Sharpening High Speed Steel Shaper Cutters

[8ntruck 7,004]

I picked up a 70's era Craftsman 1/2" spindle at an automotive swap meet a number of years back.  Included in the deal was a selection of high speed steel cutters.  I've used one enough that it needs sharpening.  This is what I came up with:

 

 

I used an equal number of strokes on each edge of the cutter on both the coarse and fine side of my oil stone.  It seemed to work.

 

Any comments or alternate suggestions? 

 

I don't have any shaped slip stones to use on the contoured side of the cutting edges.  I'd be leery of mucking up the shape of the edges with this method. 

 

Thanks.

 

[ri702bill 8,321]

@formariz??? Got some guidance on this?? Probably USA made quality......

[formariz 11,987]

Honing the back of it on a good stone like that is a good safe way to do it. Unless there are chips on it there is no need to touch bevel, although a little honing with a fine slip stone such as a ceramic slip is beneficial and it will remove any burr from doing the back. 
  The real big thing to keep them sharp all the time is actually to never let it get dull. I hone all cutters even carbide ones and table saw blades on a regular basis. Takes only a few minutes and they are always sharp. Once dull they overheat real quick and usually shortens their life considerably even ruining them . Keeping them clean is also important. Any gummed up cutter or blade overheats and dulls quickly. Machining or cutting woods like pine quickly gums them up. I keep mine clean by spraying them with oven cleaner in the sink and a soft brass brush, rinsing then with warm water. Rinsing the oven cleaner with warm water has somehow the effect of leaving blades or cutters, a bit slippery which is a good thing. 

[8ntruck 7,004]

Glad to see that I am on the right track.  

 

The last couple of jobs across the shaper have been pre-primed MDF and plywood.  Both of these materials are tough on high speed steel.

[formariz 11,987]

33 minutes ago, 8ntruck said:

Glad to see that I am on the right track.  

 

The last couple of jobs across the shaper have been pre-primed MDF and plywood.  Both of these materials are tough on high speed steel.

Yes they are. The glue lines on the plywood and the quantity of glue on MDF will dull high speed steel fast. Carbide is better for those. As far as table saw blades go they are even different for each of those two materials . Tooth angles, geometry and quantity are different for each type of material. 

[wh500special 2,183]

11 hours ago, formariz said:

Rinsing the oven cleaner with warm water has somehow the effect of leaving blades or cutters, a bit slippery which is a good thing. 

This is probably because oven cleaners are caustic/base chemicals (the opposite of acids) and one of their characteristics is to feel slippery.  
 

I hadn’t thought of using oven cleaner on saw blades.  Thanks for suggesting that. 
 

Steve

[Mickwhitt 4,624]

Ahh, I see. You boys call a spindle moulder a shaper. 

 

This is a shaping machine or shaper over here.

Reciprocating single point tool, perfect for flat surfaces and angles etc. 

 

 

 

 

Tools are just like lathe tools and so easy to sharpen. 

 

The moulding bits you are talking about are really tricky to sharpen, but all the comments about keeping them clean are bang on the money. Nothing dulls them quicker than heat build up.

 

 

[oliver2-44 9,750]

@Mickwhitt 

We also call what you have a shaper in a machine shop.  We also call the fixed machine that uses the above tool bit a molding shaper and the portable one a router. 
 

We need a tour of your shop one day. A shaper is quite a nice speciality machine to have in a home shop. 

[Sailman 1,291]

Not sure if this would work on the contours...but maybe. I have what I believe was a ceramic rod that I use as the last step sharpening my knives. It is shaped like a rat tail file, about 6 inches long and round. It sits into a stand that keeps it at the perfect angle to sharpen the knife but it can be taken out of the stand and used like a file.

[8ntruck 7,004]

@Mickwhitt - it depends on what world you are talking about.  In the woodworking world, the shaper is indeed a spindle moulded.  In the metalworking world, a shaper is the machine you have pictured.

 

I spent 40 years in the steel wheel industry.  The butt welders we used to weld the ends of the coiled blanks for the rims needed serrated jaws.  We used shapers to maintain the serrations on the jaws - which were made out of beryliam copper.  Most of those shapers were old machines - WW 2 vintage.  Some of the machinists never really mastered that machine.

 

Mechanically, the drive mechanism on a metalworking shaper is interesting.  The arrangement of the crank and slider is such that the return speed is always faster than the cutting speed.

Edited February 13 by 8ntruck

[lynnmor 7,306]

A metal working shaper is pretty much obsolete, partially because most machinists have no experience with them.  The last good use I saw was squaring rough cast iron that had considerable voids and debris, sharpening and replacing single point tool bits is much cheaper than milling cutters.

[Mickwhitt 4,624]

Yes the shaper was obsolete many years ago, that beautiful action only cut in one direction. So half the machine power was wasted. Large machines were made with a tool head on each end if the ram to solve this but they were huge.

I only bought mine because when I was at high school we were never allowed to use the shaper as it was considered to be too dangerous. I said back then that I'd get my own.

I use it for plane surfaces which it is far better than the milling machine for.

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,624]

8 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

 

We need a tour of your shop one day. A shaper is quite a nice speciality machine to have in a home shop. 

I will do a thread of a shop tour. Now it's a lot tidier I can confidently take some photos lol.

[formariz 11,987]

On 2/13/2024 at 9:04 AM, Sailman said:

Not sure if this would work on the contours...but maybe. I have what I believe was a ceramic rod that I use as the last step sharpening my knives. It is shaped like a rat tail file, about 6 inches long and round. It sits into a stand that keeps it at the perfect angle to sharpen the knife but it can be taken out of the stand and used like a file.

 Those are good. A round slip works for any contour even straight edges. I just would be careful with those. They break easily since they are long. A ser like the one below and the diamond slip are a good thing to have to maintain cutters.

 

 For cutters with intricate profiles that need more than honing, I use these diamond burrs.

Edited February 14 by formariz

[formariz 11,987]

On 2/11/2024 at 5:55 PM, 8ntruck said:

I don't have any shaped slip stones to use on the contoured side of the cutting edges.  I'd be leery of mucking up the shape of the edges with this method. 

 

 You shouldn’t be too worried about that. Unless it is a lock miter cutter or a coping cutter, it is not going to really make a difference in the final product. A slight difference from one of the edges on cutters will be sort of “cancelled”!by the other. It is not like in a molding plane where cutter and sole of plane have to be a perfect match since the shape of sole guides cut. You can gently hone with the diamond burrs shown above . Just keep moving it at a high speed otherwise it will jump around, and just let the weight of tool apply the pressure.