rodger. Posted September 16, 2017 Report Share Posted September 16, 2017 Gonna try out my new blade honing jig for my thickness planer knives - how sharp should I go? I need to use sandpaper here, but it l can get crazy high grits. Online, I've seen people stop at 400 or 600 grit. This doesn't seem near sharp enough, but maybe i am missing something. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted September 16, 2017 Report Share Posted September 16, 2017 If it's not too expensive I would go up to the 4000-8000 range at least once. My Tormek planer knife jig gets the edge so smooth it's glossy. The results from a very sharp set of knives are impressive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted September 16, 2017 Report Share Posted September 16, 2017 I'd probably go to 8000 knowing full well that after you send the first board through it will likely dull the blades back to something like 1000. Same concept as turning tools...there's no point in going to astronomically high grits because the second that tool touches wood you lose 90% of the sharpness you just labored to achieve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted September 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2017 I bought a set of PSA backed micro abrasive sheets from Lee Valley today. There are 10 sheets of various micron grits, which roughly equal 400x through 8000x. I'll repost when I get some results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted September 16, 2017 Report Share Posted September 16, 2017 I've never honed planer knives past what they come back like, but every time I put a set of knives in a jointer, I hit them on the waterstones, just because the sharpening setup is always ready to go. The first couple of hundred feet of boards run come out amazingly slick, but it doesn't last that long. It's also amazingly quiet for a little while. You do have to be careful handling the knives though, since it's not second nature to realize how sharp they can be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted September 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2017 I used some PSA sharpening paper (equivalent to 1400, 4000, 8000) and it worked great. At first the blades didn't feel super sharp to the touch of my fingers, but they were nice and shiny. I placed them back in the planer and they worked nicely. I did 10 strokes back and forth in each grit. I didn't want to grind away any significant amount of metal, so I stuck to honing them. I should be able to get a few uses per set, I hope. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted September 17, 2017 Report Share Posted September 17, 2017 Is this for the disposable planer knives? Got a link or a picture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted September 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2017 1 hour ago, SawDustB said: Is this for the disposable planer knives? Got a link or a picture? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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