Sharpening Industrial Knives the Right Way: What Maintenance Teams Need to Know

Industrial knife sharpening may not be listed first in your safety checklist, but it’s a crucial part of workplace safety and product quality. Not all industrial knife sharpeners are created equal. Understanding the sharpening process will help you maximize your investment while improving cut quality and reducing machine downtime. 

5 Reasons Why Knife Sharpening Is Critical For Industrial Operations

Every time you cut metal, wood, plastic, food, or other items using an industrial knife, it wears. Your blades routinely come into contact with excessively hard materials, abrasive materials, acidic foods, chemicals, or other materials that can dull or nick your blades. Sharpening them regularly provides the following benefits: 

• Enhances cut quality: Sharp blades cut more uniformly and help you maintain final product quality. 
• Extends product life: Sharpening your blades regularly makes them last longer, so you spend less on replacement knives. 
• Reduces machine wear: Dull knives require more pressure and friction to cut through materials. Your rotors, motors, and other machine parts will wear out faster if your blades are dull, which can lead to unexpected downtime. 
• Makes your workplace safer: Since dull blades use more force to cut, you increase your risk of the blade slipping and causing an injury. 
• Improves productivity: Your machine was designed to process a specific volume of material each day. As your blades wear down, this output decreases. Sharpening your blades keeps you on track with daily quotas. 

The Industrial Knife Sharpening Process: A Step-By-Step Guide

A thorough industrial knife sharpening process includes each of these steps. If you’re using a knife-sharpening service for machine knives, industrial hand knives, or other blades, have the provider explain their process so you know they’re being thorough. 

• Pre-inspection: Before getting to work, your knife sharpener will assess the blade’s condition. They will look for nicks, dullness, chips, and damage. They will also look for debris and clean the blade if needed. 
• Grinding and reshaping: After inspection, your knife sharpener will secure the blade to a grinder and remove nicks, chips, and damage. They will consult the manufacturer specifications to match its edge geometry. 
• Regrinding: After they’ve matched the edge geometry, your knife sharpener will use a finer grit tool to remove any leftover scratches and perfect the bevel until it meets specifications.  
• Finishing: Your knife sharpener will realign your knife edges and inspect the blade. If it doesn’t need to be refined anymore, they will polish the edges with a super fine grit abrasive until it looks new. 

It’s important to choose a vendor with knowledge of different types of industrial blades. Experienced professional sharpening vendors understand the difference between mill knife uses and industrial circular knives. They understand how to choose appropriate grinders and heat control techniques to achieve the right blade geometry. 

Common Mistakes in Industrial Knife Sharpening and How to Avoid Them

Unless you’re working with a custom blade specialist or a knife-sharpening vendor who understands your knives, you might end up with improperly sharpened blades. Some of these mistakes can seriously damage your blades and make them less safe to work with. Avoid these common mistakes if you don’t want to replace a perfectly functional blade: 

• Using the wrong sharpening tool: When you don’t understand metallurgy, it’s easy to select the wrong material to sharpen an industrial knife. Some industrial knife blades are made of tungsten or carbide to withstand abrasive plastics or rough wood. Others are coated for food processing. Trying to sharpen these blades with a standard steel grinder can cause them to overheat. It can also damage the blade or give you uneven edges. 
• Sharpening to the incorrect angle: Industrial knives are built for precision, and many need to be set at the correct angle. A blade used to cut wood doesn’t have the same angle as one that primarily cuts abrasive plastics. Consult the original equipment manufacturer for the precise angle of your knife blade. 
• Excessive Grinding: Overgrinding a knife to remove chips and scratches can actually cause more damage to your blades. The grinding process causes friction and heats the knife. Excessive grinding can warp or alter your blades. Experienced technicians know how much pressure to use when sharpening. They also use heat control to achieve a quality result without damaging your blade. 
• Not honing your knife: Honing lets you perfect the finish and geometry of your blade. Skipping the honing process makes your industrial knives less effective. It can impact cut quality, make your blades wear out sooner, and even damage the machine. 

Measuring ROI: How Proper Sharpening Saves Time and Money

Regularly sharpening your blades extends their useful life, which means you can save money on frequent replacements. Industrial blades can range from $10 to more than $1,000. 

Blade maintenance also reduces machine downtime. As your blades dull, your machine becomes less efficient, making it more likely to malfunction. Companies can spend millions of dollars on every hour of unplanned downtime. Regular blade maintenance, including industrial knife sharpening services, helps you keep your machines up and your team productive. 

Regular sharpening also keeps your machines running like new. Sharp blades cut more uniformly, which enables consistent product quality and reduces waste. Production accuracy reduces the need to throw away products that don’t meet quality control standards. 

The Hyde Difference: Precision Sharpening for Industrial Knives

Industrial knife sharpening services come with many benefits, but choosing a reliable partner is a must to leverage them fully and prevent costly mistakes.

Hyde Industrial has more than 150 years of experience creating custom knife blades for multiple industries in the USA. We have created blades for everything from food processing to cloth and textiles, drawing upon our extensive metallurgical experience and knowledge to choose the right materials and methods to sharpen industrial knife blades.

Hyde Industrial offers fast turnaround times done by experts who understand original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specifications. We will return your knife blades in excellent condition so they fit your machine and perform like new.

Improve your blades’ longevity and performance by partnering with a vendor dedicated to precision and quality. Contact us today for a free quote.