Meat slicer care and maintenance

[processhead]

samspade If the blade is in relatively decent condition, I suspect all you will need is the DMT sharpener.

[samspade]

processhead if you can get a close up of your blade sometime it will tell me where mine is at.

[processhead]

samspade
Here is a shot of my blade from the back side. Does your blade feel dull to the touch? The edge looks rough, but photos don’t always tell the whole story.

[cdavis]

processhead now that looks sharp.

[calldoctoday]

processhead I don’t know, that looks pretty sharp to me. I just see a wisp of steel fog on the edge & that seems pretty sharp. Maybe not polished out, which is ok, but looks pretty sharp & in good condition.

[processhead]

To be honest, all a picture really tells me is if their any major nicks or defects.
I can only judge sharpness of a cutting edge if I run my thumb over the edge of a blade or actually use it to cut something. The actual cutting edge of a blade is so small you can only really see it under magnification.

[samspade]

Ok I found that hand held hone at home depot (kinda of a tongue twister) and I’ll pick one up. About what angle do you use.

[processhead]

samspade said in Meat slicer care and maintenance:

Ok I found that hand held hone at home depot (kinda of a tongue twister) and I’ll pick one up. About what angle do you use.

First, I know you will be careful, but please wear some heavy gloves while you are sharpening.
Make sure there are no severe nicks in the blade that might catch on the sharpener.

Use a diamond sharpener with a handle long enough that will keep your hands and fingers a safe distance from the rotating blade.

Starting on the back side of the blade, use an angle slightly greater than the natural bevel edge of the blade contour. Find an area on the slicer to work that gives you good access and mobility with the sharpener.

You want the sharpener surface to make contact with a fairly small area of the blade edge. Use the red (fine) surface of the sharpener.

Run the slicer for about 20 seconds while sharpening and then shut it down and check if you have improved the edge. If the edge isn’t improved run it again for another 20 seconds while sharpening.

After you have noted improvement, you want to move to the front of the blade. The blade will have a feather edge and using the sharpener lightly on the front edge will remove the feather edge.

Hold the sharpener almost parallel against the edge and tilted just slightly to the outside. Run the slicer just a few seconds while removing the feather edge. It won’t take long. At this point the blade should be noticeably sharper.

[glen]

You can use a magic marker at a few intervals on the blade to see how well you are judging your sharpening angle to the edge.
Afterwards the marker will wipe right off with rubbing alcohol

[twilliams]

samspade I just seen in another site that they had one of the stones on backwards which made the same angle you are getting. However, they had the same style as processhead so I’m not sure how your setup could be installed backwards or one of the stones anyways. I really don’t have a clue, just passing on what I read. Hope you get it figured out.

[processhead]

glen said in Meat slicer care and maintenance:

You can use a magic marker at a few intervals on the blade to see how well you are judging your sharpening angle to the edge.
Afterwards the marker will wipe right off with rubbing alcohol

That is a good suggestion, glen

[samspade]

processhead glen thanks both of you. Looks like my home depot lied so I will be ordering one. I will update you guys when it comes in and let you know if I still have 8 fingers and two thumbs.

[samspade]

processhead just got the hand held hone in the mail. Just wondering about what angle do you shoot for on sharpening the slicer blade? And only sharpen the back side of the blade. Light hone on front and back correct?

[processhead]

samspade said in Meat slicer care and maintenance:

processhead just got the hand held hone in the mail. Just wondering about what angle do you shoot for on sharpening the slicer blade? And only sharpen the back side of the blade. Light hone on front and back correct?

The back edge of the slicer blade will have been factory ground at some angle. Study the blade and try to get a sense of what that angel is. Might need to look with a magnifier if your eyes are like mine.
You want to try and hold the diamond hone at or near the same angle as the factory edge was ground so that you don’t change it.

With the slicer shut off, just hold the hone on the back edge to get a sense of what that angle is.

glen had a good suggestion earlier of using a black magic marker on the back edge of the blade to color it before you start. Once you start sharpening, you will be able to see where the hone is contacting the edge by where the ink has been polished off, and whether your angle is right.

[samspade]

processhead ok thanks and just touch up the front of the blade?

[processhead]

samspade said in Meat slicer care and maintenance:

processhead ok thanks and just touch up the front of the blade?

Correct. You should only need to lightly hone the front edge to remove the feather edge that results from sharpening the back edge.

[samspade]

Thanks or the advice. I’ll try it this weekend and post a before and aft. Pic.

[processhead]

Ok.
Don’t be this guy!

[samspade]

Yeah that is not my goal

[samspade]

processhead ok tried it for about 20 sec. On back then 3 sec lightly on front. Still have all my fingers but it feels like it really wants to cut if you lightly rub across the blade. Her is the best shot I could get.