Miter trimmer blade sharpening

[Allen B Sowinski]

My Lion miter trimmer blades are 1/4 inch thick and I've attempted to mount one in my planer blade holder on my T7.  The instruction manual suggests removing one or two clamping screws when mounting the blade.  Why?  Wouldn't this diminish the clamping pressure on the heavy blade?  I attempted to mount the miter blade further back in the holder over the tapped hole used for the clamping screw, but it was still kind of unstable and I wouldn't be able to safely sharpen the blade at 20 degrees.  What am I doing wrong?   Thank you, Allen

[Elden]

Sorry I can not help you with your questions as I have not dealt with such. On the following link, this person mentioned using the knife jig.

https://mvflaim.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/using-a-lion-miter-trimmer/

Welcome to the forum. I wish you well with your sharpening.

[Allen B Sowinski]

Elden,  Thank you for sending the link on the miter trimmer.  I'm looking for some spoon feeding on fastening a thick chunk of metal in a planer blade holder.   Tormek instructions are pretty vague and assume the fixture owners know what they're doing.  I'd like to know why Tormek suggest removing clamping screws on the planer blade holder.  Allen

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Allen. I hope you receive a good answer, but I am doubtful.  I have been with the forum since 2009, and yours is the first question I recall related to the Lion Trimmer. I have one, so any reference would have stuck in my memory.

I wish I could help you. However, I purchased my trimmer at an antique store almost twenty years ago when I had aspirations of adding custom framing to my photography side business. Those hopes were never realized. I sent my blades in to Pootatuck for sharpening. As I recall, they did a fine job for $35, which seemed a fair price for a quality job at the time. I have not used the trimmer.

You are correct, the Tormek instructions are quite skimpy. I examined my planer jig and came to no conclusions.

The Lion Trimmer blades seem a very good candidate for sharpening with the planer jig. They are only about half the length of planer blades. They operate independently, so they don't even have to be balanced. They are easy to remove and reinstall.

I don't know of anyone else on the forum who has a Lion Trimmer. Hopefully Stig will answer. If he does not answer within a day or two, you should send am email to support.tormek.se.  That is Tormek support in Sweden. They are quite good about answering promptly. hopefully the next edition of the handbook will cover trimmer blades in more detail.

Will you please copy paste their answer. In case I ever get my trimmer working, I would like to know how to sharpen the blades.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

Has anyone checked the YouTube videos for solutions to this problem? The reason I ask is that these videos are usually more informative than the written instructions provided by Tormek.

[Ken S]

My oversight...... I checked the handbook, which does not say much. I neglected to watch the tormek.com video clip on the planer jig. The video does show more about setting up the jig for miter trimmer blades. The top is removed and one of the screws removed to allow the trimmer blade to sit on top of the inner part of the jig. The miter blade sits astride one of the screws and is held in place when that screw is tightened again. I am not describing this very well, however, the video does show it well.

Allen, if you are still unsure after watching the video, please post again.

I had a bad experience with a framing store and its Lion trimmer. I was ordering a custom print frame. The store's trimmer blade was dull, and the cut was ragged. There is no excuse for this. Allen, if I was going to sharpen trimmer blades for hire, I would get a pair of blades as sharp as possible. Spend some time with them until they are as sharp as you can get them. Then, carefully cut a miter on a short piece of molding with each blade. Bring these cut samples along with some pieces of the same molding to a framing store. Invite the owner to cut miters on the same molding using his blades. If his cuts are more ragged, you might get a sale.

Ken

[Allen B Sowinski]

Thank you Ken.  I'm a 70 year old retired tool and die maker with a passion for woodworking.  I picked up a new looking old Lion miter trimmer recently for a woodworking project with mitered door frames.  When employed years ago I would have just put the Lion trimmer knives on a sine plate and dusted them off in a wet surface grinder.  Retired now and with no access to industrial grinders, I bought the Tormek 'kit' to put an edge on a collection of wood working tools I've been using that lost their usefullness because they no longer cut well.  I made allot of my woodworking tools out of exotic materials.  My favorite tool steel was a powdered metal called CPM-M4.  Considerable harder and tougher than regular M2. my planer and jointer blades are made of of CPM-M4 to a Rockwell hardness of 62-64.  I specified heat treatment with triple draws and deep (Cryogenic) freezing to optimize the material's grain structure.  I've successfully put edges on most of my tools & bought the planer blade jig to sharpen my 8 inch CPM-M4 joiner blades.  My wood planer has a built in blade grinder.  I do have a planer/joiner blade holder I made for use in a surface grinder, but just don't have a wet surface grinder.  I did attempt to place the miter trimmer blade in the Tormek planer blade holder so it covered the tapped clamping stud threaded hole, but the blade stood so high in the holder I was unable to lower it to the grinding wheel to redress the 20 degree angle.  Since my planer jig is bought and paid for and I've got a milling machine in my workshop, I've been considering 'trashing' the blade holder and milling a pocket that will enable a trimmer blade to be mounted securely at the correct height over the wheel.  I checked out the video you've suggested and will try to make it work again.  I understand Tormek can't really make a holder or device for every single tool in the world, but I think their products are pretty well thought out and engineered to address the sharpening needs of most woodworkers.  Thank you again Ken and I'll keep you posted.  Allen

[Ken S]

Allen,

I am very pleased to have an experienced tool and die maker on the forum. I have had a hobby interest in machine shop technology for  many years and have learned enough to realize how little I know.  I look forward to your future posts.

Did you email support.tormek. se ? The Lion trimmer blades should be prime candidates for the planer jig. Sweden should be able to get you up and running.

Ken

[Allen B Sowinski]

Ken, I received a response from support.tormek.se this morning and expect a response in a week.  It will be interesting to see what they can come up with.  I supplied the gentleman with a dimensioned photo of the actual miter trimmer knife.  Perhaps he'll saw out a wooded duplicate to experiment with.  Allen

[Ken S]

Allen, as a fellow Lion trimmer owner, I am most interested in your response from Sweden. Would you please post it and your thoughts.

Ken

[Rob]

Interesting series of posts Allen. Can I ask if you've yet tried to sharpen your jointer/planar knives ?( the super hard ones you mentioned)

I've struggled with the planar jig to do just that to my Startrite 12" knives. I would be interested to learn of your efforts. Or indeed if yet to do, encourage you to post if and when you do

[Allen B Sowinski]

Rob,  While awaiting a reply from Stig with an explanation on the finer points of miter trimmer blade sharpening, I'll try to touch up my 8 inch long CPM-M4 joiner blades.  When working in machine shops some of the larger surface grinders were set up with general purpose wheels that we used for all types of steel.   So far the stock Tormek wheel seems to be adequate for most of my grinding jobs.  I'll try to spend some time working on the joiner blades over the coming weekend and let you know how they come out.  Allen     

[Rob]

That's kind of you Allen, many thanks.

[Ken S]

Excellent topic, Allen.

Using general purpose grinding wheels, as with surface grinding machines, is there any constraint with using them with a water coolant while grinding?

Ken