Cutter/Guillotine Blade Sharpening

[AP90]

Ok fellas I am in search of someplace, preferably in southern Indiana but understand ill most likely have to ship, to sharpen my cutter blades. We have been using a local company for the last few years that has always done a pretty good job. I wont say stellar but they've always gotten the job done. And price was great. Well last batch we had sharpened didnt seem to hold up well and didnt seem to be that sharp to begin with. Maybe they had a new guy doing it, idk. So I purchased a used blade off eBay and sent my other blades to another shop. This one offers weekly pickup and price was comparable. Perfect. I got my blades back and Im not exaggerating that I'm pretty sure they might be duller than before they were "sharpened". So this is disappointing. The used blade I got off eBay was sharpened by "GBC Sharpening Services". Blade worked great and didnt miss a beat. So im in search of a good place to get them sharpened and understand ill probably have to send them off. Just dont want to pay shipping on 4 blades each time. Also I set the blade depth and everything per the manual. And its the same way I've been doing it for years so Im pretty sure I didnt damage these blades this time.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Ok fellas I am in search of someplace, preferably in southern Indiana but understand ill most likely have to ship, to sharpen my cutter blades. We have been using a local company for the last few years that has always done a pretty good job. I wont say stellar but they've always gotten the job done. And price was great. Well last batch we had sharpened didnt seem to hold up well and didnt seem to be that sharp to begin with. Maybe they had a new guy doing it, idk. So I purchased a used blade off eBay and sent my other blades to another shop. This one offers weekly pickup and price was comparable. Perfect. I got my blades back and Im not exaggerating that I'm pretty sure they might be duller than before they were "sharpened". So this is disappointing. The used blade I got off eBay was sharpened by "GBC Sharpening Services". Blade worked great and didnt miss a beat. So im in search of a good place to get them sharpened and understand ill probably have to send them off. Just dont want to pay shipping on 4 blades each time. Also I set the blade depth and everything per the manual. And its the same way I've been doing it for years so Im pretty sure I didnt damage these blades this time.

DM sent.

 

[rcreveli]

IGS Knives in Red Lion PA
Address: 760 W Wallick Ln, Red Lion, PA 17356
Phone: (717) 244-6753

 

[Craig]

I use a local machine shop that built a custom jig for our blades to hold the blade at the correct angle. They do a great job so maybe look for that type of service. Make sure you let them know the angle as recommended by the cutter manufacture, ours is 23 degrees.

 

[SoggyWinter]

We had a sharpening company take 1/4 inch off of one of our blades, rendering it useless. Switched to doing it ourselves with a wetstone.

 

[TJPrinter]

We had a sharpening company take 1/4 inch off of one of our blades, rendering it useless. Switched to doing it ourselves with a wetstone.

Same thing happen to me, they turned a good blade into a useless blade. Interested in the wetsone. Did you make some type of jig to hold at correct angle or just slide it alone the blade?

 

[AP90]

We had a sharpening company take 1/4 inch off of one of our blades, rendering it useless. Switched to doing it ourselves with a wetstone.

I actually purchased a blade sharpening system over the weekend and went to town on one of our blades. I was able to put a sharper edge on it than the current company did but its still not quite where I want it to be. but I believe with some more practice and elbow grease I can get a fully sharp edge on it. And when I say its not where I want it to be it hesitates on a 1" stack of 19" wide 16pt. So its sharp, its just not holy hell this is sharp sharp lol.

 

[Shawnd]

What sharpening system did you go with?

 

[criccidisk]

We noticed a significant drop in sharpening quality with our local mom-and-pop spot and decided to switch to Industrial Knife Co in Upper Marlboro, MD. Night and day difference in quality, our blades are straight, sharp, and functional again. I believe you can ship them blades to sharpen.

I know we're dealing with different cutting systems and I totally get the idea of internalizing the maintenance on those blades given your luck with vendors, but I'd be a bit concerned if a hydraulic cutter was hesitating on an inch of 16pt. I'd send one of your blades out their way to get it in top shape while you practice sharpening the others.

 

[Stickman42]

We noticed a significant drop in sharpening quality with our local mom-and-pop spot and decided to switch to Industrial Knife Co in Upper Marlboro, MD. Night and day difference in quality, our blades are straight, sharp, and functional again. I believe you can ship them blades to sharpen.

I've been using the same local sharpening service/company for 30+ years. At the height of their activity they had about a dozen employees working on sharpening paper knives, zamboni blades, woodworking knives, etc. My sharpened knives were mostly fine, but once in a while they came back nicked, ground down way too far, or bowed. They couldn't keep enough good people on staff to keep up with the demand. They've since installed an automated sharpening machine at a cost of a couple million $$. Haven't had a problem in a very long time. Sigh...

 

[AP90]

We noticed a significant drop in sharpening quality with our local mom-and-pop spot and decided to switch to Industrial Knife Co in Upper Marlboro, MD. Night and day difference in quality, our blades are straight, sharp, and functional again. I believe you can ship them blades to sharpen.

I know we're dealing with different cutting systems and I totally get the idea of internalizing the maintenance on those blades given your luck with vendors, but I'd be a bit concerned if a hydraulic cutter was hesitating on an inch of 16pt. I'd send one of your blades out their way to get it in top shape while you practice sharpening the others.

I definitely agree with you about the blade not being where it should be. I have some blades on hand that we are using for cutting while I figure out the sharpening. I also sent a few blades back to our old shop to see how they come back without saying anything to them. It could have been a random occurrence so we will see.

 

[AP90]

What sharpening system did you go with?

Here is what I went with. I chose it because our blades are only 24" total and it would hold it thickness and allow the arm to swing to each end. I watched a youtube video on a guy using a similar system to sharpen a guillotine blade so I figured for $50 I could see if its something that we would be able to use. I have found out that higher grit stones are needed than what comes with this kit and I have some diamond stones coming to hopefully help out with this as well. But each go the blades get sharper and sharper. So I feel I can get to a point where ill have perfectly acceptable blades from this system and might even purchase a more expensive system if needed.

https://www.amazon.com/MOVIRON-Professional-Sharpening-Fixed-Angle-Whetstones/dp/B08HMV12H6/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=ruixin+pro+knife+sharpener&qid=1677096766&sprefix=ruix%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExR0pSQUxCSEdXMEFQJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTU0NDE0M0xZRUdSTTBHWTRNRSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTIzOTA1MTBFTDNDWTBSWTQyRyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=