Threw $400 at a band saw blade sharpener and it was a total waste

I run a small shop out of my garage in Tulsa and was getting tired of sending blades out for sharpening every couple weeks. Saw this portable sharpener online that claimed to handle any blade size. Paid $400 for it including shipping. First blade I tried it on came out uneven and actually left burn marks on the pork shoulders I was cutting. Tried adjusting the angle three different times but it never cut clean. Ended up tossing the whole thing in the scrap bin. Now I'm back to paying $15 per blade at the local sharpening service. Has anyone else fallen for one of these gadgets or do they actually work for somebody?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantw4123h ago

Man I feel your pain, I bought one of those "universal" blade sharpeners last year and my first attempt left my bandsaw blade looking like a cheese grater. Tried to fix it by adjusting the angle again and ended up just burning a hole through my workbench instead. Sometimes the smartest move is admitting we paid $400 for a lesson in patience.

young.michael22h ago

Respectfully, I think that $400 bought you exactly what you needed - a sharp reminder that cheap tools just introduce more variables into an already finicky process.