chipper blade sharpen or replace

[dennis103]

How often do you guys sharpen, flip or change your chipper blades. I have about 7 hours on my chipper and I can see a difference between new and now. It still chips , but I had to slow down the feed from new. I have a woodmax 8" hydraulic feed.

 

[zzvyb6]

How often do you guys sharpen, flip or change your chipper blades. I have about 7 hours on my chipper and I can see a difference between new and now. It still chips , but I had to slow down the feed from new. I have a woodmax 8" hydraulic feed.

Buy a new set and have the old ones sharpened and on-hand as a spare set. That way if you happen to run metal thru it, you can change them out and continue.

 

[747driver]

I flipped my blades at 25 hours from when I bought it new. I have 30 hours on it currently. I have the WM8 Hyd feed. I need to order a new set so when the current blades dull I will be set . I chip mostly pine.

 

[Rebeldad1]

My Woodmax needed the blades sharpened after the first year of use. Been two years and cut fine but I know its time to resharpen for next year.

 

[ericm979]

I get 20 hours per side on my Woodmaxx 8H. I tried 25 hours and that's too long for the stuff I have been chipping, which includes some dead material. When the chips get stringy it's past time to change. I bought two sets of blades so I'd have one to use while sending the other set off to be sharpened, or sharpened myself. I'm going to see how well that works before sending them out.

If you have them sharpened and they were dull, don't forget to adjust the bed knife clearance. It's a pain to do that on the 8H as it's a long reach into the chute.

 

[oosik]

Lord 'O The Almighty Woodworker - what in the world do you folks do to dull chipper blades so fast? My Wallenstein BX62S was purchased new in the spring of 2013. I have used it every spring since 2013 to chip 900 - 1200 young pines - every spring. It averages 32 hours every spring or a total of around 225 hours - to date. These pines are fresh cut and run from 1" to 6" on the butt cut. I chip them in the round - no limbs trimmed.

I'm still running on the original side of the blades. I know they aren't as sharp as the opposing side but they chip these trees just fine. The chips come out sharp & rectangular.

I pile the trees and pull/chip from these piles. I cut & chip in the spring because there is next to no volcanic ash on the young trees then. The winter snows & spring rains will wash them clean. I do not drag the trees in the dirt.

It must be that the trees are clean and pine is a very soft wood. Especially when they are still green.

 

[NWOH_Grizz]

Also have a WoodMaxx WM8H chipper. Have at least 50 hours on it, and still on the original side of the blades. Chips fine. Mostly a mix of pine and soft maple and small junk stuff like sassafras and mulberry. Don't run much dead stuff through there, that will cause dulling quickly.

 

[mikester]

The screws holding my blades in are so packed full of resin I havent tried flipping them yet. Any tricks to removing the goo other than a small flat screw driver, needle and patience? Would carb or brake cleaner be a good spray solvent?

 

[oosik]

When I had my first Wallenstein - BX42S - the discharge chute would get coated with pine resin. I tried most everything to keep it clean. The easiest, cheapest and most available "cleaner" - diesel fuel. Soak the screws in either diesel fuel or something like WD40.

 

[RickB]

Lord 'O The Almighty Woodworker - what in the world do you folks do to dull chipper blades so fast? My Wallenstein BX62S was purchased new in the spring of 2013. I have used it every spring since 2013 to chip 900 - 1200 young pines - every spring. It averages 32 hours every spring or a total of around 225 hours - to date. These pines are fresh cut and run from 1" to 6" on the butt cut. I chip them in the round - no limbs trimmed.

I'm still running on the original side of the blades. I know they aren't as sharp as the opposing side but they chip these trees just fine. The chips come out sharp & rectangular.

I pile the trees and pull/chip from these piles. I cut & chip in the spring because there is next to no volcanic ash on the young trees then. The winter snows & spring rains will wash them clean. I do not drag the trees in the dirt.

It must be that the trees are clean and pine is a very soft wood. Especially when they are still green.

Like most things, blade quality varies. A high quality blade set to the proper clearance will chip a lot of wood.
A low end chipper may not have high quality blades and also may not be factory adjusted for optimal performance and blade life.
Replacement blades of high quality may have a surprising cost. A high quality sharpening will be well worth the effort and or cost.

 

[ericm979]

The screws holding my blades in are so packed full of resin I havent tried flipping them yet. Any tricks to removing the goo other than a small flat screw driver, needle and patience? Would carb or brake cleaner be a good spray solvent?

Small flat screwdriver works for me. But I chip maybe 15-20% pine so it's not a lot of resin like you'd get from doing all pine.
You could soften the resin with a bit of propane torch first. That might go faster than solvents.

I've mostly been chipping brush, and a lot of it is dead. So yea the blades will go dull faster. Chipping nothing but clean green pine would give longer blade life.

 

[hslogger]

I don't keep a log on my chipper knife replacement but when it doesn't feel right, bogs down or throws slivers, it's past the time to replace. All it really takes is a look-see to see if your knives are bogeyed up. It makes it hard on the whole drive train when your knives aren't at their best. On commercial machines, it is not uncommon to flip the lid and hone some knives if a little weary. On the WH8, it isn't really easy to do because of the shell design and access. Keeping a spare set of knives as well as belts is a smart idea. I send my knives off to a commercial shop twenty miles away when they need to be touched up. All the commercial arborists around here patronize the same outfit. I KNOW what I chip, and know what is going to chip easy or hard, gooey or clean and keep an eye on the internal bolts that hold knives in.

So far I have yet to have a real bad problem removing my knife bolts because of pitch or dirt.

 

[ericm979]

How to Sharpen your Chipper Blades (yourself!) - YouTube

I did an attempt at sharpening one set using his method. I've yet to try them though.

 

[RalphVa]

How often do you guys sharpen, flip or change your chipper blades. I have about 7 hours on my chipper and I can see a difference between new and now. It still chips , but I had to slow down the feed from new. I have a woodmax 8" hydraulic feed.

I've a Mac TPH-122 and just bought a new chipper blade and already had it sharpened (in a machine shop) once this spring. Bought it in 2004 with a spare chipper blade. So, it took 15 years of a lot of chipper usage. Rotated the hammers their 3 times before finally replacing last year all the hammers.

A lot of the Mac usage is with the hammers; so, your Woodmax with totally all blades probably won't last as long.

You can tell the chipper blade is dull on the Mac when it doesn't draw the wood in. With your hydraulic feed, you would not have this input.

Ralph

 

[LD48750]

Like most things, blade quality varies. A high quality blade set to the proper clearance will chip a lot of wood.
A low end chipper may not have high quality blades and also may not be factory adjusted for optimal performance and blade life.
Replacement blades of high quality may have a surprising cost. A high quality sharpening will be well worth the effort and or cost.

I always wonder about people whos only answer to every problem is throw more money at it.
I have two sets of blades for my 8 year old Jinma 8" chipper & just this year put a large chunk of metal through it breaking a blade.
Spending more money isn't ALWAYS the answer.

 

[RickB]

I always wonder about people whos only answer to every problem is throw more money at it.
I have two sets of blades for my 8 year old Jinma 8" chipper & just this year put a large chunk of metal through it breaking a blade.
Spending more money isn't ALWAYS the answer.

You clearly don’t understand my comment.

 

[abunchofidiots]

I refurbished this chipper recently. The bolts holding the blades needed replaced as I had to drill them out. The blades were easy to sharpen on a 6" wide belt sander. I did have to remove one blade shim to get my distance to the bed correct.