Sharpening a splitter blade

[rawhide1]

I was wondering if someone could tell me the correct way to sharpen a 8inch splitter blade. It's not plumb dull but it needs more than just a stropping. I was wondering what grit of stone to use and what angle to the blade should be sharpened at. Thanks for any help.

Mike

[Bob]

Mike, what works for me, could cause the next guy to cut off a finger. Soooo my advice is worth what it cost.... Just be careful, there's just nothing worse than trying to work with a dull splitter.

After removing the blade, it's clamped onto the bench with the sharp edge over the side. I use a corner of the cutting table so the full lenght of the blade is exposed over the edge of the table.

the angle of the blade is facing UP...

Using the grit of stone you see best for the job. KEEP THE SAME ANGLE and push back and forth until the shiny finish disappears from the very edge, you may wish to have a magnify glass to see it.

KEEP YOUR FINGERS CLEAR OF THE BOTTOM OF THE STONE YOUR USING. you could lose a finger tip.

then progress to use a finer stone for the next step.

depending if you have a polisher (grinder mounted felt wheel) I gently polish the edges, do not use alot of pressure as you could burn your cutting edge. ) defeating the whole purpose)

I don't use anything of the bottom of the splitter blade (the flat side) not even to polish it... you don't want a bevel at all on the bottom.

hope this helps

[bruce johnson]

I do it like Bob with the blade over the edge. I use the DMT diamond stones with the folding plastic handles for shaping up the blade. I can keep my hand back behind the blade and pull them towards me.

[rawhide1]

Thanks Bob, and Bruce

That should get me started. A couple more questions. Does it matter if you pull the stone into the edge of the blade or should you go away from the edge. And what about the burr that is made on the bottom of the blade. Will that just wear off over time. And final question if I screw this up what would it cost to have someone sharpen it right. I know I really need to learn how to do this so I'm going to give it a whirl. But it's always good to know ones options!!

Thanks again for the help

Mike

[Art]

Hi Mike,

I've always have the stone, belt or wheel moving into the edge when grinding and away when honing or stropping. Just the way I learned to do it and for me it is a control thing, my neighbors when I was a kid cut wood for a living and sharpened axes with the stone moving away from the edge. The burr will be removed with the buffing wheel (you can buff both sides). Unless you have a big flat (really machinist flat) stone to work with, leave the flat (underside) of the blade alone.

Art

Thanks Bob, and Bruce

That should get me started. A couple more questions. Does it matter if you pull the stone into the edge of the blade or should you go away from the edge. And what about the burr that is made on the bottom of the blade. Will that just wear off over time. And final question if I screw this up what would it cost to have someone sharpen it right. I know I really need to learn how to do this so I'm going to give it a whirl. But it's always good to know ones options!!

Thanks again for the help

Mike

[rawhide1]

Thanks Art

So I reckon I can push or pull I just wanted to make sure. I don't have a buffing wheel. But under no circumstances no matter how badly I want to I wont touch the backside of the blade lol.

Thanks again Art

Mike

[Greywynd]

Thanks Bob, and Bruce

That should get me started. A couple more questions. Does it matter if you pull the stone into the edge of the blade or should you go away from the edge. And what about the burr that is made on the bottom of the blade. Will that just wear off over time. And final question if I screw this up what would it cost to have someone sharpen it right. I know I really need to learn how to do this so I'm going to give it a whirl. But it's always good to know ones options!!

Thanks again for the help

Mike

Going with the stone 'into' the blade should produce less of a burr along the bottom. If, no matter what you do, you find a burr there, use a hard, fine stone, hold it flat on the bottom surface, and run it over the surface, and the edge. Sometimes this will simply push the burr back around towards the top (bevel) side, you may have to work back and forth a couple times. Careful too, sometimes this burr can 'break' off, and that can leave a microscopic chip along the edge too....to really know what is happening on an edge, get some kind of magnification lens.....having the edge enlarged to see it tells a lot after you gain some experience.

[Bree]

Get yourself a B grade granite surface plate. It will be flat to within a +/- tolerance of .00015 inches. Moisten it and put some wet-dry sandpaper on it. The moisture with cause it to adhere to the plate. Now you can flatten the base of the blade without fear of beveling the bottom edge. With the appropriate jig you can use the plate and sandpaper to sharpen the bevel edge as well.

Increase the fineness of the grit until you get the desired level of sharpness.

