Bought a Planer (Continued from the General Questions Forum)

[RickKrung]

I bought a planer (DeWalt 735) and started discussing it on the General Questions Forum.  That led to discussing sharpening the "disposable" blades, so I think it should be continued here. 

Essentially, we determined that the planer has disposable blades, 7/8" wide, that should fit in the planer blade jig and there should be enough stock on the blades to take a sharpening or two, as long as they aren't nicked or badly dull.  I would appreciate the thoughts of anyone with more experience and especially with this type of blade. 

https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=3643.msg23837#msg23837

Rick

[RickKrung]

Discussion excerpted from the previous thread:

the planer I have has a 1/2" blade and it wont fit in the Tormek planer jig. it would be too dangerous to try to free hand a planer blade. new set only $25 bucks.

...snip...
My blades are 7/8" wide.  I'll check out the size capacity (both width and thickness) of the jig before buying it.  I would never consider free-handing them.  Set for mine is only $50. 
...snip...
Rick

the 7/8 wide will fit the jig well. the length should not be a problem at all. you will probably have to remove the leather wheel tho, and that's no problem. Nice work for GrandDaughter.

I haven't contacted Tormek support yet (still) but in looking at the photo of the jig on the Tormek web site, and capturing an image from the video, I am puzzled. 

The image shows where and how the blades mount in the jig.  I am astounded at how little of the blade is actually held in the jig, especially given how much more blade there is projected.  I find it curious that doesn't result in chatter. 


The image does give me some confidence that the 7/8" blades from the DeWalt 735 will fit with a fair bit of the blade extended.  What I wonder about on that is clearance for the bottom of the jig, similar to when the angle on a knife blade is so low that the bottom of the jig contacts the grinding wheel. 

I also note, that in the still image of the jig and in the video, the leather honing wheel IS still mounted.  It appears that will work until the grinding wheel is well worn down in diameter. 

Rick

[mcase]

Hi Rick,

I have been sharpening my "disposable" Dewalt planer blades for a long time.   There are some considerations though.  1. the parallel between the set screw holes and the blade edge is what "sets"  blade in the machine.    This is good when it comes to installing the blades since there really is no set up.   The concern is keeping the parallel when sharpening.   I suggest that you do NOT attempt to sharpen both edges for this reason.  One edge should be left with the factory parallel so that you can reference from it using the jig.  I mark the edge that is be sharpened and always reference off the original (though used and dull) edge from the factory so I do not end up chasing my tail.    2.   You want to set the angle by marking the edge with magic marker very accurately so as to take as little off the blade as possible.  You also want to be very careful in your set up so as to keep from wandering and therefore help preserve the original parallel.   3. Also for the reasons already stated you must true the stone before you attempt this.  So the short answer is yes  -  with care you can sharpen them and save a bundle of money.     

As regards to your second question about chatter - the grip looks a bit thin, but I assure you it works and there is no chatter

[RickKrung]

Welcome to the Forum, mcase. 

And thanks for that extremely informative and helpful reply.  With that info and the two sets of blades I have, I should be set for a long time.  I've hardly used it so far, much less than I anticipated, but I've found that is how things go these days. 

My next use will be planing a piece to use as a spacer for mounting my shop vac on a dolly as part of a venturi dust/chip collection system, which will greatly improve dust collection from several wood working machines.  It was getting to be a problem and I was looking into getting a dedicated collection system and a vendor turned me on to this:
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/oneida-air-systems-deluxe-dust-deputy-with-5-gallon-drum-kit 

Very reasonably priced, and while I haven't tried it out yet, I am very hopeful. 

Rick