You're probably right. I just hate the fact that DR says the knife can be sharpened up to 20 times yet I can't find one single person that knows how to do it. : (

You need to find the right shop.
They'll use a grinder, but it's a very fine stone used for that purpose.

Chances are the blades can be reversed so that you can get 2 uses before needing to get them sharpened. That was the case on my old MTD chipper.

Jeez, I don't know anything about DRs, but sharpening is sharpening. You got to have something hard, (wheel, file, etc) take off from something soft - the blade.

If you sharpen the blade too quickly with a wheel, you may get some "blueing". A blued blade will get dull fast. Loads on the web about doing that.

Folks who sharpen fine tools use wheels, files, and stones, in that order.

I bet you can sharpen it yourself.

I have an MTD and have sharpened the blades w/ my disc grinder while blade is clamped to welding table. I just go slow so there's minimal heat buildup.The edge seems to hold for a reasonable time as long as I don't let a rock slip thru. Maybe DR is using this as a marketing ploy to make more money. I'd think they make enough on the initial sale!!!
Just my thoughts,
Mike

If someone uses a water wheel to grind it, what could it hurt?

Using a dry grinder to sharpen a quality tool steel blade poses a serious danger of de-tempering the blade, especially so in the thin edge area of the blade where a high heat concentration is likely. A de-tempered blade is incapable of holding a good edge.

Wet grinding is the best way to keep the full temper in the blade while sharpening it. For more information, see this article on Water-cooled Sharpening.

ZM

zenman

Thanks for the information and links. They are the best I have ever read and will be really helpful. They provide more information than I have found anywhere so far.

I recently bought a Makita from a man who bought it new but never used it. After getting it, I realized that the wrench was missing so will have to order one of them and maybe the jig for sharpening knives.

Before buying the jig though, I am going to carefully study all the information that you provided and may be able to build one myself.

Thanks again.

That's nuts. I use a bench mounted belt sander for these, this way I can set the correct angle on the fence.

Hey Alabama,

I went to my local small L&G shop and he gave me the number of a local shop that specializes in sharpening anything that needs to be sharpened (chain saw chains are his bread and butter)

Cost me 6 bucks and it's chipped better than ever.

Bill

I ended up ordering a new knife. I think I will experiment with the old one though.

Try a belt sander with a fine belt(invert the sander and hold the blade in a gloved hand with safety glasses,on to protect your eyes )just sharpen the blade with the bevel against the belt and just let the sander belt run in the direction away from you and let the blade just drag over the belt ,and hold the blade as close to the correct angle as possible ,let the sander do all the work... ....we used to do this all the time at a rental store I worked at ......heat is the issue ,have some water or oil to quench it ....otherwise don't let it get to hot .....you'll take the temper out of the metal,experiment with the old blade and then you can swap the old out for the new when the time comes .....it's not difficult to do ....Jim

I called my local dealer about that MacKissic knife kit and it is $65 plus tax plus shipping. Looks like I will have them sharpen mine instead of having a spare on hand.

Anyone need chipper blades sharpened? Please contact me for information.

Jerry

If you need chipper knives sharpened I work at Capital City Sharpening contact Bennett hare are Austin hare

Pro work is best, good jigs and proper angles, resulting in proper, not too aggressive or too passive, feed rates. You can touch up a blade easy enough with metal cuttting discs, grinders or like I use a disc sander, but if you ever get one that "used to" kind of pull the wood in, but now you have to push it into the chute, you are at the beginning stages of that bad moment when you put something valuable like your hand too far down the chute and something happens. And not the ugly chopping business either, you can simply get mashed by a sudden grab of a blade into harder wood, and the hard wood vibrates or shakes about violently, smashing your soft parts between the steel chute and the hard stick.