Is Moulder Knife Steel Sharp from the Factory?
Moulder knife blanks need to be sharpened and balanced before use. February 1, 2015
Question
I'm looking at knife steel from Global Tooling for doing S4S. I don't have a grinder though. Are the steel blanks already sharp when you get them or do you have to grind a sharp straight edge on them?
Forum Responses
(Solid Wood Machining Forum)
From contributor M:
How are you going to re-sharpen? It usually is but you could also ask Global to tune them up for you.
From Contributor U:
Most of the time, the steel is not sharp when it’s in the full bar form. Most of the steels have what we call a safety edge on the actual cutting edge. This is to help with handling while it’s new.
From contributor R:
Contributor U "hits the nail on the head "on this one. It is a common misperception (even with some moulder knife resellers) that moulder knives right out of the package are ready to run. They will at best have a primary bevel angle (normally 35 degrees is somewhat standard) ground at the factory. You, as the end user, would need to finish grind these (in-house or at your grinding shop for S4S or profile pattern knives) and also add the secondary bevel as well to help with heat dissipation and improve knife edge life. One thing you haven't mentioned is balance. This is extremely important as even knives cut out of the same bar to length will not be balanced to a 1/10th gram of each other. Imbalance of knives will result in pre-mature bearing wear and possible wood defects as well.
From contributor H:
I would order them cut to length, balanced and sharpened. You can install them in your head and be good to go. S4S is just a straight knife and isn't all that expensive. Most any professional saw shops should be able to help you.
