Had any luck sharpening your Festool Blades?

[Electric Trim]

Have you guys had good experiences with sharpening your blades or getting it done for you (especially Kapex blades but interested in hearing about experiences from Plunge saw blades too)?

I've got a few Festool blades (plus about 15 Freuds for other saws) stacked up but I've been disappointed with sharpening jobs in the past.  I haven't tried resharpening any Festool stuff yet, but other blades seem to dull extremely fast...  [mad]

 

[Chris Hughes]

All the time.  I have a service provided by Leuco, a German company, that sharpens for the woodworking industry in my area.  I usually drop the blades off and get them back in a couple of days.  They inspect the blades for defect and tolerances then sharpen them for me.  I have been running the same blades for a couple of years now, I think I'm about due to swap out for new blades.

 

[mastercabman]

Since we are on the subject,Does any of you that had their blades resharpened for the TS saw,have issues with cutting off of the splinter guard?
I noticed that the last blade i got back is not cutting right next to the splinter guard.If i put my rail so that it is on the edge of the pencil line(i can still see the pencil line)After the cut,the pencil line is still showing.
I got a new splinter guard and will try again with other blades that i have.

BTW,I have good result with the quality of cuts that i get from where i get my blades sharpened.Kapex blades and TS blades.

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

Every blade I have gets sharpened.  4 blades for my Kapex, 3 blades for my TS-55, my table saw blades etc.

I have a great local sharpener who has bored out blades, replaced missing teeth and many other things.

I can usually get 4 years out of a saw blade.  My tenryu for my Kapex has lasted almost a year and is getting close to needing it's first sharpening.

 

[sancho57]

I sharpen all my blades and my some of my router bits too.

 

[RonMiller]

Forrest has sharpened mine (as well as Forrest and SawStop blades) really well. See their web site for charges, etc.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

There should be a sharpener, maybe regional, who services the cabinet shops in your area.  Ask a local cabinetmaker where he sends his blades.  These days, a good sharpener is all CNC and does a very precise job.  My TS55 blades are on their third sharpening, probably the last.  No matter how good the sharpener is, he does take away a little material and that adds up to a change in geometry eventually.

BTW, my sharpener says about half the blades that come to him just need to be cleaned, not sharpened...

 

[Laminator]

Many years back I used a couple of different sharpening services and got poor results.  After buying Forrest blades I now use them for all my blades( Freud, Festool, Forrest) and the results are most excellent.   I haven't sent them a tenryu yet and I will call to make sure they can handle the angled face grind, but my guess is that it will be no problem as they are true professionals.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I'm not going through the number of blades the pros here do, but I have 1 blade for my CS70 that needed to be resharpened. I have a local Leitz shop here in town and I let them do it and it came out fine.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

If you didn't know from my previous posts, Forrest sharpens and repairs all of my stuff that I can't.  They won't do HSS (high speed steel), just carbide stuff.  Probably not worth it to them.  Luckily they're only an hour away from me.  I've also been using their blade cleaner, it works really well and it's pretty inexpensive for the gallon.

 

[junk731]

You can get Leitz to sharpen them like Alex suggested. Here is a link to there NA locations. I've been using them four 4 years now with out a problem. 1 week turn around and for me the blades are picked up and sharpened for on average about $16.00 CDN.

http://www.leitztooling.com/locations.htm

John

 

[ccarrolladams]

Appropriately sharpening our tools is basic to woodworking.

My experience is that the business of woodworking is all about relationships. Our clients need to trust that we will deliver their jobs at the exact moment they need them on budget and on spec.

We need to be sure our lumber dealer will have everything required in each order. Same goes for our hardware vendors. In most places there is a wide choice of lumber dealers. There are many on-line dealers in quality cabinet hardware.

To me the most important business relationship is the one between the woodworker and the sharpening/grinding service. The same firm has been doing both my sharpening and custom cutter/bit/knife grinding for over 50 years. One of the reasons I bought the building for my current shop where I did is because it is less than 10 minutes from my favorite grinding service. They pick-up and deliver more than once a week.

