Good thinking, Randy. Sadly, my bar shear blades aren't reversible. The angle
shear blades are, though.

I think I'm going to try sharpening these blades. I don't see what I have to lose.

GWE

R. Zimmerman wrote:

Just asking in case: Some shear blades can be reversed so that four
different edges can be used before the blade has to be sent out for
sharpening. Others I have experienced have two edges and unfortunately some
have only one edge. Are yours reversible???
Randy

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
I have a little Scotchman ironworker. It shears structural steel stock fine,
but
it hasn't ever worked on sheet metal (gap too big). Today I removed the
lower
bar shear blade, cleaned it, cleaned behind it, and shimmed it out to close
up
the gap. Now it will cut sheet metal, except in the middle. There is
apparently
a wear spot in the middle, because when the blades are closed the gap in the
center is about .005" larger than elsewhere. It would make sense, because
that's
where most of the flat bar gets sheared.

Seems like I could grind the vertical face of the blades until they clean
up,
adding shims to replace the material ground off. I hate to think of what a
new
pair of shear blades would cost from Scotchman!

I'm wondering if my plan will work. Anyone else try this? It wouldn't just
be an
issue with an ironworker shear, could be about any guillotine or scissor
type shear.

If this does work, then I'm going to have to find someone with a bigger
surface
grinder than I have, mine's only 12" and the blades are 14" long.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington