Yes, yes, yes: I know that Google Is My Friend, but my real friend is
the DIY Wiki, which [hopefully] distils the best of advice. And this
one doesn't appear there yet, as far as I can see...

I have two Bosch hedge trimmers, a couple of years old now, and they are
getting worn, gunged, and less sharp. (One is mains, one is
rechargeable BTW.)

I'd like to separate the blades, rub them down a bit, and remove the
gunge that has [probably] accrued over the years in the blade
assemblies. However, I'm very leery of doing this unless I can be sure
to put them back together exactly right. Otherwise, they'll end up
worse than they started out.

Is there a recommended procedure for sharpening and renovating a hedge
trimmer?

Cheers
John

Another John wrote:

Is there a recommended procedure for sharpening and renovating a hedge
trimmer?

I don't know about recommended procedures but I sharpen mine in situ with a
tungsten burr in a dremel.

AJH

In article ,
Another John writes:
Yes, yes, yes: I know that Google Is My Friend, but my real friend is
the DIY Wiki, which [hopefully] distils the best of advice. And this
one doesn't appear there yet, as far as I can see...

I have two Bosch hedge trimmers, a couple of years old now, and they are
getting worn, gunged, and less sharp. (One is mains, one is
rechargeable BTW.)

I'd like to separate the blades, rub them down a bit, and remove the
gunge that has [probably] accrued over the years in the blade
assemblies. However, I'm very leery of doing this unless I can be sure
to put them back together exactly right. Otherwise, they'll end up
worse than they started out.

Is there a recommended procedure for sharpening and renovating a hedge
trimmer?

My Stihl ones says to clean the blade with resin solvent.
The only resin solvent I've found is their own, which is rather
expensive, and no one seems to stock it. I have cleaned with
WD40 instead (relying on the solvent part), but it doesn't
seem to work very well at dissolving resin, and it probably
works too well at removing any lubricant and rust protection,
so I probably won't continue using that.

I bought a can of silicone spray lubricant to try. I used it
for a few other things, and managed to misplace it before
getting around to trying it on the hedgecutter blades.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 26 July, 14:03, (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

My Stihl ones says to clean the blade with resin solvent.
The only resin solvent I've found is their own, which is rather
expensive, and no one seems to stock it.

Woodworking shop, router cutter cleaner. Trend do it.

Alternatively a spray of either penetrating oil (not WD40) or brake
cleaner.

On 25 July, 19:43, Another John wrote:

Is there a recommended procedure for sharpening and renovating a hedge
trimmer?

Strip, clean, re-lubricate, re-assemble.

They don't go blunt because they're blunt, they go blunt because
there's a gap between the blades' working edges owing to a build-up of
gunk.

Hedge trimmers used on Leylandii need this regularly, those only used
on hardwoods might never need it.

"Another John" wrote in message
...
Yes, yes, yes: I know that Google Is My Friend, but my real friend is
the DIY Wiki, which [hopefully] distils the best of advice. And this
one doesn't appear there yet, as far as I can see...

I have two Bosch hedge trimmers, a couple of years old now, and they are
getting worn, gunged, and less sharp. (One is mains, one is
rechargeable BTW.)

I'd like to separate the blades, rub them down a bit, and remove the
gunge that has [probably] accrued over the years in the blade
assemblies. However, I'm very leery of doing this unless I can be sure
to put them back together exactly right. Otherwise, they'll end up
worse than they started out.

Is there a recommended procedure for sharpening and renovating a hedge
trimmer?

Cheers


I split my B&D blades into the fixed & movable parts .... and simply filed
the blades with a diamond sharpening file.

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 26 July, 14:03, (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

My Stihl ones says to clean the blade with resin solvent.
The only resin solvent I've found is their own, which is rather
expensive, and no one seems to stock it.

Woodworking shop, router cutter cleaner. Trend do it.

Alternatively a spray of either penetrating oil (not WD40) or brake
cleaner.


yep - but probably even more pricey than Stihl product

OP here ...

Rick said:

I split my B&D blades into the fixed & movable parts .... and simply filed
the blades with a diamond sharpening file.

And Andy said:

Strip, clean, re-lubricate, re-assemble.

They don't go blunt because they're blunt, they go blunt because
there's a gap between the blades' working edges owing to a build-up of
gunk.

***Exactly***! I do realise that disassembly is the best way (I was
going to de-gunk the blades, and then go over the cutting surfaces with
a dead flat file.)

However, the bit I'm worried about (which I didn't make clear enough) is
the reassembly: I don't want to undo the securing nuts in teh blade
assembly until I know I'll be able to put them back at the right
tension: a fraction too tight and I'll f*** the cutter, a fraction too
loose and it'll be worse than it was before.

So the recommendations I'm looking for (sorry for not making it clear
enough) are to do with disassembly and reassembly.

John

p.s. I'm not normally afraid to do this with things (dis- and
re-assembly often fixes stuff!), but in the case of a precision tool ....

In message

, Another John writes
OP here ...

Rick said:

I split my B&D blades into the fixed & movable parts .... and simply filed
the blades with a diamond sharpening file.

And Andy said:

Strip, clean, re-lubricate, re-assemble.

They don't go blunt because they're blunt, they go blunt because
there's a gap between the blades' working edges owing to a build-up of
gunk.

***Exactly***! I do realise that disassembly is the best way (I was
going to de-gunk the blades, and then go over the cutting surfaces with
a dead flat file.)

However, the bit I'm worried about (which I didn't make clear enough) is
the reassembly: I don't want to undo the securing nuts in teh blade
assembly until I know I'll be able to put them back at the right
tension: a fraction too tight and I'll f*** the cutter, a fraction too
loose and it'll be worse than it was before.

Do you not have fixed length spacers maintaining the blade separation?
Some of us have been known to shorten these when things get slack:-)

So the recommendations I'm looking for (sorry for not making it clear
enough) are to do with disassembly and reassembly.

John

p.s. I'm not normally afraid to do this with things (dis- and
re-assembly often fixes stuff!), but in the case of a precision tool ....

regards

--
Tim Lamb