Personally I believe that it is best to replace a bit/cutter/blade long before it is obviously dull. My experience is that cutters/blades work best and last the longest when the least material needs to be removed during sharpening.

The day I bought my first TS55, I bought two extra 1400mm guide rails and a spare blade. Now I own several TS55 and enough extra blades I do not need to ask my grinder to rush any of them. Some of my larger saw blades cost more than a new TS55. Having spares for those blades makes good business sense, because the cost of each is still a tiny percentage of the cost of the machine using it.

Since I bought my first TS55 in January 2006 I have never needed to discard any of those Festool blades. Minutes ago I checked my records. The blade installed on that saw is in the re-sharpened inventory. Its most recent sharpening was its tenth. The last time it was used before being sharpened it performed as well as when new. Yes, long ago the combined cost of sharpening that blade exceeded the list price of replacing it. Still each sharpening represented less than 20% of the cost of a new blade. I see no advantage in discarding a blade/bit/cutter that still is within spec after sharpening.

 

[tdfiver]

I pay approx £13 to get my 48 tooth TS55 blades sharpened. But what is recommended for cleaning the blades ? I notice a build up on them after a while.

 

[Deansocial]

I pay approx £13 to get my 48 tooth TS55 blades sharpened. But what is recommended for cleaning the blades ? I notice a build up on them after a while.

i pay about £7-£10 dependant on toooth count

 

[dazzer]

trend do spray bottles for getting rid of residue build up,also a ptfe spray,both prolong the sharpness and blade life.

 

[tbellemare]

CMT blade/bit cleaner is also quite good.

Tom

 

[ccarrolladams]

CMT blade/bit cleaner is also quite good.

Tom

Tom, I totally agree. I have been very happy with the performance of CMT blade/bit cleaner for many years, since I started using it.

 

[Rob Z]

Hi Tom, I need to get some of that cleaner with my next order!

CMT blade/bit cleaner is also quite good.

Tom

 

[MarkF]

It would help to know where the OP is located.  There are good and bad shops in each area.   Freud has regional factory sharpening service centers located around the US and I would try them for the Freud blades.  If you can find a Leitz place I would talk to them about their experience with TS-55/75 and  Kapex blades.  They should know what they are doing as Leitz manufactures Festool blades but I've not heard of any shops able to reproduce a factory edge.  I wouldn't send a non-Forrest blade to Forrest or a Non-Freud blade to Freud and expect optimal results.  Based on my (and other's) experience with non-Forest blades coming back worse  than when sent I wouldn't use them but we may have caught them on a bad day.
I use Farris Belt and Saw in Charlotte for my standard ripping tablesaw blades (Leitz, Delta Industrial, Schumacher and Sohns)  .  My Tenyru TS-55 blades are cleaned frequently (CMT cleaner fan also) and tossed when no longer good.  By the time I factor my time, gas/shipping they're not worth sharpening for mediocre results.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

It would help to know where the OP is located.  There are good and bad shops in each area.  Freud has regional factory sharpening service centers located around the US and I would try them for the Freud blades.  If you can find a Leitz place I would talk to them about their experience with TS-55/75 and  Kapex blades.  They should know what they are doing as Leitz manufactures Festool blades but I've not heard of any shops able to reproduce a factory edge.  I wouldn't send a non-Forrest blade to Forrest or a Non-Freud blade to Freud and expect optimal results.  Based on my (and other's) experience with non-Forest blades coming back worse  than when sent I wouldn't use them but we may have caught them on a bad day.
I use Farris Belt and Saw in Charlotte for my standard ripping tablesaw blades (Leitz, Delta Industrial, Schumacher and Sohns)  .  My Tenyru TS-55 blades are cleaned frequently (CMT cleaner fan also) and tossed when no longer good.  By the time I factor my time, gas/shipping they're not worth sharpening for mediocre results.

Just in my personal experience over the years, I've never had a problem with any work Forrest did on my stuff from a simple cleaning to major tooth replacement and special grinding on teeth to match OEM design.  They just charge for specialized grindings.  Talk with Jimmy Forrest if you have a problem.