Sharpening Help

CSAW · Mar 30, 2002

Posting here because I don't know where it belongs. I am donig alot of paint scraping on an old house. The scrapers I have found to work best have carbide blades. Question. Does anyone know of a way to sharpen these without buying an expensive diamond wheel or I believe what is called a green wheel. I'm sure I could take them to a machine shop or sharpening shop but would like to get something to do it myself. What I was thinking of is a special file or something else that would cut it. A regular file and bench grinder does not even scratch the blades. Any advise would be appreciated.

EdKing · Mar 30, 2002

Get a Dremel rotary tool. If you get one in a kit, they come with green stones included. After you use it for a while, you will wonder why you didn't get one before. I have had several over the last 14 years, and wouldn't be without one.

JJT · Mar 31, 2002

I have carbide blades in my planer and use a set of handheld diamond impregnated stones, (~$60), to sharpen them. It takes less than 15 minutes to get a nice edge, I'd think a scraper would take less time, since you don't need a precision edge. I have several electric sharpeners that rarely get used, and when they do it's simply to get the edge close, I then finish by hand. It takes some practice, but sharpening an edge is an art that's worth learning.

AndyR · Apr 1, 2002

I agree with JJT. Try Lee Valley for stones and tools. I would stay away from most motorized sharpeners because you can very easily take the temper of of metal - leaving it soft and requiring much more frequent sharpening. That said, there are a few exceptions like Tormek, Makita (wet wheel) etc.

MarkV · Apr 1, 2002

Chuck,
I sure would not argue with the value of the diamond stones and if you have enough sharpening needs they may well be worth the cost. We use scrapers for corners where the sanders will not reach when we are refinishing wood floors. You may want to try a scraper with a steel blade that can be sharpened with a metal file. That is the way we have gone after trying most everything we could find over the last 20 years. You do have to sharpen more often, but a few strokes with the file lays the burr edge back on the scraper and with a little practice you can shave the hair off of your arm with it. One tip, sharpen often before the blade gets to dull and it will be much easier to keep an edge on the blade.

MarkV

EdKing · Apr 1, 2002

With a little care and not trying to hurry the job, it is quite easy to use the Dremel to sharpen without overheating the metal. I use the Dremel to sharpen my axes, and for quick touch-up on my mower blades, without affecting the temper of the steel.

ewoss3 · Apr 2, 2002

sears has some litlle fold-up diamond stones that are roughly 1"x3.5" surrounded by a plastic folding case they seem to work very good for maintaining an edge. I got both the coarse, med and fine.