Sharpening Handbook

Portable Planers

Edge Angle

Woodworking is not about making things perfect. It’s about making mistakes, learning from them, and creating something unique.

Anonymous

These tools are often used for rough carpentry work, but a sharp edge on the blades will make this effort easier and safer.

Guidelines shown below are for Primary Bevel Angles. A micro / secondary bevel is not recommended as it would have very limited value and would not be worth the effort.

General Guidelines

Use

Sharp
ness

Comments

General Purpose

60°

Notes & Comments

Information regarding Grindstones

Grinding Wheels

If sharpening blades which are high speed steel (HSS), any of these Tormek grinding wheels should work well:

SG Original Grindstone,
SB Blackstone Silicon Grinding Wheel, or
DF Diamond Fine Grinding Wheel.

If the blade is tungsten carbide,

the DF Diamond Fine Grinding Wheel should work well,
the SB Blackstone Silicon Grinding Wheel might work, but will not be as fast as the diamond grinding wheel, and
the SG Original Grindstone will be tedious to use.

Tormek Jigs

The Tormek scissors jigs (SC-60 or SVX-150) are excellent for this. The SC-60 has a 60° setup built into it, so this makes it a perfect fit.

Severly Nicked Blades

Many of these blades are typically not very wide, so there is not much there to remove (a common size is 5.5mm / 0.217”). If there are significant nicks in the blade, it is probably best to use the other edge (if possible) or swap out the blade.

Sharpness Scale

Example icon

Sharpness scales (as shown in the grey icon to the left) are used to indicate the recommended sharpness for the blades noted above. You can click on any of the icons showing the sharpness scale and be redirected to the page describing this more. Lower numbers are duller; higher numbers sharper.

These are general recommendations; you will need to use your own judgment, based on the knive’s intended purpose.