Sharpening (again )

[Kittyhawk]

My dog is a nonshedding breed so has to be mowed quite often which is hard on clipper blades.
The recommendation is to sharpen, finishing on an '8000 water stone' or emery paper equivalent. The problem is that I don't know what grit emery paper equates to an '8000' stone. Ive had a look online and opinions vary from 800 to 2000 grit which is not very helpful. Any advice please?

 

[Fitzroy]

I'd always thought/assumed that the number on stone equated to the sand paper grit, so an 8000 stone is the same as 8000 grit wet and dry?

Fitz.

 

[--Tom--]

Here’s a link to the grand unified grit chart


If you look at 3m lapping films you’ll find something fine enough

 

[Eshmiel]

There's various conversion charts that show equivalences over different schemas for describing grit size in sandpapers and other abrasives. Here's two:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/tools/grit-charts

https://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/pdf/8654/011176117.pdf

A mention of waterstones always gets me excited. I like to warn all and everyone away from the messy, expensive and tedious-to-use things. Emery paper on a flat glass sheet is far easier and cheaper. Don't buy emery papers, though - they don't last long and are these days only worth using if you have a stock from the olden days, as I have (my father-in-law used it to polish his hobby-jewellery items). 3M papers are possibly the best modern versions of such things although the blue Hermes are quite good too.

 

[Jacob]

My dog is a nonshedding breed so has to be mowed quite often which is hard on clipper blades.
The recommendation is to sharpen, finishing on an '8000 water stone' or emery paper equivalent. The problem is that I don't know what grit emery paper equates to an '8000' stone. Ive had a look online and opinions vary from 800 to 2000 grit which is not very helpful. Any advice please?

What sort of clippers? My wife pays a fortune to have our dog trimmed, I could do it myself when she's not looking..

 

[Jacob]

There's various conversion charts that show equivalences over different schemas for describing grit size in sandpapers and other abrasives. Here's two:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/tools/grit-charts

https://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/pdf/8654/011176117.pdf

A mention of waterstones always gets me excited. I like to warn all and everyone away from the messy, expensive and tedious-to-use things. Emery paper on a flat glass sheet is far easier and cheaper. Don't buy emery papers, though - they don't last long and are these days only worth using if you have a stock from the olden days, as I have (my father-in-law used it to polish his hobby-jewellery items). 3M papers are possibly the best modern versions of such things although the blue Hermes are quite good too.

Even easier is an oil stone. I'd recommend the Norton IB8. Grits are medium and coarse.

 

[Inspector]

What sort of clippers? My wife pays a fortune to have our dog trimmed, I could do it myself when she's not looking..

Better put down your teacup and brace yourself. We bought proper clippers and the combs that go with it to control how much it cuts about 6 or 8 years ago. It came to about $400Cad from a local store. It is a corded model but there are lots of cordless. Wanted the cord because batteries never seem to last when only used once a month. Your suggestion of a medium fine oil stone is way off, the reason being the cutting parts are so sharp and flat as to be almost polished. Ours has a ceramic blade, white in the picture that when dull will need to be sent to a specialist to sharpen or just replaced.

Chris you are probably better off looking for one of the (put your beverage cup down too before opening the link) Shapton Ceramic stones if you can't locate any suitable 3M paper/film. You can probably buy 2 or 3 cutters for the clipper for the same cost as the stone.

Pete

 

[Jacob]

Better put down your teacup and brace yourself. We bought proper clippers and the combs that go with it to control how much it cuts about 6 or 8 years ago. It came to about $400Cad from a local store. It is a corded model but there are lots of cordless. Wanted the cord because batteries never seem to last when only used once a month. Your suggestion of a medium fine oil stone is way off, the reason being the cutting parts are so sharp and flat as to be almost polished. Ours has a ceramic blade, white in the picture that when dull will need to be sent to a specialist to sharpen or just replaced.

Chris you are probably better off looking for one of the (put your beverage cup down too before opening the link) Shapton Ceramic stones if you can't locate any suitable 3M paper/film. You can probably buy 2 or 3 cutters for the clipper for the same cost as the stone.

Pete

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Thanks for that. I was thinking more of hand powered clippers like sheep shears. He's half sheep dog so probably wouldn't mind.

 

[Amplidyne]

What sort of clippers? My wife pays a fortune to have our dog trimmed, I could do it myself when she's not looking..

The dog wouldn't care. You wouldn't care. Your wife might notice though!

 

[Amplidyne]

What about a fine diamond stone?

 

[Kittyhawk]

What sort of clippers? My wife pays a fortune to have our dog trimmed, I could do it myself when she's not looking..

The Child bride is in charge of mowing the dog but I don't think I would recommend it as a diy exercise.
She does it because the nearest dog groomer is an 80km round trip away and I can't say that clipping the dog herself puts her in a very good humor. The clip is what (hopefully) delivers the end result of a smart looking dog but prior to that the dog must be shampooed, dried, sprayed with an untangling solution and then thoroughly brushed out with a slicker brush. Omitting any of these steps and the cutter won't go through the coat. The only good side of the whole business is that I get to use the clipper to zoom over my own head when she's done which I did yesterday, whereupon I noticed that the blade was grabbing a bit which in turn prompted this sharpening post.

Pete - we have the same Andis equipment as you. We also had a ceramic blade for a brief moment before it broke when the dog kicked the clipper off the grooming table onto the floor. Not intending to buy any sharpening stones - I prefer emery paper purely because it delivers results that meet my needs and is available at our local hardware store.