pudgybear
Well-known member
I am looking at the circular saw blade sharpener from Harbor Freight, it sells for $49.00. You Tube post says it is OK but I want to know does anyone have one and what is your opinion ?
H. F. circular saw blade sharpener
- Thread starter pudgybear
- Start date
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
Buy one or 2 GOOD quality carbide tipped blades. They last for a long, LONG time and when they get dull have them professionally sharpened.
I bought one, maybe because I'm a sucker for DIY items. I think it does pretty well. You do have to fine tune it out of the box. Now I am not a professional woodworker and I don't own any $50 to $100 blades. But if I just re-sharpen my $20 blades about 2 times, it pays for itself. I have touched up the carbide blade that came on my Makita tabletop saw and was well pleased.
brianh
Well-known member
I have one it works ok for the price, has some play in the slides I use it for sharpening my ripsaw blades they get a lot of use and the saw shop grinds more off than needed.
I really like the diamond wheel, I mount that in my metal lathe and sharpen carbide router bits.
I really like the diamond wheel, I mount that in my metal lathe and sharpen carbide router bits.
There used to be a Woodcraft near here. One of the guys there also worked for a tooling company and sharpens all manner of blades. I asked him about it because for a short time Woodcraft sold one that looked essentially like the HF one. He said that he wouldn't recommend either one to someone who wasn't going to take the time to set them up properly and do the job right anyway. But that said he said if he had to he could get close to 'correct' results (keep in mind he charges for sharpening and it's not cheap) with the HF one.
I have one CMT blade and if I ever step up to Forrest, etc. I'm not sure I would be jumping on this one but I have been thinking of getting one to try out.
I have one CMT blade and if I ever step up to Forrest, etc. I'm not sure I would be jumping on this one but I have been thinking of getting one to try out.
woody 73
Well-known member
Op I am going to leave you with a good article so be sure and read it:
http://www.toolcrib.com/blog/2008/07/diy-carbide-saw-blade-sharpening-4-blade-sharpening-services
http://www.toolcrib.com/blog/2008/07/diy-carbide-saw-blade-sharpening-4-blade-sharpening-services
Raymond Fast
Well-known member
I know this is kind of an old thread, but I just bought a Harbor Freight circular blade sharpener over the weekend and wanted to report on it, so I figured why start a new thread when there was already one on here.
I paid about $44 for the tool after applying the 20% off coupon. (I never go to HF without coupons.
) I had spent a little time watching some of the reviews on YouTube. The first few that come up have some good tips for setting the tool up before you use it (adding some washers and jamb nuts to tighten up the mechanics and make everything work a little more smoothly). I added a washer on the handle linkage and a jamb nut on the knob that holds the blade. I left everything else just as it came out of the box.
I have about a half dozen blades that need sharpening. (I keep buying new ones but have held onto the old ones because I kept telling myself I was going to get a sharpener one of these days.) The last time I used the 10" blade on my miter saw, I really had to push it through the lumber and ended up filling my garage with smoke in the process. (I probably could have cut through the studs just as fast with the motor off! LOL.) I paid about $40 for that blade (about the same as what I paid for the new sharpener), so I decided to make it my first subject to see how the sharpener worked.
It took me about a half hour to unbox the tool, set it up, make the couple of mods to it, and figure out how to set up the blade. It's a 40-tooth blade with alternating angles on the teeth, so I used a sharpy to mark every other tooth with a little dot so I wouldn't lose track and hit the wrong teeth with the wheel.
I used the indexing attachment the first time. Setting that up took the most time. Once I had everything set up, it took me about three minutes to sharpen the first half of the teeth. I reset the angle for the other half of the teeth (took me about two minutes) and then monkeyed around with the index attachment for about ten or fifteen minutes but couldn't get it just right. So I set it to fall between the teeth but didn't worry about perfect positioning. Instead, I just used the indexing attachment to count off the teeth, slid the wheel in front of each tooth, then gently turned the blade until the tooth lightly touched the wheel for about a second. This worked best.
All in all, it took me about an hour to sharpen a 40-tooth blade with the teeth ground at alternating angles. Using what I learned this first time, it should take me about fifteen minutes next time - and that includes the time it takes to pull the tool down off the shelf and set it up on my workbench. No need to bolt it down; there's virtually no vibration - the lightweight tool stays put and it's self contained so there are no alignment issues.
