Clipper Blade Sharpening

[stone and strop]

Just wondered how many here sharpen their own clipper blades or even their own scissors.
As far as clipper blades go, what do you use and do you use a flat surface or convex surface?

 

[MasterOfPups]

Just wondered how many here sharpen their own clipper blades or even their own scissors.
As far as clipper blades go, what do you use and do you use a flat surface or convex surface?

If you are talking electric clippers, I take the blade apart and lap them on a jnat. I've done several sets this way for the local humane society, they see a lot of use and get dull pretty fast there.

Then use a drop of blue loctite to keep the screws from working loose.

 

[stone and strop]

If you are talking electric clippers, I take the blade apart and lap them on a jnat. I've done several sets this way for the local humane society, they see a lot of use and get dull pretty fast there.

Then use a drop of blue loctite to keep the screws from working loose.

Yes, electric clippers. I should have mentioned that.
Is it a coarse Jnat or do you polish it?

 

[MasterOfPups]

I just use a finisher and lap the surface with some slurry. You probably want to avoid removing too much metal and mess up the fit of the two surfaces. I don't even remove all of the factory grind marks. And I try to avoid creating burrs anywhere, since they would be hard to polish out of those little teeth.

I've never been able to find any actual instructions on how to sharpen them properly, but this has been working for me.

The first set I tried was on a 1200 DMT. The blade worked well on dogs, but failed on cat hair. I'm guessing the dmt left burrs, or removed too much metal in the wrong places. The fine jnat method sails right through cat hair as well or better than factory new. I volunteer on the spay neuter surgery team 2 days a week, shaving and prepping animals for surgery, so I've seen how they perform first hand.

 

[Basil]

Interesting. I had no idea you could sharpen them. I will have to look it up online to see a video on how to do it.

 

[stone and strop]

I have always done them on a dead flat surface as well. Usually only to 1k w/d.
I have done a lot of research lately, mostly investigating the platen that professionals use. Its very hard to find the disk specks as they only say that they are hollow ground which makes no sense - they produce hollow ground.
They all warn against finishing too fine as this creates too much heat for a super polished surface mating another.
I believe they finish on 15 micron max but many abrasives for it are only up to 400x on sales sites.
I did some for my neighbor ( a retired barber) and made a kit for him with a piece of granite (dead flat) and some w/d. He preferred the finish of 600 w/d to mimic what he usually had done by professionals. It still leaves a pretty polished surface non the less and he is happy with the results and extra happy he can do it himself.
I came across a you tube video explaining the geometry of the wheel which I found interesting even though it does not specify any amount of taper.

Plate and abrasive sales.

16" Honing Plate for Models CS-101 and CS-201

Replacement Clipper Honing Plate 16" Micro-Serrated Cast Aluminum Honing Plate fits the Models CS-101 and CS-201. The plate is double-sided with both sides hollow-ground and sharpens an estimated 1400 - 3000 blades.

www.sharpeningsupplies.com

Geometry explained.

It appears, to me at least, that even slight convexing would help to keep contact at the very outside edges (the business end)
There are quit a few professional sharpeners (you tube) that explain it and why but do not elaborate on how much is required.
Don't know how good this company is but it explains the hollowing and such.

I know that flat works great but have never tried it on some ones clippers that run for hours a day.
I ended up making myself a lapping surface recently with a camber along its length. About .008 drop on each side away from center on a 3 1/4 wide cube about 18" long of ridiculously hard purple heart.
stable and has been in the shop for years. End to end is dead flat with an engineers straight edge.
I simply lay paper on top and rub along the length.

Time will tell I suppose but flat would probably last almost as long.

 

[stone and strop]

Interesting. I had no idea you could sharpen them. I will have to look it up online to see a video on how to do it.

As MasterOfPups says be careful not to over do it and create large burrs.
I clean between the teeth with a stiff brush after touch ups. Using paper leaves residue in the notches.
Also, using paper on a surface be it flat or convex does not ever change the surface. If using a stone I say dressing dead flat each time a must and keep it under 1k.
Very easy to do and really works well.

 

[stone and strop]

Basil, this is basic sharpening from a known source on the forum and how I have done it for a long time only using w/d and granite plate.

Jende Industries

 

[stone and strop]

I ended up making myself a lapping surface recently with a camber along its length. About .008 drop on each side away from center on a 3 1/4 wide cube about 18" long of ridiculously hard purple heart.

I meant along its width, too late to edit.
This gives approx. .003 hollow on a 2" blade and .7 of 1 thou on the mating piece. 3.7 total.
Found another site that helps show the hollow and how it should look.

The Shop, Inc. | Sharpening Logic

The Shop, Inc. introduced a precision machine scraped disc surface that is verified, by the scraping process, a true plane, eliminating this risk.

www.theshop-inc.com

Good information on this site.

 

[MasterOfPups]

Interesting. Maybe thats it works better for me with a fine jnat - I don't remove enough material to take out the hollow grind ?

