Landis 30 Splitter Info

[David Bruce]

Picked up this little beast today and have a few questions for those of you that are familiar with them. First, when were these made? I've read that they made two versions this being the later one. Second, how do I sharpen the blade? It seems to work ok but I'm sure that it needs sharpening. I love old tools and am excited to start using it!

Edited June 9, 2016 by David Bruce
typos

[electrathon]

There were a few versions.  Pilgrim is the place that has parts and repairs them. 

To sharpen, if it is really dull you need to ring it in a surface grinder. If it just needs touched up spray glue a piece of wet/dry sandpaper to a piece of glass hold the blade with both hands against the glass and work the blade till flat and sharp.  

[David Bruce]

So, an oil or diamond stone won't work on this...I was afraid of that. I contacted a forum member who sharpens these and will also look into Pilgrim. Thanks for the input. Any idea when these were made?

[electrathon]

If you have a stone big enough...  You need a very flat surface, glass and a sheat of sandpaper are almost free.  Don't remember where they were made, the guys at Pilgrim know the whole story.

[David Bruce]

I have the 8 in dmt diamond stones in various grits. Would I risk damaging the blade with these?

[Ken Nelson]

If It were mine, I would  send it to Art and have the master get it sharpened right, then before it gets real dull, use the wet, dry paper on glass for touch up.   I buff my splitter blades and get along good with it but you have to be very very careful.  Art is very reasonable on his charges.

[electrathon]

13 hours ago, David Bruce said:

I have the 8 in dmt diamond stones in various grits. Would I risk damaging the blade with these?

Not big enough.  You need to bridge the entire blade with nothing hanging over as you work it.

[Art]

Watch carefully the depth of the blade.  About 2 11/16 inches is the bare minimum after sharpened.  The blades (at least the original ones) were hollow ground on the bevel, flat obviously on the flat.  If you bridge the back of the bevel and the edge with a stone, you can lightly sharpen the blade.  You need to remove from both the front and back of the bevel evenly to retain the same geometry.  The blade will sharpen easily as you will be removing only a little bit.  Blacken the whole bevel with magic marker before stoning to make sure you are removing from the edge and tail of the bevel only.  If you are removing metal over the whole bevel, the stone (and associated hollow) needs regrinding.  During stoning or grinding you will bring up a burr on the flat side.  Stone the burr off of the flat on a medium to fine stone.  The stone should be big enough to lay the blade flat on the stone.  No back bevel ever.

Don't be too eager to sharpen, strop yes, but there are just so many sharpenings in one of those blades, and you have got to know it's already been done a few times.  These machines were used in the shoe repair world extensively, and occasionally a piece of nail got through or leather would double over and distort the edge.  You have to make sure grinding won't reduce the depth of the blade to less than 2 11/16 inches or some other more serious work will be required to get the necessary blade alignment.  Also, the blade alignment system was subject to wear, both on the blade and on the machine.

Most of the markings on the top were in irons 1/48" not ounces 1/64".

Art

Landis Model 30 Splitter.pdf