You are cutting the hedges around your home, and you begin to notice the hedge trimmer you have isn’t cutting as it should. The limbs are being ragged rather than being cut. You can feel your trimmer grab as it does not quite slash through the limb. It sounds like it is now time to sharpen its blades.
According to the product manuals, you have to sharpen the blades regularly after about fifty hours of usage. That is a lot of usage for the typical house owner. You might not desire to keep up with these hours, so just be aware of how the trimmer is cutting.
How Can You Tell If The Hedge Trimmer Requires Sharpening?
Is the hedge trimmer you have no longer as helpful as it used to be? It’s not rare: frequent usage can blunt the cutting blades, so they require sharpening. It’s possible that the issue comes from a diverse problem though, so check these symptoms for quickly deducing the likely reason:
- The Branches Gets Jammed In Your Trimmer:
If you’re seeing a tendency of branches to get wedged between the teeth throughout trimming, so they block your tool without being cut, it proposes that the lower and upper blades of your hedge trimmer are no longer meeting rather than signifying the requirement of sharpening. It occurs because the spacers between its blades wear out. The dealer can fix it by simply replacing the spacers.
- Branches Aren’t Cut Cleanly:
If the electric or petrol hedge trimmer leaves behind frayed and uneven edge as it cuts, it points to that you have to sharpen its blades.
Instructions For Sharpening The Hedge Trimmer With A Flat File:
Preferably, sharpening ought to be accomplished before its blades show visible indications of wear, keep in mind that the lifespan of the hedge trimmer is heavily reliant on the regular maintenance. As such, we suggest sharpening after every fifty hours of usage or so, to make sure consistent cutting performance and for enabling you to enjoy the hedge trimmer for an extended time to come. You can also locate all the significant info you require about sharpening the hedge trimmer in the operating instructions.
Tools & Materials Required:
- Whetstone
- Flat file
- Water
- Soft cloth
- Safety clothing
- STIHL resin solvent
- Safety glasses or face protection
- Work gloves
Important Safety Precautions:
Before you start sharpening, think about how best you can really protect yourself. Wear safety gloves and glasses made from the robust material for preventing injury. You ought to also make sure that the tool can’t accidentally slip or start-up during sharpening.
Clean The Blades:
You desire to ensure the blades are clean from dirt and debris. If grime and dirt remain, it can cause harm to the sharpening stone or file. You might utilize a cleaning solution and a bristled brush for cleaning them.
Sharpen The Hedge Trimmer Blades Using A Flat File:
With just some simple steps required for sharpening the hedge trimmer by hand, you can secure the long-lasting performance. First, you will utilize a flat-file.
- Always start file towards its cutting edge. The flat file is created for working just when applied in a direction, and this technique makes sure a completely sharp blade.
- When sharpening the tool, try to utilize the file at the suggested sharpening angle, which is detailed under the technical information in the operating directions for the tool.
- The file is just effective on forwarding strokes, and so ought to be lifted from the surface when moving it back: evade sawing backward and forward on a surface using the file, as it might blunt the cutting edge again.
- You ought to always be cautious not to take away too much material throughout sharpening: the abrasion limit is five mm. If you file off more than that, the material strength might be compromised, causing the hedge trimmer to be unusable.
- Utilize the same file strokes’ number for every cutting edge, so that all the blades are of the same length.
Good to know: You ought to just sharpen the cutting edge of every tooth. Don’t file its orange plastic cut protection or the included cut protection.
Remove Burrs Utilizing The Whetstone:
After sharpening, there’re frequently burrs at the blade’s bottom. These can dull the blades faster and have to be gotten rid of. The preferred way to remove them is to simply grab the sharpening stone and cautiously grind its burrs away on a flat slide of your blade. You might have to adjust the blade alignment to get to the burrs. If you do not have the sharpening stone, you can pick up some three hundred grit sandpaper from the local hardware shop.
Care After Sharpening:
First, get rid of any grinding dust created in the previous steps. The filing procedure will have eradicated the corrosion protection that was previously on your blades, so you next have to spray its cutting apparatus using the STIHL resin solvent. It’ll make sure that the tool continues to work properly and that it’ll serve you great for a long time.
How Can You Sharpen The Hedge Trimmer Using A Power Grinder?
This technique is incredible if you’re knowledgeable with the power grinder, as it is quicker than utilizing a mill file. However, I would not suggest it for newbies. The cause for it is that it is very simple to grind off surplus material from its blade, greatly lowering the lifespan.
- Certainly, whenever you utilize a power tool, you’ll desire to be wearing the proper safety gear, eye protection, and hearing protection.
- Begin by clamping your hedge trimmer’s bar to a bench vice just so it does not wriggle while you’re grinding. With this secured, you can start grinding.
- Again, the same surfaces will have to be ground, but now we’ll utilize a grinder in place of a file. You have to be cautious to maintain the same angle while grinding. The grinder will work quicker than a file, so be cautious not to take too much off its tooth.
- Repeat this procedure now for the opposite side.
- For finishing all you have to carry out is to continue with that same procedure on every tooth.
Advantages Of Sharpening The Hedge Trimmer:
I probably do not need to tell you all of this, but there’re a few advantages to keep the hedge trimmer in a top condition.
- Simple To Notice:
It’s quite simple to see plants or gardens that a correctly sharpened hedge trimmer was utilized for trimming; they’re frequently very neat. Beyond this, trimming the shrubs using a sharp blade can assist them in healing quicker.
- Simple Trimming Procedure:
Utilizing the sharpened hedge trimmer will really make the trimming procedure much simpler. You’ll finish the work a lot quicker, potentially saving you from suntan throughout the hot summer days.
- They Last Longer:
Sharpening the hedge trimmer’s blades regularly will also boost its lifespan. You would not need to spend extra cash on the replacement parts, and the tool will possibly serve you for many years to come.
