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Sharpening your own clipper blades

Anyone do this themselves? With the help of a $22 whetstone apparently it’s easy… And with blade sharpening being six or seven dollars each plus shipping, you could see how in a short time it would make a difference.

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My fiancé sharpens our clipper blades at home. The biggest challenge is putting them back together again. It can be tricky to get them tight enough to clip but not so tight that they don’t move at all. So sometimes it takes a bit of testing and trial and error to get them just right, but it’s still cheaper than sending them off or buying new blades.

He also said that half the time when the blades don’t cut anymore, it’s not that their dull. They just get clogged with dust and hair and if pries the blades further apart. Clean often and thoroughly and that helps a lot (as does cleaning the horse before you clip).

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He does them on a whetstone? Any particular brand recommendations? I am quite keen to try this.

Yes, he uses a whetstone we got for sharpening our kitchen knives.

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Thank you!

Thank you! I went ahead and bought one. I’m hoping to clip this weekend so wish me luck!

I’m particularly excited about being able to sharpen while clipping. I have on multiple occasions found that, towards the end of winter, I have multiple dull blades and a wonky clip. To sharpen as needed and finish the horse would be lovely!

The sharpening group and shearer group say you cannot do it yourself without a fancy curved sharpener. Flat sharpeners don’t work right.

I’m confused - multiple youtube videos show people sharpening flat clipper blades on flat stones - why would you need a curved sharpener?

If you need to sharpen during clipping, something else might be going wrong. I buy my blades through Premier 1, and send them there for sharpening as well. I routinely get ~20 full body clips on a single set of blades if the horses are fairly clean. I clip as much of the body/face/legs as I can with Premier blades on Lister Legends, and use smaller clippers for the nooks/crannies/sensitive spots. For me, the professional sharpening is worth every penny.

Ugh I had an employer make me use a flat stone to sharpen… I wasted hours of my life on that thing. The blades never really got better, I’d get maybe 5-10 minutes and they’d just be dull again.

I won’t waste my time after that experience. I either pay for sharpening (also not always successful) or just buy new.

You get 20 body clips per lifetime of the blade, not per sharpening, right?!? Because if the latter is the case I want to know your secret :slight_smile:

I guess my issue is that these are all old, used blades that have been professionally resharpened many times at this point. I suspect some are not coming back to me in perfect condition anymore, and the ability to quickly flatten and hone a blade mid-clip would be helpful. Especially since my horse is not always perfectly clean prior to a clip due to weather.

Per sharpening. I’ve actually not kept track of how many times a set of blades can be sharpened!

Biggest secret is a CLEAN horse. This makes such a difference. I spray blades every 10 minutes or so with Andis Cool Care plus, then oil with Premier 1 oil. Will do more often if horse is not so clean. As long as horse stands still, a full body clip takes me just under an hour.

The small snap-on/A5 style blades will not last nearly as long, maybe only 2-3 clips and you’ll also need to replace a blade drive during this time if you’re doing full body clips with a smaller machine. I use these exact blades from Premier1 l, and consider them done when they will no longer cut through the hair.
https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/premier-medium-clipping-blade-set

This one was clip #16 on one set, I do not find that the cutting quality deceases over time…it just eventually stops. image|666x500

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Ah, maybe that’s it - I clip primarily with a T-84 Andis ACG setup. I used to get 2-3 clips per blade before they needed sharpening (and I generally replace the blade drive each year), though I seem to get less and less from this setup every year. Perhaps it’s time to upgrade as my clippers are surely 10+ years old at this point.

20+ full body clips per sharpening blows my mind. I do bathe before clipping, but sometimes we’re running out of hot water so I may not scrub as much as I would have wanted, or something comes up and it’s two days between bathing and clipping (instead of one day)… so not always perfect but the horse isn’t caked in mud either. But I probably have to admit my clippers and blades may be due for retirement :frowning: