new blades

[Mike Stanton]

Has anyone ever thought of having a machine shop make new blades for your planer? they can make better ones than new. Mike

[Bruce Page]

Has anyone ever thought of having a machine shop make new blades for your planer? they can make better ones than new. Mike

Not really. The typical decent machine shop could give you a good grind but probably no better than the local sharpening shop. It’s all in the quality of the steel used, and just as important, the quality of the heat treatment.

[Joseph N. Myers]

Yes, done it a couple of times. Originally, I had a couple of sets made for my 12" Delta planer and last year, for my 18" Woodmaster planer. In each case, the quality of the steel was better, a little more expense but stay sharper longer. I will probably buy more sets in the future.

The shop I worked with are quite professional and even make their own saw blades. But I guess that making planer/joiner blades are not too complicated so most machine shops should be able to produce them.

Joe

[Mike Stanton]

Where did you have yours made, and how much. I have three blades on my planer. Mike

[Joseph N. Myers]

Mike,

Sorry I took so long to reply --- I somehow missed your question.

I purchase some 12 1/2 blades for my Delta 22-560 planer through Jesada some years back and still have them. Not sure what I paid but they now cost $31.90, I think the same as Delta blades.

I also purchased some through American Carbine in Hatboro PA, 800-537-2371. I remember they were good but do not have them any more. They too cost about the same as Delta.

A couple of years back, I was able to purchase 10 Delta planer blades for something like $20.00 each so I haven't checked the prices for a while.

The one thing I remember is that no body I could find wanted to sharpen them because they were two sided and if they did, wanted to charge more than the $.50 an inch I'm normally charged. So it would cost me more to have them sharpen then buying new ones (at the $20.00). They did mentioned that what would be best just to get blades that are sharpen on one side then all those other problems would go away.

Last year I purchased blades for my 18" Woodmaster from American Carbine. They in turn, ordered the blades from American National Knife, Hickory, NC, 800-533-7117. I'm not sure if American National supplied just the blanks or the finish product. And I think the cost was about the same as if I ordered from Woodmaster (around $80.00 for the three blades). They were definitely better than Woodmaster.

Hope the above helps you.

Regards, Joe