 

[stone and strop]

Flat does work and the slurry finish may be perfect for metal on metal.
Can't argue what works

 

[bluesman 7]

Slightly off topic, but I slightly convex my Nani 8k across the 7 cm dimension to polish the ride line on convex ground hair shears.

 

[stone and strop]

Slightly off topic, but I slightly convex my Nani 8k across the 7 cm dimension to polish the ride line on convex ground hair shears.

In use then you polish the flat side (convex) from the end of the stone to keep the concavity of the normally flat side?
I normally (for scissors) use granite and polishing paper for the flat side - this polishes the absolute outer edges of the flat side.
When sharpening the edge it goes in a jig for hand polishing.
When sharpening the convex edge do you use a concave paddle of sorts or do you do like the professional services that rock the edge back and forth on the abrasive to get the shape?
I have not yet made a concave paddle on which to place adhesive backed abrasive. My thinking was this is the way to get the most consistent grind. Either 1/4" lexan or even a steel plate with a curve.
How do you do yours?

 

[bluesman 7]

In use then you polish the flat side (convex) from the end of the stone to keep the concavity of the normally flat side?

No, I use the stone with the blade going across the slightly convexed surface when polishing the ride line to accommodate the set of the blades. Some people just flex the blade down onto a flat stone to hit the ride line, but that puts more pressure on the tip of the shear. You see a lot of shears where the hollow is gone at the tips from being honed that way.

I normally (for scissors) use granite and polishing paper for the flat side - this polishes the absolute outer edges of the flat side.
When sharpening the edge it goes in a jig for hand polishing.
When sharpening the convex edge do you use a concave paddle of sorts or do you do like the professional services that rock the edge back and forth on the abrasive to get the shape?

I rock the convex surface on a flat stone.

I have not yet made a concave paddle on which to place adhesive backed abrasive. My thinking was this is the way to get the most consistent grind. Either 1/4" lexan or even a steel plate with a curve.
How do you do yours?

Two of parts my reply are imbedded in your quote.

The convex that I put on my 8k is very mild and not a true convex radius. It is more like breaking the outside 1/2" on each side by 1º or so then softening the break. Then I pull the shear across those two angle breaks. When I start the stroke the shear tip is hanging off the far side of the stone. The softness of the stone makes the slight angle breaks easy to soften out and the shape effectively narrows the hone, both result in less pressure on the set of the shear to get the ride line to contact the hone. The honing on the ride line is very minimal to keep the uraoshi (or ride line) as small as possible. By keeping the ride line small I have not had to worry about re grinding the hollows on any shears that I've done so far. I have not done a lot of convex ground hair shears, but they are kind of intriguing. The most amazing thing about them to me is that they weren't invented until the 1960's

 

[jj_sharp]

I have sharpened electric clippers. I used something flat, don't recall what, probably stone. It worked.

For shears, I would not try maintaining convex edges. The edge would be as straight as I could make it, freehand.

 

[stone and strop]

If you had a set of shears that had a convex edge why would you straighten it?
They are intentionally made convex.

 

[jj_sharp]

If you had a set of shears that had a convex edge why would you straighten it?
They are intentionally made convex.

Only because straight bevels are all that I have tallent for sharpening.

 

[Herrenberg]

Really appreciate this information. It felt wrong when I threw away the wonderfully heavy old blades on Mrs. Herrenberg's horse clippers, but I had no idea what I could do about it. Now I know, it's just like meat grinder blades, you just flatten them.

I won't be doing it on my JNats, though. Diamond plates will be my weapon of choice when the issue comes up again.

 

[bluesman 7]

I have sharpened electric clippers. I used something flat, don't recall what, probably stone. It worked.

For shears, I would not try maintaining convex edges. The edge would be as straight as I could make it, freehand.

But hair shears are convex on one side of the edge, and curved pivot to tip. The curve is the 'set' to keep the ride lines in contact through the cut. There is nothing straight on them.

 

[stone and strop]

Not all shears are convex on the cutting edge.
High end shears generally are and Japanese almost always are.
I was just experimenting yesterday with finding a radius that works for the "flat" side of my shears. Figured there was a common size wheel used in the industry. Sixteen inch wheel or 8" diameter seems very close to 2 different shears but have not checked the other 3 yet. I figure if I can nail down a common size and I will just use that to polish the entire inside concave flat side and never worry again about the ride line growing again.
It seems it would be easier than watching it grow over the years then needing to have it ground down completely again.
In all fairness, it may work fine with the inside polished perfectly flat but not willing to try it.
They made it that way for a reason.

Victor, do you test your edges with single ply wet tissue?
This proves to be a good test for me.
My neighbor, when handed a fresh pair I sharpened, used only the very tip to cut super fine tissue to see if it pulled.
He said if it did that it was good to go. I like the full depth cut and pull out on wet tissue. For me, anything that passes that cuts hair like a dream.