How to Sharpen Jointer Knives in-Place

joinder is only as good as knives in its cut ahead but let's face it nobody likes sharpening or replacing them you've got the hassle of taking them out you gotta meet without them for a few days or weeks while the sharpening service and then you've got the hassle of reinstalling them that's a whole art in itself Hendrik bahu a professional woodworker near Toronto and Canada has come up with a better way with a simple shot made jig he has learned how to sharpen the knives while they're still in the machine let me show you how before you begin work on the machine first step is to unplug it critical to the whole operation is to secure the cutter head while you sharpen each knife and to do that by who came up with this very simple jig it's simply a small block of hard wood with a quarter inch dowel and what that does is it fits into this opening in the rabbiting ledge of the infeed table so the next thing I'm going to do is just to remove this safety guard while I'm working on it because it gets in the way to obtain the proper micro bevel you'll want to have the joint a knife position just after the apex of its travel to do this raise the infeed table to works maximum height now position the cutter head so that the knife you'll be sharpening is that the apex of its arc and fit the locking jig in place next lower the infeed table approximately 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch as you do this the knife connected to the jig will rotate clockwise and downward you'll want to move the knife from approximately the 12 o'clock position to about the 1 o'clock position with the infeed table set correctly and the cutter head at the proper position now is the time to work on the outfeed table protect the table from the sharpening stones I cover the first 12 inches or so with some packing tape if you plan on doing a bit of heavier Honi you may want to use an adhesive plastic laminate sheet for this now lower the outfeed table until the block or board just touches the knife a slip of paper should just fit beneath the wood at the start of the outfeed table with my table set I'm ready to hone I begin with a 600 grit diamond stone positioned on the knife with about half its length on the outfeed table draw the stone back towards the outfeed side stopping just before the end of the stone repeat the process checking with a magnifying glass until you've achieved a small bevel across the entire length for the knife now use a 1200 grit stone and repeat the process once you're satisfied with the result take out the jig rotate the cutter head to the next knife and lock it down again well that's all three knives satisfactorily honed so let's get this joint to reset and we'll start cutting some wood okay that's a big improvement it's a much smoother cut than what I was getting before this won't remove completely the need to occasionally send your knives out for sharpening if you get a big nick in them but what it will allow you to do is to keep your knives much sharper for much longer

Channel: FineWoodworking

Views: 324,653

Rating: 4.6772332 out of 5

Keywords: schofield, fine woodworking, woodworking, jointer, machinery, changing jointer knives, How to Sharpen Jointer Knives in-Place, Sharpen Jointer Knives in-Place, Sharpen Jointer Knives

Id: nSNUn4LLsmI

Length: 3min 2sec (182 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2013