Planer Knives

[lsuman99]

I recently purchased a Ridgid 13 inch planer. I know the knives are "disposable" but can they be planer be sharpened? If not, can you get carbide tipped knives for the Ridgid planer? I have been planing some old cypress and the blades seem to have dulled after planing only a couple of hundred board feet.

Thanks

[JSchnarre]

We do not recommend sharpening the knives on the TP1300. As far as carbide blades go we do not have a set available. Dollar for dollar carbide cost the same as high-speed steel. For the price of a set of carbides, you'd be able to but about 4 sets of HSS knives. Also HSS tends to cut better in a shaving function such as a planer. Finally carbide blades are just as susceptible to a nick as HSS, ruining what would be a $100+ set of knives.

Jake

[spacebluesonoma]

actually

i own a ridgid jointer, and like all tools blades tend to dull....and this product is no exception. as far as not recommending sharpening that makes no sense to me. if done professionally they tend to come out very well. carbide.com is local for me and does all of my sharpening. the one thing to keepin mind is that they should be treated as a matched set....meaning you should have all three sharpened at the same time. this ensures that they all match as far as angle, grind, etc.

i personally own two sets so while one is being sharpened a use the other. and i stagger them so that one goes in to be sharpened before the other set. this ensures that i always have a set of sharp blades.

i have never seen or heard of a carbide set of knives, but i am also new to the jointer and havent really looked.

so as far as not recommending sharpening i am not sure why andi would be interested in finding out the reasons behind the recomendation.

ed

[JSchnarre]

The recommendation not to sharpen refers specifically to the thickness planer not the jointer. Two reasons not to sharpen thickness planer blades, one the knives are indexed so sharpening the knives is going to reduce you maximum depth of cut. Two it is hard to find someone who can sharpen a 13" wide blade reliably and for much cheaper than a replacement set of blades.

The jointer blades can be resharpened.

Jake

[philstat]

Jake,
I would have agreed with your answer on the sharpening of the planer blades until just this afternoon! I just got back from HD and noticed that the price for your TP1300 blades has gone from 30 bucks to almost 35 dollars. This puts them way ahead of the 25.00 it costs to resharpen; also, for those of us that tend not to attempt to take off 1/8" at a crack when planing, the max depth of cut is not that much of an issue.

Phil

[UO_Woody]

If I remember correctly, when I was at the Ridgid Tool Demonstration last summer I asked about sharpening the TP blades. The answer I received was, "you can, but it is not recommended by Ridgid for several reasons". Jakes answer about the indexed blades was one, and another one that stuck in my mind is that it had something to with the Indicut. It would not make it accurate by the amount that was taken off the blade to sharpen it.
Does this sound right Jake? Or do the 2 go hand in hand?
I've dulled my blades stripping off poly recycling wood. No known shapener in my area so shipping them out would cost more than replacing them.

[J Reed]

Woody,

Everytime you sharpen the blades you'd have to recalibrate all of the preset cut depth stops. Also the indicut would be off by the amount of material removed from sharpening as would the maximum depth of cut. If you like to use these features it might be a bit of a pain to reset them each time.

[UO_Woody]

JReed,

Yup, kinda sounds similar to what the demonstrator said I believe. I'd rather spend my time using the machine than calibrating it. Blades aren't that expensive, cheaper than most table saw blades I buy. And still haven't found anyone in this area that can do a decent job sharpening those.
I need to look into sending the dozen or so blades I have to a reputable sharpener. Anyone has idea's, pass em on. I'll try anything...once.

[Jeffrey]

Just about every town of any size has a blade sharpening business. Also, Forrest Manufacturing at 1-800-733-7111, maker of that super Woodworker II, will sharpen anything you send them.

[gator]

Part of the exact reason I bought the DeWalt instead of the Ridgid or Delta. Resharpenable knives. I have had two sets resharpened twice each and still have a lot of meat left on both sets (and at less than $25/set, a whole lot cheaper). The second knife reason was that I think that you will inherantly get a smoother cut with the mass of the DW knives rather than with knives you can bend between two fingers.

I may be wrong, but that was the reasons.

gator

PS: I forgot the carbide part of the question - I would not recommend carbide for planer or joiner knives. Carbide will chip quicker than HSS knives and usually a much bigger chip. This is hard to overcome with sharpening. The cost of carbide vs HSS, to me, is not worth the chance.

gator

[ 01-29-2003, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: gator ]

[Steve L.]

I'm with Gator on carbide knives. Carbide is a material that can hold a sharp edge longer than HSS, but carbide doesn't have the impact resistance that HSS has. Not to mention that tungsten carbide has a larger grain structure than steel - meaning your nicks will be larger too. I wouldn't buy tungsten carbide planar blades. The price of one set of carbide blades can buy at least three sets of HSS blades.
Steve :D