Barrel Timmer

[Tage]

Can anyone give me some tips on sharpening a barrel trimmer? My thought is to file the bevel side of it, but I don't want to ruin it....I figured many here have done it already.

A related question -- I think it got dulled by using the sleeve that goes over it (I have a 7mm barrel trimmer) for squaring up blanks with larger diameter tubes (specifically Gatsby pens). So what I've found is that the trimmer is fine when using the sleeve for those pens, but has a hard time trimming 7mm pens. I'm assuming friction with the sleeve is grinding the trimmer dull on the interior portion of the cutter. Any way to prevent this? I know the ideal would be to use one of the 7 piece trimmer sets that are out there, but it's not in the budget right now.

Thanks!

 

[Cincinnati]

I haven't sharpened my barrel trimmer, but i have sharpen HSS router bits using a diamond hone. I take a set number of even pressure passes on each face of the cutting edge. This works well.

 

[Monty]

Use a diamond hone, but do not file the bevel side. file the back side, that way you have a larger surface to help keep the hone flat and not mess up the bevel angle.
Check out this article from the library http://www.penmakersguild.com/articles/penmillsharpening1.pdf

 

[Tage]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll take a look at the link.

 

[Tage]

Use a diamond hone, but do not file the bevel side. file the back side, that way you have a larger surface to help keep the hone flat and not mess up the bevel angle.
Check out this article from the library http://www.penmakersguild.com/articles/penmillsharpening1.pdf

Monty,
I just had a chance to read the article. Thanks again for the link. I continue to be amazed at the depth of information here!

 

[hdtran]

Ditto what the linked article says about cleaning the crud off your barrel trimmer prior to re-sharpening! That may bring your trimmer back to life for a while!

If you're using a sleeve, and concerned about pushing the sleeve into your trimmer, just put a small piece of tape on the trimmer before putting the sleeve on. This will force your sleeve to be spaced away from your cutting edge by the piece of tape.

I have not found sleeves to be an issue with my setup: I clamp the blank in a vise vertically, and use a handheld drill with the trimmer. The sleeve wants to sink to the bottom, so it never gets near the cutting edges of the trimmer.

Best,

hdtran

 

[Rolland]

I use a diamond sharpener on mine just touch up the back side of the bevel and lightly polish the top edge. I got them from Enco they are 3/4 inch wide with a plastic handle. Three grades, I use them for touch up on HHS lathe bits and work great on the barrel trimmers.
I got a set with all the mandrels and two cutters the 5/8th was good but the 3/4 was somewhat soft, so I cleaned up the edges and oil hardened it. That greatly improved the cutting edge. Its seems that the stablized blanks are the worst for dulling the edge.

 

[Tage]

hdtran - Good idea with the tape. I'll try it. I've taken to pushing the sleeve further into the blank so it doesn't interfere as well.

Rolland - Thanks for the heads up on the diamond sharpeners. I'll check them out....seems like a good way to go.

Thanks all.