Blade Sharpening Done Right

Stuart Ablett

Member
Messages
15,917
Location
Tokyo Japan
A number of years back I was really frustrated with trying to get my tablesaw blades sharpened here in Tokyo, I had tried some sharpening services at a few home centers and they just butchered my blades and wanted good money for doing it. I finally got hold of someone at Tenryu USA who put me in contact with a guy at Tenryu Japan who I could speak to in English. The Japanese guy was very reluctant to recommend one sharpening company over another, he did not want to seem biased, so I told him to give me a list of 5 in any order he though was reasonable, then he just sent me one company name, because they were close to me in Yokohama, a company called Kenma.
Well they did a great job, the turn around was just a couple of days, and they did not punish me on the return shipping. Too many places will charge double or triple the actual shipping cost, they charged me the actual shipping cost only, nice.

Well I've been using Kenma for a long time now and I just sent out a big box of blades 10 in total, yeah I've been busy and should have sent some sooner, but sometimes I just get so busy.

Anyways the box I sent them in would not contain them all for the return trip because of the tube like stuff they put on the tips of the blades to protect them.

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Well packaged and for no extra charge.

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This is the box I use to ship them, but like I said for the return trip the would not all fit.
Usually this box is fine because I don't send this many at once.

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Five 10" blades for my SawStop, two 8" blades for my jobsite SCMS and two 6" blades for my Festool track saw.

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For of the 10" blades they charged me 1,200 yen each, for one that is a triple chip they charged me 1,950 yen.
The 8" blades were 1,000 yen each and the 6" blades were 650 yen each. Another 800 yen for the return shipping.

Total 12,850 yen for 10 blades including all shipping, and they do a great job, they sharpened my dado set a while ago and I think it came back better than it was new.
I had not found anyone else who would even consider sharpening a dado set, they are not common here.

I don't know how this compares to prices over in the USA and Canada, but I'm happy with these prices.

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The final kicker as is so very often the case here in Japan, all this good service and high level of skill comes from a little hole in the wall on a small road in an area that is mixed light industrial and residential. The photo above is the front of the shop, the one below is right across the street from the shop.

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I'm just putting this up here because as much as I think it is important to spotlight poor service, it is maybe more important to highlight the good service that you do come across.
 
Not only impressed with the sharpening job, but also the blade collection!

I have another blade for the Festool saw, that was on the saw, one more for the 8" SCMS and two more for the SawStop. You see for a while I could not find a good sharpening place, so when blade got dull, I had to BUY a new one.... :doh:
 
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