when to buy a sharpner

[yarnammurt]

How many blades a week would you use to justify buying a sharpner. $2000 is a good bid of money but $15 each to sharpen and then shiping. If you use 15 or so a week that's a good bit if money to. Trying to figure out what to do.

[WH_Conley]

Do you have time to sharpen without cutting into production time? If you save $10.00, but you have to quit doing something that would pay $20.00 in the same amount of time, let somebody else do it.

[hackberry jake]

I don't know what I would do without mine. Say you pay $2000 for the sharpener and it costs $10 a piece to sharpen bands. If you buy it and sharpen 20 bands, and each band takes 5 sharpenings before failure, then you sell it for $1000. You break even. It shouldn't take long to start saving money if you use it for years. You also get to sharpen them as often as needed without having to push a dull band to "get your moneys worth" out of the sharping service.

[slider]

If you can afford it and plan to saw for quiet a while then you won't regret the purchase .  al

[pineywoods]

I have one of the old woodmizer drag type sharpeners. There is a learning curve to get good results with it, but properly set up, it works well. I have seen them sell used for a few hundred bucks. If I didn't have a sharpener, I would be sorely tempted to try building one using a cheap chainsaw sharpener as a starting point. Really not that much to them. The real answer to your question is - do you have the time to do your own sharpening without impacting sawing time..Most of the commercial millers I know, send their blades to woodmizer re-sharp, but that kinda locks you into them as a blade supplier.

[Magicman]

First, your $15 plus shipping cost is on the high side. 

The decision to sharpen or not is a personal decision based upon weighing time, cost, and quality.  The time issue goes a bit further than how much income that your time can make, but also what is the value of your spare time.  I use WM Resharp because in my instance, when I am not sawing I choose to be off, but that is my decision.

Cost is based upon how many blades that you might resharpen in a given period of time.  There is no question in my mind that sharpening your own is cost effective.

Quality and being able to tweak blades to your personal sawing is another benefit of sharpening your own.  Adding more or less set, plus changing the hook angle of blades would then be under your control with a few or many blades.

[Mountain State Farm]

Yarnammurt,

Magic is right, $15 is high. I found a local guy that charges $5 each. I take him 10 at a time and he has them ready in 3-4 days. He will also put any set and angle I specify. I am lucky to have found him and I always leave him a good tip.

Other local guys charge $10 each and even at that price, that comes out to 200 resharps, so Magic is right again, depends on your volume.

[thecfarm]

He said $15 AND shipping.    The guy I use charges me 6,but I have to travel 30 miles one way. But if you saw his shop, you would go to him too. He's been around sawmills all his life. But I only have him sharpen about maybe 50 blades,just last year. I went to one place and was not happy at all. I found this guy and am very happy with the sound of the blades in the wood.  ;D

[Magicman]

$15 each to sharpen and then shiping.

Actually he said "sharpen and then shipping", which to me meant plus shipping.  No matter, $15 is a stretch to resharpen.

For me, WM Resharp is $103 per ten blades which includes shipping both ways.  Of course I very seldom send a box without at least one reject, so they replace the reject blade for $21 each.  With that program, my blade count stays the same.

All of this is just items to consider when weighing when to by a sharpener.  I would also suggest doing a FF search on sharpening or resharpening.   There are many threads, post, and opinions, all of which will help with your decision.

[randy r]

Ive got a tripod sharpener with no clue how to use it.  I got it with my mill when I bought it, but I'm the second owner of the mill.  The guy we got the mill from had it and so we got it too.  It's the real deal, I just can't figure it out.  I haven't really even looked at it, because we've just always used WM resharp. 

[hackberry jake]

At $15 plus shipping, you would prolly be better off using a blade til it was dull and throwing it away.

[yarnammurt]

Cant find anyone local, And Logmaster is $15 each to sharpen+shiping. The new bands are $40 each. Where do I send them for $6 each. I would be all over that.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 If you can't find someone close, I know of a gal in E Texas that I helped teach to sharpen blades for her VERY fussy Husband. She was talking about doing custom sharpening, last I heard from her.

I could contact her if you like. ?  I believe she has the Cook's sharpener and a large family, so, might need the money.

[thecfarm]

I found the guy that I use by asking at a hardware store. There's another hardware store that is closer,that I could drop off my blades and pick them up the next week.

[ladylake]

If your using 15 bands a week you have plenty of time to sharpen and will save a LOT doing it.  Payback will be fast.   Steve

[bikerbob]

I tried a couple local guys at $7 each and wasn't thrilled with the results. The "box and ship" was a bit too mauch hassle for me. I bought a used Brewco sharpener and setter off Sawmill Exhcange. Although the initial cost seemed a bit pricey, I am very satisfied. Since both machines are automatic, I can set one and sharpen one at the same time. The sharpener is a bit slower than the setter, but still less than five minutes. I am pretty much a "do it yourself" kind of guy and you can't put a price on that!

[Chuck White]

At $15 plus shipping, you would prolly be better off using a blade til it was dull and throwing it away.

Better yet, use them till they're dull, then sell them for $10.00 apiece, then you can buy some more new ones.

If you keep track of how much it costs you to have your blades resharpened by someone else, divide the cost of a sharpener by the cost of one resharpened blade and that will give you the break-even point, minus your time.

When I bought my sharpener I did the math and at the point when I sharpened my 350th blade, my sharpener doesn't owe me anything.  I didn't figure in my time though!

I would routinely go through 2 and sometimes 3 blades per day!

[drobertson]

How many blades a week would you use to justify buying a sharpner. $2000 is a good bid of money but $15 each to sharpen and then shiping. If you use 15 or so a week that's a good bit if money to. Trying to figure out what to do.

I was in the same boat several years ago, I used the re-sharp service with no problems, then found a local, @$4 a blade, good turn around time, and quality, I was in, then she was out.  Lo and behold a good friend and mentor gave me one he had used briefly, a baker brand, face grind only. I know how fortunate I am, and I tell you this for the simple reason I believe they are worth having. Once set up a blade can be sharpened in less than 5 min.  bout the time it takes to enjoy a good cup of coffee.  I would shop around, find one you can make work for you, and I believe you will be happy with the results. It only takes a blade to get the hang of it, just get one you can afford to scrap, and use it for learning on.  From there, it is a matter of experience as to what you can do and how fast.   david

[WH_Conley]

I sharpen some blades for neighbors from time to time. Seems like they will use them in the fall and let them hang in an open shed til spring then want them sharpened. I have tried to tell them to oil them down or go ahead and bring them down before they rust if they want them set. If a blade is all rusted up, about all you can do is run it across the grinder and hope for the best, you can't look for a shiny side on the tooth. If you have someone else sharpen for you, take care of the blades so they can.