HF Circular Saw Blade Sharpener

[fergusburger]

Opinions regarding this tool vary, but if you are going to give it a try you might as well pay as little as possible. This month's HF Ad shows the Chicago Electric Power Tools Professional Circular Saw Blade Sharpener (Item#96687) marked down to $44.95. The 20% off coupon that can be found online at many coupon sites drops the price to $36 plus tax.

I purchased one this past weekend and found it a great educational experience (I know a lot more about saw blade construction and carbide tip geometry now than I did a few days ago) and it was satisfying to bring my original BT3 blade back to form with this little machine. Thumbs up from me, but as with most things, YMMV.

[cabinetman]

Price sounds more than reasonable. I considered a blade sharpener, but for the amount of blades I send out when needed, it's much easier than doing them myself.

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[capncarl]

I've been happy with the HF sharpener, had if for several years. I did not like the blade holder so I modified it right off. I have a stack of blades that I sharpen and use from, always try to keep a fresh sharpened blade on the machines. When the stack gets low I'll spend an hour or so to clean and sharpen them all. My local saw sharpen shop is so slow to return blades I forgot several he had for months. Doing them myself has brought my sharpening bill down to a fraction of what he charges. The wear on the blade is reduced because I can just touch up the blade whereas he will do a full cut. I am not sure how many re-sharpens a blade is good for before the carbides go away.

[fergusburger]

Capncarl, would you please describe, and if possible post a picture of, your modified blade holder? You mentioned this in your response to lchien's post regarding sharpening costs, and it interested me then too.

[capncarl]

These are photos of the modified blade holder for my HF blade sharpener. It is just a wood angle bracket that the adustable bracket fits over. I junked the factory provided adjustable bracket and post. The sharpener motor/wheel is adjustable for heigth, so the new holder height is not an issue. This makes the blade much more stable for sharpening. I don't really like the factory provided indexing feature for each tooth, but it works but if I get around to changing the index I will put it on my blade holder.

[fergusburger]

Super, thanks a lot.