Sharpening tiller

[SGKent]

I am not a grinder guy so please don't laugh at me.

We have a 6 hp front tine tiller. The tines wore about 1/2 way and they were almost as much to replace as the tiller so I took them to a blacksmith here in the central valley who specializes in rebuilding farm implements, the idea being to build them back up. Instead of welding a piece of steel in to fill the lost area, they welded layers onto the tines and heat treated them in a forge. A regular file will bounce off them when it comes time to sharpen them. A grinding wheel works but one cannot get the angle on all the blades, and it is very slow with the grinder. I bought an air grinder, palm size and some double cut carbide 5/8" +/- 1" long (plus shaft) burrs to sharpen the blades. By the time I have 50% sharpened them I've dulled the carbide burr to where it barely cuts them anymore. The material they welded on has a slight gold-ish color tinge to it. Any idea what I might be up against and what would work best to sharpen the blades? My last alternative is to buy a box of carbide burrs and then use $30 - $40 worth each time it needs sharpening but that seems excessive. Saws, lawn mower blades, etc I can use a file to sharpen but not this stuff.

 

[atthebeach]

Earth moving equipment is often hard faced with an iron based chromium and tungsten alloy which forms an abrasion resistant surface containing a matrix of tungsten carbide particles. The Rockwell C of this surface can be in the mid sixties, so a file will not touch it and carbide burrs are likely similar in hardness to the work surface. Tillers I have seen had rather dull tines so I am wondering if they really need to be sharpened. I would expect they would have a longer lifetime if they were not regularly sharpened. A diamond grinding wheel would be your best choice if you think they need to be sharpened.

 

[James-W]

Is there a place nearby you can take it to that sharpens stuff, or that can send stuff out to be sharpened? Around here we can take things to be sharpened to ACE hardware and they have guy who come around once a week and picks up stuff and brings back the stuff he picked last week. That may be your best bet to get it sharpened.

 

[chrispyny]

You don't need to sharpen tiller tines. They aren't sharp to begin with. They don't 'cut' into the ground, the tines more or less act as a jagged spoon and scoop/scrape at layers of dirt to toss it up and till it within the confines of the tillers tine area.

Go out and till like crazy and be happy.

 

[pepi]

You don't need to sharpen tiller tines. They aren't sharp to begin with. They don't 'cut' into the ground, the tines more or less act as a jagged spoon and scoop/scrape at layers of dirt to toss it up and till it within the confines of the tillers tine area.

Go out and till like crazy and be happy.

That's the way I use mine and think, never herd of anyone sharpening tiller tines. Not that I know every tiller owner, common sense tells me so..

 

[Showkey]

If your sod busting or dealing with old roots..........sharpening is often done. They are not knife sharp but say shovel sharp. Hand held grinder is the tool of choice and remove the tine to make life easy. Be sure to put them back on in the right direction. We use to see then in the shop all the time with the complaints it "does not work like it use to."
Compare you old tines to a new one............you might be surprised how much they wear.

This will vary with the tiller........sheet metal tines will not last compared to .25" metal.
In general tines are not or even close to "tool steel". A file will tell you on the first stroke.

A few more views and techniques:

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/tillers-need-sharpening-87479.html

http://thebayougardener.com/smf/index.php?topic=1815.0

http://www.gardenguides.com/90262-sharpen-tiller-tine-blades.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_6312644_sharpen-tiller-tine-blades.html

 

[BillK]

Merlin,
Instead of carbide burrs, get the same size grinding stones instead. They work much better on real hard metal.

 

[theoldwizard1]

If your soil is so abrasive that it wore your tines down, just go till some more !

 

[SGKent]

all good suggestions. The roots are the reason this one has to be sharp.

The soil here is quite abrasive and similar to adobe. The first time I tried to break it up 25 years ago I tried a pick ax after the shovel was useless. The pick ax left less of a dent in it than it did in concrete. They call is 11 to 1 soil. Before 11 it is too wet and after 1 too hard to work. Now after 25 years of amending it I can break it up with the tiller but the roots from all the nearby trees love it too so unless I do it twice a year (which destroys the tilth) the tiller has to have sharp blades to cut the roots every couple years.

I'll try the stone suggestion.

Thank you again to everyone who made a comment or suggestion. I read all of them, and all helped.

 

[theoldwizard1]

all good suggestions. The roots are the reason this one has to be sharp.

I did a small patch (<30x20) for my in-laws this spring. The soil was heavily compacted from the trucks delivering their modular home (plus what ever "soil" was there was stripped and replaced with a real crappy mixture of coarse sand, clay and fine gravel).

I must have made at least a dozen passes left to right and up and down before I got down more than 3-4" ! I getting too old for that ****.