What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I jigged
them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought I did a
good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The look like
they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?

Tom Gardner wrote:

What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I jigged
them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought I did a
good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The look like
they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?



I tried grinding some Oster blades recently, they were hard as glass and several
teeth shattered off immediately, even when I just barely kissed it.

I'm not going to try that again.

GWE

I did exactly the same thing. They ground beautifully but now won't cut.
Really impressed my wife.


"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
t...
What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I
jigged them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought
I did a good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The
look like they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?

Tom Gardner wrote:

What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I jigged
them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought I did a
good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The look like
they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?

My wife was doing the dog grooming thing for a while. Visits from the
sharpening guy were at least a monthly occurance sometimes more often.

The sharpener that he used was pretty much the same to look at as the
Glendo sharpeners that you see advertised in Home Shop Machinist, with a
slow moving abrasive disc. The sharpening guy went on at length how the
lap had a special radius on it to sharpen the blades better than one
could do by other means, but it sounded of tripe, and I would not stake
too much money on a bet that there was any or a lot of curvature to it.


http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=... +Search&meta=

You are carving off about half the available material at .010" . Think
in terms of knocking them down in steps of .0001" to .0002" at a time if
you wish to not be buying new blades frequently.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

They are lapped on a plate that is very slightly cone shaped to produce
a slight hollow grind.
Most sharpeners charge around 5 bucks or so a set to do. It's work I
don't pursue because of the airheads in the haircut industry.
The lapping machine might remind you of a record player.

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 14:38:23 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:

What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I jigged
them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought I did a
good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The look like
they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?

If you haunt the second hand stores, Goodwill, Salvation Army and so
forth..you will regularly find brand new clippers..Osters, Whalls and
so forth. I pick em up when I find them. Usually for about $3

Cheaper to toss the dull one and use the new one.

Gunner



"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."
- Proverbs 22:3

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 14:38:23 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:

What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I jigged
them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought I did a
good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The look like
they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?


It depends on the clippers. Some clippers are sharpened flat and
others are supposed to have a slight curve in them. The sharpening is
done on a lap which basically a slow turning plate laid flat and
charged with abrasive.

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 14:38:23 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:

What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I jigged
them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought I did a
good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The look like
they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?




Out in farm country, shearing cutters are sharpened
on a dry lap, have seen improvisied ones made from
a flywheel using clover or diamond grit. There's also
a fixture to hold the cutters and combs. You can improvise
with a piece of plate glass and valve grinding compound
figure 8'ing the cutters, or a sheet of 180 w/d on a flat plate.

I've gotten by on a 12" disc sander using a homemade
holder-- light touch-n-go--- course grit on larger blades
fine for smaller.

DE

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Scissors don't cut... They shear... They need not only to be sharp but
the blades need to touch... Loose scissors don't cut...
Also the sharp part of the scissors is the part that needs to touch...
Some blades need sharpened on the mating surface also...

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 14:38:23 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:

What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I jigged
them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought I did a
good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The look like
they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?


The magic is a 15" disk with a 0.5 or 1.5° taper (I can't recall
which). Glue on grit is 60 to 220. 800 rpm. Blade or comb is placed
close to outer edge with abrasive advancing against the point of the
teeth.

This slightly concave surface insures the cutting pair contact at the
teeth points and the heel. Last time I checked, retail for the disk
was $510.

Can someone quickly tell me what the surface radius would be at 15"?

Tom Gardner (nospam) wrote:
What's the secret? I have a Whall clipper to do the Schnauzers and the
blades are about $20 new so, I figured I could surface grind them. I jigged
them up and took about .010" off top mating surfaces and I thought I did a
good job but they don't cut at all and I can't see why not. The look like
they should! Am I missing something? Are they magic?

Tom,
Re-read Bam's reply to your question about sharpening clipper
blades. What he said is correct!

I have a sharpening business, and although I don't do clipper
blades myself, I do know how they are done, using horizontal flat
honing/sharpening machines.

They are sharpenened on a horizontal spinning, flat-appearing
plate, which has an abrasive mixture of grit and lard oil applied to
the plate. The blade(s) are held such that the teeth are oriented
radially.

The sharpening plate is ever-so-slightly domed, meaning that it is
slightly higher in the center, compared to out at the periphery. The
difference in height between the center and the peripehery varies,
depending on who manufactured the plate, and what type blades are to be
sharpened on that particular plate.

So, if you lay a straightedge radially on the plate, you should
see that the plate is flat, but the straightedge isn't quite
horizontal. It's higher near the center of the plate. Hence the dome
shape of the plate. It helps if you visualize a dome-shaped plate, but
one which is tall rather than flat, and you imagine applying a flat
blade to the dome, you'll see how the blade ends up with a hollow
grind.

The reason for the dome shape is to produce a hollow grind on the
blade surface being sharpened. Most clipper blades are sharpened with
this hollow grind. And you might be interested to know that all
scissors also have a hollow grind. If you open up any scissors and
examine the inside of the blades (the surfaces facing each other when
the scissors is closed), you'll see this hollow grind. This hollow
allows the two blades to cut together, and also maked the edges a bit
thinner/sharper.

What I have described is how blade manufacturers sharpen new
blades, as well as any knowledgeable sharpener. And each time a blade
is sharpened, you only remove perhaps a few thousands. So, if you
removed the hollow when you sharpened the blades, they probably won't
cut.

I would also add that often even perfectly sharpened blades won't
cut, due to problems with the clipper malfunctioning, or being
improperly set up or misadjusted.