a local private lumber yard chain provided sharpening services through a lady who lived in a nearby town. You dropped them off and picked them up a few days later. When I figured out where they sent them it was easy to check that town's yellow pages and I had some done directly.

Where we live now, I am fortunate to have located a gentleman who does excellent work and a very reasonable price. In many cases he provides overnight service.

Word to the wise! When you locate a source, don't drop all of your blades at once. Ease in with one or two blades, and if satisfied get some more done. I responded to a "recommendation" several years ago and the person screwed up about 1/2-dozen blades.

Reply to
RonB

I had several done locally years ago - the quality was poor. My mitre saw blade had tearout and they seemed to dull quickly.

So I dsecided to ship several blades and a dado set off to Forrest. The guys that sell the high quality blades in mags. I'll let you know how they come back. I have great expectations. Hope they aren't dashed.

Reply to
me

"SBH" wrote in news:AWJ7n.944$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe16.iad:

If you've got good blades, they're probably worth sharpening. However, before you start sharpening them yourself, take the time to count the teeth on the blade. A 40T TS blade doesn't seem so bad, but a 8 TPI hand saw blade (20" long) has a lot of teeth. The TS blade would probably require 30-60 seconds per tooth once you got going and the handsaw only about 5, but that's still an awful lot of work.

A decent file costs less than the HF machine, and lets you put exactly the geometry on the tooth you desire.

I've sharpened my handsaw blade, and the results are well worth it (pride especially). It's a lengthy process so music and a comfy chair are required. I'd be concerned about messing up a good TS with a poorly sharpened blade. The blade on my TS cost ~5% of what the saw cost, so it's just not worth the risk.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

What kind of file do you use to sharpen carbide?

The HF machine is specifically for circular blades.

How would a poorly sharpened blade "mess up" a table saw? I can see it messing up a piece of lumber but damaging the saw would take creativity.

Reply to
J. Clarke

What shortcomings did you find it to have?

Reply to
J. Clarke

Apparently you paid little attention to our previous dialog about the proper blade for a given saw...

Gordon Shumway

Our Constitution needs to be used less as a shield for the guilty and more as a sword for the victim.

Reply to
Gordon Shumway

formatting link

Reply to
J. Clarke

I dismissed it as the ravings of a lunatic.

Reply to
J. Clarke

On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:58:47 -0500, the infamous "SBH" scrawled the following:

Oh, I just thought you were Hispanic. OK either way. ;)

Reply to
Larry Jaques

The stupid thing wouldn't hold an angle for more than 3 teeth. Luckily I borrowed it because if I had paid good money for it, it would have been in pieces. I was sharpening some Oldham blades that I use for PT lumber so no big loss but frustrating none the less.

Allen

Reply to
allen476

RE: Subject

After being given a tour of my sharpening service where I saw a Swiss made, computerized controlled, blade sharpening system using a database of blade profiles to resharpen an 80 tooth blade for less than $15 is the day I decided my blades will be sharpened by a qualified service.

Life is too short to waste it trying to do something best done by the pros.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

"J. Clarke" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news3.newsguy.com:

*snip*

That was an exercise for the reader.

My thought process in writing that was poorly sharpening a blade could get it out of balance and at 3400 RPM the imbalance would be hard on the bearings. Thinking about it a little more now, the amounts needed to get to a dangerous imbalance would probably be quite large and unlikely to be removed from the whole of the saw blade and not just one location. Plus, at that speed the imbalance would tend to average out and not be noticed by either operator or saw.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Couldn't agree more. There are limits to being self-reliant and a tight-a**ed Irishman; and saw sharpening is one of them. Besides, consistency requires pretty good equipment. One fellow who did mine years ago sharpened all kinds of saw blades, scissors, knives, industrial equipment, etc. The sharpening center he used probably cost as much as a small car. The fellow I use now is less invested but he does have a grinding jig that indexes things with his cutter. I do sharpen my own chain saw blades....most of the time.

I would rather spend my time building stuff than finding new ways to piss myself off.

That's why I don't play golf too.

RonB

Reply to
RonB

"RonB" wrote

As the Scotsman was heard saying, "Laddie tis a humblin game ye play."

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

When I lived in Houston, I had my TS blades sharpened at Circle Saw. I've since moved to Florida and the town I live in is too small to support a sharpening service on it own. I now drop them off at my hard wood supplier who acts as a collection point for a sharpener who picks up and re-delivers the blades on a weekly schedule. If you use your blades every day you will need spare blades to tide you over. I definitely agree you should try out any new sharpener with one blade to see if you pleased with his work.

Joe G

Reply to
GROVER

I send all my blades (dado, tablesaw & chopsaw) to Forrest:

Forrest Manufacturing

457 River Road Clifton, NJ 07014

They do a great job sharpening and can repair/replace damaged/missing carbide tips.

Reply to
Woody

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