You can get good, inexpensive surface plates from Grizzly or Enco. Every shop ought to have one at these prices. Heck the stands cost more than the plates!!

Edited January 11, 2009 by Bree

[rawhide1]

Greywynd, and Bree

Thanks for the information I'll be off to the hardware store Monday to find some suitable stones. I just have some banna shaped ones from sharpening knives on. And I'll have to check into that surface plate. Bree do you have a picture of the type of jig you were talking about. This site never seizes to amaze me with all the knowledge people are willing to share.

Mike

[Bree]

Greywynd, and Bree

Thanks for the information I'll be off to the hardware store Monday to find some suitable stones. I just have some banna shaped ones from sharpening knives on. And I'll have to check into that surface plate. Bree do you have a picture of the type of jig you were talking about. This site never seizes to amaze me with all the knowledge people are willing to share.

Mike

The jig is simply a device to hold the blade at the angle you want the bevel to be. But it isn't even necessary as there is another way to use your flat surface plate along with a large flat stone.

You can use the surface plate and the blade itself as your jig. Lay the blade flat on the surface plate with the edge just slightly over the edge of the granite. Take a long and flat hard Arkansas stone and lay it on the blade face. (Make sure it is flat! If not, flatten it on the surface plate with wet/dry paper) The blade itself in conjunction with the flat stone will give you the proper primary bevel angle so you can go ahead and start your sharpening motion.

A touch of honing oil is of course required. Keep the Arkansas stone pressed flat against the blade face and keep slowly moving it in your favorite sharpening direction. Some like to go only in one direction... some back and forth... some orbital. I like to do slow little orbits.

You can flip the blade and do the other side as well making very sure to keep the stone flat against the blade and pressed flat against the granite plate. This works because the blade is ground flat on two sides in essentially a trianglar shape. Both surfaces are uniformly flat.

Works like a charm. I did my 8" splitter blade that way yesterday and it will split a hair in half! LOL! EZ to touch up too.

If you have chips or dents in the blade you may have to use a softer and corser Arkansas stone to remove more metal. You could even use a 6-10" flat diamond plate to remove more metal. Same principle... let the two flat planes (the plate and the blade) work to your advantage to get a very very fine edge.

If you want to add a secondary bevel to the top of the blade, you can fashion a little jig by putting some tape or the like along the edge of the hard Arkansas stone to raise the angle a degree or two depending on how steep you want your secondary bevel to be. Then proceed as before only on the top and working the edge. You don't need much so go easy on the secondary bevel. I normally don't use a secondary bevel on my splitter blade.

[rawhide1]

Thanks Bree!!

Mike

[Bree]

Thanks Bree!!

Mike

If you mess up your $135 blade, I gonna delete my posts!!

[rawhide1]

Bree

If I mess up that blade wont no one know but be me and the dog I throw it at!!

Mike

[Randy Cornelius]

I had Berry King make me a new blade for my old American crank splitter, he told me to sharpen the backside just slightly because if there is a burr from honing the top side it will drag going through the splitter. Seems to work well for mine.

RC

[rawhide1]

Thanks Randy I'll have to keep that in mind.

Mike

[Greywynd]

Bree

If I mess up that blade wont no one know but be me and the dog I throw it at!!

Mike

If it does get 'messed up' there are ways to regrind and start again. However, there are right and wrong ways to do it. I've done similar blades for high end woodworking equipment and other things too.

(Actually even at $135 it sounds expensive, but I used to work on dies that were worth thousands, and have dozens of hours into single components.)

If you don't have a flat surface plate (the 'flat' stone Bree talks about) in a pinch many table saw and bandsaw tables are reasonably flat. If using one of those however, try to avoid water (causes rust) and use a lightweight oil instead to hlep protect the table.

For those of you that have stones from other sources, (granite counter tops, headstones, whatever) they may or may not be flat. I have a 5" or so thick block of black granite that I will use for a stamping surface, it's polished, and was originally the mass used under a precision scale for lab work. We checked out the flatness of it one day where I worked, though it appeared reasonably flat to look at, it is out approxiamately .022", about half a millimetre over it's surface. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's enough that I wouldn't use it to sharpen any splitter blades of mine!

[StolpSaddles]

I just loosen he blade swing it out and tighten one bolt back down, now I can hone it while it is firmly held to the bench,....don't slip and fall as it will behead you...

Then stone the bevel and strop smooth, I lightly strop the flat side to remove any burr.

Careful of that blade sticking out of your bench like this