# Sharpening "throw away" planer blades



## TimH (Sep 23, 2008)

Hello everyone,

I have a DW planer with the "throw away" blades. Do anyone sharpen these like you would a good set of blades or do you all just bite the bullet and buy a new set? If you do sharpen them….what's the easiest way to sharpen such a long piece of steel so its decently sharp? Thanks for the advice!


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## gwurst (Nov 28, 2007)

Throw-away blades are usually such that they won't index properly if they are made any smaller by sharpening. That said, if you can adjust the height of the blades to where they are supposed to be I don't see why they can't be sharpened. You can either pay someone to sharpen them or use something like a Tormek or Jet wetstone sharpener with the planer blade jig.


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## Julian (Sep 30, 2008)

DW blades are throw aways. There is no adjustable indexer and if you were to sharpen them, the blade would be a different height than the feed rollers, so the wood wouldn't feed into the planer.


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## TimH (Sep 23, 2008)

makes sense…I just have a hard time throwing stuff away like that…..guess I should have thought about that before I bought it. Anyone have any good sources to buy them at a reasonable price?


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## Ampeater (Feb 21, 2008)

Why don't you give it a try and see what happens. I think that it would work fine if you were able to get them sharp without introducing any waviness into the edge of the blade. These planers can be adjusted to take a very heavy cut, so I don't think it would be a problem if you only remove a few thousands.


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## YorkshireStewart (Sep 20, 2007)

Before I got my 'resharpenable' blades, I regularly honed the disposable blade with diamond hones. They wouldn't cope with a heavy re-grind, but as *Ampeater* says, a few thou is acceptable. I routed a slot in a length of hardwood to hold the blade snug & mounted the wood in the vice. The top was angled identical to the grind angle of the blades, thus giving me a guide for the diamond hone. There should be no risk of upsetting the balance if you're removing such a small amount.


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## TimH (Sep 23, 2008)

Thanks for all the help. Yorkshire, I like you idea. I'll give it a try.


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## 8iowa (Feb 7, 2008)

I don't know this for sure, but being designed to be disposable, the hardness of the edge may not go very deep in the steel, eliminating all but a light honing.

Even though my planer blades cost almost twice as much, they can be sharpened down a full 1/16", giving me years of use. I have a jig that enables me to sharpen them on the conical disk sander, taking off just a few thousanths of an inch at a time.


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## Ampeater (Feb 21, 2008)

BIowa - What kind of jig do you have?


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## brackett (Apr 11, 2009)

I wish you all the luck sharpening the blades. I ran into the same problem and needed new blades ASAP, so bit the bullet and bought new ones for around $30 on ebay. Best price I could find. However, there are services that sharpen in metropolitan areas that work a lot with knives. I called around and got a bid for about 46 cents an inch. Two 12.5 inch blades makes that price sound nice, but the dude wouldn't do it while I waited, and the drive would have made up the cost.

If for any reason it doesn't work out, I've heard that the hardened steel makes for great marking knives if you're of the mind to put the sweat into cutting those puppies down.

Steve


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## Handi75 (Nov 20, 2008)

Look on the net or woodworking sites for a Planer Blade Sharpening Jig.

I think the Blades are 15 or 20 Degree Bevel, can't remember right off hand… I've seen a Sharpening Jig before, easily made out of a 2×4 I think it was, with bevels cut in it to hold 2 blades, and you sharpen it with a Sanding block at a 90 while the blades sit at a 15 to 20 in the jig.

I'm sure just a Light Sharpening should be suffice, I'm not 100% educated in Woodworking yet, still wet behind the ears, but I don't see why it wouldn't if it was a light sharpening.

Handi


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## 8iowa (Feb 7, 2008)

ampeater:

It's Shopsmith's Planer/Joiner knife sharpener; http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/itemfind.htm?item=555471&Submit=Find+Item
I'll never have to send knives to a sharpening service again.

I see that you are in Tipp City. Shopsmith is practically "next door" to you.


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## papadan (Mar 6, 2009)

I have a Ridgid that uses the dispossable blades. They are reversable so they last a long time. My old blades become knife blades with a little regrind and handle additions. LOL


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## Bagman (Apr 13, 2009)

Have the Dewalt too. To get a really good sharpening job around here was about the same as buying new blades (remember , you're looking at 3 blades, 2-12.5 inch cutting surfaces per blade, which equals 75 inches of cutting surface) Even if you do your own sharpening IMHO you'll have fewer problems simply buying new since you can't adjust the position of the blade. Or sell the Dewalt and buy a new planer with regular blades.


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## Deulen (Jun 12, 2010)

Hello fellow woodworkers, The new! "Deulen Jointer/Planer Knife sharpening jig will sharpen throwawy planer knives as well as regular planer knives. They will remove nicks sharpen and hone to a razor sharp edge in minutes. Quit throwing them away. Send them to me and I'll sharpen them in 15 minutes to a razor sharp edge. You can usually sharpen them two more times before tossing them. I've sharpened a set of 18" woodmaster throwaway knives twice now. They will sharpen longer knives by putting them end to end. You can get yours at: www.exoticwoodveneerplus.com or deulentools.com. Sincerely, Dan Deulen


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## hammbone (Jan 25, 2012)

YOU CAN SHARPEN THEM BY USING A THICK PIECE OF GLASS WITH FINE SAND PAPER ON IT .LAY THE BLADE FLAT ON ITS BACK AND MOVE IT AROUND THIS ALSO DOES NOT EFFECT THE HEIGHT AND WILL PUT A GOOD EDGE ON IT IDO THIS TO MY RYOBI BLADES HAVE NOT REPLACED THEM YET.


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