Self sharpening your chipper blades

[Dryar123]

Out of interest. Does anyone self sharpen their chipper blades. I've seen sets that have worked when the edges have been pretty mashed chewing up stones etc. I know they look good when properly ground to manufacturers spec but they quickly come away from this when regularly used. I feel quite happy that I could put a 45 degree cutting edge on a set with a bit of elbow grease and they would do the job. Is getting them re ground by an engineer really that critical.

 

Cheers.

[treequip]

The angle matters, if to go too thin you loose durability, if you go too thick it needs more energy to make the cut which, at the extremes will lead to more loading on bearings which wont so anything for longevity.

 

Bandit (I think) used to offer a diamond manual hand sharpener affair for edging blades up in situ but it did alter the edge rather than sharpening the whole blade.

 

I have used a flap disk in an angle grinder as an emergency measure before now but there is no substitute for a "proper" grind.

[PC tree]

I think if one has more material taken off than another it can effect balance? But I don't think it's going to that far out really, I maybe wrong?? A mate of mine used a sanding disc in grinder but to my knowledge doing this heats the steel too much and counteracts the hardening of the blade somehow.

I'm sure someone will know more on here...

 

PC

[Old Mill Tree Care]

The angles are important but the weight is super important.

If they are not balanced the bearings will fail prematurely.

Use a professional.

 

 

Sent with my iPhone from me, to you!

[PC tree]

The angles are important but the weight is super important.

If they are not balanced the bearings will fail prematurely.

Use a professional.

 

 

Sent with my iPhone from me, to you!

 

Phew a 2nd :-)

[Robert_S]

I think bearing failure is down to blunt blades rather than a few grams difference in weight. I sharpen my own on a jig on a bench grinder and have done for years.

[treequip]

I think bearing failure is down to blunt blades rather than a few grams difference in weight. I sharpen my own on a jig on a bench grinder and have done for years.

 

What that man said, and its not even a couple of grams

[Arbtech Tree Services]

The angle matters, if to go too thin you loose durability, if you go too thick it needs more energy to make the cut

 

Depends which side of the blade meets the wood. On a drum chipper get the angle wrong by 3 degreees and the machine will simply not chip full stop.

 

Sent the CS100 blades off to a certain machine knive company who i obviously can't name, i even told them the angles to use (27deg front and 4deg rear for 10mm). They came back sharp enough to shave with, put them in the machine and gapped the anvil and found i couldn't chip a twig. Took them out and found they'd done them to 30 deg so the wood was just hitting the top edge not the leading (cutting edge).

Sent them back to be done to OEM spec as they had quoted on their website (and i had provided), when they were i was back to excellent performance.

 

A mate of mine has a local engineering firm and a jig made up for my TP blades and now does them. The boys reckon it's a couple of hours work as the machine only takes off 2 thou at a time. Any more and you'll start heating the blade up and losing hardness.

 

HTH

 

Regards, Steve.

[Dryar123]

I completely get the balance v bearing argument. I'm just finding it hard to consider chipper blades as critically engineered components. During their working life when the chipper is on full tilt and the anti stress kicking in the edges of the blade and angles of attack take a beating. It seems to me that they must become imbalanced very swiftly and lose their efficiency. Just like a chain there might be a strong argument to self dress the cutting edge regularly to actually minimise resistance.

Thanks for the advice so far. Really interested in everyone's perspective. I know it's steep but I recently got quoted £40 for a regrind of a 4 inch set of blades. I'm always looking to take some overheads out of the business.

Cheers

[geoff]

Sharpen my tw125 blades myself on a bench grinder, get the angle right, dont get the blades hot, & it's a doddle.