I put the blade back on my miter saw afterward and tried it out. It cut through lumber like a hot knife through butter. I was very pleased with the performance.
So, in a nutshell, I spent $44 dollars on a tool and it pretty much paid for itself the first time I used it. I can live with that. For someone who, like me, only needs to sharpen blades a few times a year, it's a very good investment.
I paid about $44 for the tool after applying the 20% off coupon. (I never go to HF without coupons.
) I had spent a little time watching some of the reviews on YouTube. The first few that come up have some good tips for setting the tool up before you use it (adding some washers and jamb nuts to tighten up the mechanics and make everything work a little more smoothly). I added a washer on the handle linkage and a jamb nut on the knob that holds the blade. I left everything else just as it came out of the box.I have about a half dozen blades that need sharpening. (I keep buying new ones but have held onto the old ones because I kept telling myself I was going to get a sharpener one of these days.) The last time I used the 10" blade on my miter saw, I really had to push it through the lumber and ended up filling my garage with smoke in the process. (I probably could have cut through the studs just as fast with the motor off! LOL.) I paid about $40 for that blade (about the same as what I paid for the new sharpener), so I decided to make it my first subject to see how the sharpener worked.
It took me about a half hour to unbox the tool, set it up, make the couple of mods to it, and figure out how to set up the blade. It's a 40-tooth blade with alternating angles on the teeth, so I used a sharpy to mark every other tooth with a little dot so I wouldn't lose track and hit the wrong teeth with the wheel.
I used the indexing attachment the first time. Setting that up took the most time. Once I had everything set up, it took me about three minutes to sharpen the first half of the teeth. I reset the angle for the other half of the teeth (took me about two minutes) and then monkeyed around with the index attachment for about ten or fifteen minutes but couldn't get it just right. So I set it to fall between the teeth but didn't worry about perfect positioning. Instead, I just used the indexing attachment to count off the teeth, slid the wheel in front of each tooth, then gently turned the blade until the tooth lightly touched the wheel for about a second. This worked best.
All in all, it took me about an hour to sharpen a 40-tooth blade with the teeth ground at alternating angles. Using what I learned this first time, it should take me about fifteen minutes next time - and that includes the time it takes to pull the tool down off the shelf and set it up on my workbench. No need to bolt it down; there's virtually no vibration - the lightweight tool stays put and it's self contained so there are no alignment issues.
I put the blade back on my miter saw afterward and tried it out. It cut through lumber like a hot knife through butter. I was very pleased with the performance.
So, in a nutshell, I spent $44 dollars on a tool and it pretty much paid for itself the first time I used it. I can live with that. For someone who, like me, only needs to sharpen blades a few times a year, it's a very good investment.
kctyphoon
Banned
I have the HF chainsaw blade sharpener.. Not what you guys are talking just about, but I'll just throw it out there - it's a great tool for the $$$. I've sharpened dozens of blades with that thing..
I know there is a youtube review and mod on this I think.......I have one but still in the box so can't say good or bad yet . Will needed to sharpen my diablo soon...
for the other poster...
Where do you find a good carbide sharpener replacement blade ?
for the other poster...
Where do you find a good carbide sharpener replacement blade ?
justme-
Well-known member
The HF chainsaw sharpener is too flexible for reliable and repeatable angles. Use a real one and you'll see instantly. My father in law has had a few of the HF ones...waits until they are on sale and buys a new one to get the sharpening wheel.
I have a northern tool copy of the oregon, and use an Oregon at work. Huge difference and worth it.
Ive been curious about the saw sharpener for years, got several cheap 7" blades and a couple others in need of a sharpening but the services around are too costly versus replacement of the blade. Circular saw blades are more forgiving of mismatched angles than chain saw chains.
I have a northern tool copy of the oregon, and use an Oregon at work. Huge difference and worth it.
Ive been curious about the saw sharpener for years, got several cheap 7" blades and a couple others in need of a sharpening but the services around are too costly versus replacement of the blade. Circular saw blades are more forgiving of mismatched angles than chain saw chains.