Who Sharpens Their Own Chipper Knives?

[arbadacarba]

I grind all my own tools, and chipper knives are not difficult at all. The tool below will let you do anything from a chisel to a 20" planer knife without worrying about too much about balancing or scorching the blade.

I bought mine at www.busybeetools.com but I'm sure that Grizzly etc. carry them as well. At $205 Cdn, two sharpenings of a set of planer blades and you're there.

Hope this helps!

 

[Bigstumps]

I've never seen that tool before. Looks very interesting. The link doesn't work. Can you give us some more info?

 

[jac1]

Interesting discussion. I think it will all depends upon what skill and tools you have. Lets face the facts, these knives are not that complex. As long as you do not severely overheat the blades (alter the steel hardness), keep the blade angle correct and sharpen the set to the same height you should be good. I use a Bridgeport mill with an angle vise and a simple grinding stone. Flow some coolant while you are sharpening and you are good. As for how sharp, "razor" sharp requires a shallow grind angle which is fine for razors but not for chipper knives since the edge would be very easy to damage. Yes, I get mine sharp but not "razor" sharp.

As for having this in your backyard...Nope...All in my basement.

 

[arbadacarba]

www.busybeetools.com

I have used their tools for quite a while. In this particular case, if you can run a knife sharpener on a can opener then you can run one of these. If you are worried about weighting on the individual knives (as you should be) then just pick up a cheap digital scale, make sure that the values match, and that will prolong the life of your chipper or planer.

 

[B727]

Makita 9820-2 electric water cooled blade sharpener

I've sharpened 15 inch woodworking planer blades with a Makita 9820-2 blade sharpener. I recently picked up a Fitchburg 12 inch drum chipper. The blades were nicked and worn and the anvil came out of the machine in two pieces. I purchased a new anvil from Zenith Cutter and decided to sharpen the 12 inch knives on the Makita machine. I used a 60 grit course wheel to remove the nicks and obtain the correct bevel. Finished up with a 1000 grit wheel for a super fine edge. The wheel's 560 rpm speed and water drip cooling prevents overheating and preserves temper. After replacing the blades and anvil and adjusting the knife to anvil clearance to specs at 0.004" - 0.006" the machine feeds and chips awesome. I purchased the machine years ago for $199.00. The unit is still available but sells for around $350.00. I just saw one that sold on ebay for around $160.00. It takes some time and practice and self sharpening may not be for everyone but I was impressed with the results and operation of the Fitchburg after sharpening. Google Makita 9820-2 and have a look at the sharpener.

 

[Sharp101]

I sharpen chipper knives

for those of you that sharpen your own knives, what kind of device do you have?

I have a cary bearcat 20hp 5" chipper with double sided knives. i use it quite a bit on my own property, and help out friends and family every now and then. i'm not using it everyday so i don't need a big dollar device to make a perfect edge. just something that will sharpen the knives relatively well that isn't gonna cost me a ton. any suggestions?

I sharpen chipper knives in my shop. They are professionally done on a surface grinder with a tilting magnetic chuck set on the surface grinder chuck. The normal charge for a set of 6" or 12" (4 pieces) is about $40 to $50 dollars depending on whether they are double edged. I have machine shops bring these to me to do from asplundh and other tree services. You could set up something to sharpen these yourself but I don't think you could get the chipper knives at the correct angles and do them in coolant for what you can pay to get them done.

 

[Burvol]

My buddy has a really nice 1250 Vermeer and he sharpens the knifes. I think it helps if your not a retard. Windthrown is like a lot of us up here in OR/WA. Logger, former logger, decent of a logger, ect. We are more capable than you ####ers back east.

 

[Burvol]

2nd chipper, 5 years, bandit 90..........all spells rookie.

Six red bars spells #######...

 

[Sharp101]

Capable in the east too!

My buddy has a really nice 1250 Vermeer and he sharpens the knifes. I think it helps if your not a retard. Windthrown is like a lot of us up here in OR/WA. Logger, former logger, decent of a logger, ect. We are more capable than you ####ers back east.

We have a lot of logging companies in the east that are quite capable. I enjoy taking trees out near homes, stumping, and I enjoy sharpening other capable tree service owners chipper knives that aren't set up to sharpen there knives.

 

[gr8scott72]

windthrown you are just plain retarded. Once you learn a thing or two about chippers you'll be embarrassed you made those statements. Chipper knives should be done on the correct machine. Machine sharpened knives are more consistant and your motor will not work as hard to chip. Your belts will last longer, knives will not get as a hot, you'll use less fuel, and so on.

So I guess all these other people posting that they sharpen their own knives are all retards also? :monkey:

 

[Bigstumps]

I think what Ohara was referring to is the technique this guy was using. No matter what people say chipper knives should be precise - the angle - the distance from the anvil - not to mention the temper - it all adds up to better performance.

No different than cutting stumps with mismatched dull teeth at incorrect angles - the machine will still cut - just not very efficiently and not smooth - ultimately resulting in other problems within the machine.

Nothing wrong with doing something yourself - just make sure you do it right.

 

[windthrown]

Well, I will post photos of my 'retard-sharpened' west coast rookie hillbilly chipper knives after I sharpen the set I just swapped out of my Bandit. They are flat, the angle is within one degree of factory spec, and the chips do fly.

A question comes up though. How dull do you let your knives get before you flip them around/swap them out? I use a honing stone to get the burs and dings out. They take a beating from the occasional nail or rock. I have been flipping them when the edges just start to round over and no longer feel sharp. Sharp here is relative though, and seemingly some take it to extremes. Ninja knives with scalloped edges, the knife steel folded over 10,000 times to slice a human hair in half... schwing!