My second pair of andis clipper blades are stuck

[poltroon]

My daughter has andis 5-speed clippers with a medium blending blade. She uses this blade on her sheep, so technically not horses, but the same basic idea is in play.

The first set worked great all last summer, and when we took them out this year, they had rusted. My bad, I figured. I had been the one to put them away and probably I hadn’t cleaned them enough and we had a wet winter so the air was probably humid. I apologized to my daughter and replaced the blades.

The second set were used briefly twice before they also seized. There’s no sign of rust on them… the motor just won’t budge them. I was super careful with these, used the blade spray to get them really clean, wiped them down, oiled them, put them back in their box with a pack of dessicant.

The #10 blades we have for these clippers work fine. The top blade is ceramic so they can’t rust together.

Sheep are a little different from horses because there is lanolin, but still… and these blades are intended for sheep.

I set the rusty ones in WD-40 and have gotten nowhere. I tried removing the screws that screw the blades together as a last these-blades-are-toast-anyway hail mary, but couldn’t get them to turn.

Ideas for salvaging these blades, or barring that, how I keep a third set of blades usable for more than one go?

[S1969]

I don’t clip sheep, or horses that much, but do have Andis clippers for my dogs. Blades don’t last forever, even if you take perfect care of them. Personally I’d just get new blades and toss out the rusty ones. You can send them to a sharpener but not sure I’d bother for just one set of blades unless you’re at a show where there is a sharpening vendor.

I might wonder if you are also having issues because the oil is caked in the blades (and/or lanolin, hair, dander?) Do you run them through blade wash during/after using? That might help, too. And always remove from clippers when you are done and store with a desiccant, like you are doing.

[Feathered_Feet]

In my experience clippers need maintenance (well, at least the Andis clippers I have) about once a year. So, it may not be the blades, but the motor and blade attachment compartment that need a little TLC. Most knife sharpeners (who also sharpen blades, which is super necessary) can perform the basic maintenance and replace worn out parts. Many accept items by mail if you’re not within driving distance.

[goodhors]

Is daughter using blades on show sheep or for shearing the flock? Showing market lambs in 4-H ourselves, learning to clip them for shows was completely different than shearing before lambing or spring shearing of the flock.

The market lambs were washed with Tide, rinsed clean of soap, blown off or towel dried ( about 6-8 towels) to just being damp. Then you clip damp wool as short as possible using a #10 blade on the big Oster or Lister clippers. When finished, you remove blades, clean the clipper head and blades of moisture. Then re-oil everything and replace blades if still sharp or put on another sharp set of blades for the next use of clippers. Clipping damp lambs was quite eye opening to me, but it did a great job on the lambs for showing, ease of wool removal. Using a stand to hold lambs, the #10 horse blades on clippers, young daughter was quickly able to clip her lambs herself. They looked very nice, she placed well in competition. 4-H is about the kid doing things themselves. The clean lambs, no lanolin after washing them, is the only difference I can see making shearing so much easier. My #10 blades won’t even take a bite off the mature, dry, unwashed sheep wool.

Doing shearing of winter fleece or crutching ewes ready to lamb, we used sheep or goat blades, wool was dry. I found it much harder to get wool off with lanolin clogging blades often, blades not working as well in long fleeces. Blades were very sharp, have to be very careful not to cut sheep while shearing. Lanolin could be an issue, not using a good oil on the clippers and blades. We use Oster clipmasters, never had a blade power problem with wool, but sometimes the blades just did not cut well. Meat sheep fleece is like steel wool in texture, hard to cut. Never had a rust storage issue between uses. Our blade sharpener returns them wrapped in waxed paper and stapled into small brown paper envelopes. That seems to keep moisture off them in storage, in a sealed plastic container. I rewrap used, oily blades, then back in envelope, sealed in plastic box, to wait to be resharpened.

[poltroon]

These are show sheep and the small clippers are just used for the tricky spots on the head and for blending the body into the leg wool. Come to think of it, it’s possible they were used once in a pinch in tricky spots that had been sheared with shears and not washed. I’m not sure how I could have cleaned them better than I did though.

She has appropriate shears and clippers for various body occasions.

The #10 blades are for me for the horses but we had to use them on the sheep when the blending blades seized.

[S1969]

Are you running them through blade wash before oiling? Here’s a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DJ78YSMHGY

If not, the blade spray, lanolin and/or oil could be clogging the blades.