local saw blade sharpening

[Rob Grubbs]

I am going to look for a local person to do my table saw blade sharpening. My strategy is to try them out on a less expensive blade to see how the quality is before letting them have my better blades.
But I want to "screen" them even before giving them my less expensive blades. I would hate to have any blade ruined by someone who didn't know what they were doing. What questions should I ask them up front so I can eliminate the hacks?

[Russ Buddle]

Find out who services local cabinet shops. If they have a legit, full time sharpening business, they can handle your blades.

[Rob Grubbs]

Find out who services local cabinet shops. If they have a legit, full time sharpening business, they can handle your blades.

While that may be an indication that they can do it, I would like to be able to get a little more information from the person sharpening the blade. Some cabinet shops have not idea what a truly nice blade is and I have been told I was an idiot to spend over $100 on a blade. I would like to have some questions ready that I could ask the sharpening service on a mildly technical level.

[Dewey Torres]

Before you chose a place, ask other woodworkers in the area who they use. Then when you find a good recommendation when you go in, just ask if they have ever sharpened (say a WW II). watch for the reaction.

Should be something like... yes I do those all the time...that is a great blade BTW.

Should not sound like: What is that? or "No but they are all the same" or "Why did you spend $100 for a blade?"

If you are unsure you could always let the manufacturer do them. I am lucky to have a guy here locally that does good blade work but if I didn't I would mail them in a heart beat.

If you have a local woodcraft in your area, they get this question all the time so a call to them may be a good start.

[M. A. Espinoza]

I suggest trying to find a service that uses CNC equipment. I wouldn't let anyplace sharpen that didn't have CNC if they didn't come with a recommendation from a source I trust.

Alternately there's always Forrest, a pain with the shipping but you don't have to wonder if they know what their doing.

Could be worth contacting a couple of the better blade mfg. to see if they keep a list of recommended sharpening services. Freud, Infinity, Amana, etc. Might be one near you.

[Randal Stevenson]

Rob, edit your profile to show where you are located. You may find someone here, who knows a good place local to you.

[Dave Sweeney]

You don't list where you're located so I don't know if this will help you or not but here is a link to Freud Authorized Sharpening Services. Maybe one of them is close by you.

[Rob Grubbs]

Thanks for the replies so far. I updated my profile to include my location.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I live in central NC, but Dynamic Saw in Buffalo NY sharpens my blades. A 2 to 3 day priority mail box from USPS will hold about ten blades. Costs less than $10. You could easily spend that in gas. Check out their prices-www.dynamicsaw.com. Their service is cheaper than Forrest, and just as good, if not better. I paid Dynamic half of what I paid Forrest to replace some teeth and sharpen a blade.

[Paul Demetropoulos]

I use Ridge Carbide for sharpening. They are local to me but so is Forrest and I could use them just as easily, but I prefer Ridge. Most of the good sharpening services in my area send out their carbide work to Ridge.

You can mail them your blades for sharpening. Ridge manufactures very high quality saw blades that sometimes take top honors in the rag reviews. Holbren, a distributor favored by many posters on SMC, sells Ridge Carbide blades.

http://www.ridgecarbidetool.com/