I am looking for firsthand feedback on blade sharpeners. I have been looking at the Makita 9820-2 1.1 amp Horizontal Wheel Wet Blade Sharpener for quite some time now, but I can not help to think that there are not comparable sharpeners out there. Also, I have looked for tool reviews, but have not come across any.
As always, thanks for your feedback.
Replies
Blades
Jake,
I worked will semi sharp blades for more years than I want to admit to... until I found "Brent's Sharpening Pages" on line.
It takes some time to make the jigs needed for chisels and plane irons and to order the Micro-abrasives, but the sharp edges that you can get are truely amazing. I have never tried the Makita 9820-2 system.
Brent is a very bright boy and has lots of clearheaded advice to offer, but the OP didn't indicate what type of edge needs to be sharpened. Brent's ideas mostly apply to planes and somewhat to chisels.
BTW, the link is:
http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpen/index.html
Either way, I encourage anyone to immerse yourself in his site. His ideas and research are first rate.
I've got a couple of jigs on display on his site. Let me know if you have any questions.
I have been using a Woodtek horizontal wet wheel since 1995. It takes some time but my chisel blades come out sharp and with a mirror finish.
How often are you sharpening ?
I got a slow rpm 2 inch grinder for chisels, and it was nice, put a hollow grid on the points, but in reality, I can get the water stones out and have just as good a finish in 5 - 10 minutes.
In the beginning, I tried jigs for the water stones, but I ditched them in favor of just doing it by feel. The only time I break out the grinder these days is when I nick one of my blades and need to take a good amount of material off before honing.
I love my Tormek grinder. Don't know how you could do better than that.
I remember after I bought it, my sons and I sharpened everything in the house. We were having a great tie doing it. When we finished the last kitchen knife, my Son said:
"Dad, isn't there anything else we can sharpen?"
I have the Makita wet wheel and it does well on my plane edges 12" and the cutters for my W&H planer/molder.Also knives, chisles, etc.
If I were only buying for smaller like chisles and knives, I would probably go with the Tormek.
A buddy has the Woodtec mentioned and has used both his and mine. He thought the makita was far smoother than his machine re vibrations.