How We Sharpen Horse Clipper Blades
This page shows how we sharpen your clipper blades when they come in.
There are 2 ways in which blades can be sharpened
One way is to use a grinding machine. This has a wheel that spins with diamond paste on it and the comb and cutter are sharpened seperately. They will be pressed against the plate by hand and moved from the outside of the plate into the middle over a few seconds and then back again. This is enough to sharpen each blade & the paste grinds the steel to make the edges sharp. This method works fine but the blades will not be able to take as many sharpenings on this type of machine as more steel is removed. The success rate is lower (sometimes around 80%) although a lot of that comes down to the experience of the operator.
Using A Lapping Machine
The second method, and the one we use, is polishing the blades on a lapping machine. This removes far less steel so the comb and cutter will last longer and polishes the steel with a diamond paste & oil solution against a plate. This plate is 0.012" convex over the radius with the blades being held in place by 'workholders' within 3 'conditioning rings'. It normally takes at least 20 minutes to polish the blades this way. Some may need extra time depending on the state they come in so it is well worth cleaning your blades after every clipping as that will increase their life.
