Question About Sharping a Blade On A Hobart Food Cutter

BA_Colt said:
So I got a part time job doing some food prep. The chef order operator knows I sharpen blades. the blade in question is in ruff shape.
View attachment 2459756View attachment 2459757https://www.hobartcorp.com/products/food-prep/specialty-products/food-cutters

Someone took a grinder to it with an unsteady hand. I guess I should run it on my bench belt sander. Or should I use a corse stone? This link is for a newer version of the tool.
Click to expand...
What kind of RPM does that thing run at? Not sure the best sharpening approach, but my concern would be keeping it balanced so it doesn't vibrate like hell.
 
150 will take it down. 220 will be smoother but will take longer. Or a regular old diamond file.

As for balance. The blade is twisting through food. Balance goes the window when it's stuffed full of food. Same with a blender.

1725 can be considered low speed and that's free run speed. Not under load.
 
Mrs. Peel,

According to the schematics, the blade that you pictured can be further disassembled, allowing you to work with each individual blade. My first choice would be the same as yours: belt sander. From the looks of the blades, I don't think that you could harm them further. Unless you get them too hot, but it sounds like you're aware of that danger.

Another approach would be a metal file. No real risk of ruining the temper with excess heat. Of course, it'll take longer, with more passes across the edge, thus more chances of messing up the angle. That's just me, though, and the reason why I personally would take it apart and use the sander.

A low-speed wet grinder might be an alternative.

Ebay could be an option:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2947592640...nzV4hl9kufjVP2gZH9Zp8UxQ==|tkp:Bk9SR-DMnseiYw

The item is described as "new", but the picture doesn't seem to support that claim, though the pictured edge looks better than what you posted.

Best of luck.

Joe
 
Thanks all!!!
Here is a pic of my bench grinder along with my variable speed belt sander. it is old Ryobi which I bought in 1998 or so. I have used it before a bench sander.
IMG_1762.jpeg
 
Heetee!!! I am a swamp yankee, (the baseball team yankees suck) any tin becomes a tool/hardware container.
Worked on the buffalo blade:
IMG_1769.jpeg

I used 150 on the 1"x30". Did not try to get all the last hack on the blades: just tried ti give a decent edge:
IMG_1773.jpeg
 
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Good call on your goal for the edge. It's not like it's a custom chef's knife.

Did you use it before and after your sharpening? I'd be interested in whether you noticed a difference.
 
I have used it twice before. We well probably be using it in two weeks. It mostly is used to make a paste of onions, garlic, and daikon radish for marinade and kimchi.

I was afraid of taking too much of the blade off because as even in its ruff shape it did a good job. As you said it's not a fancy knife. The only one who sees it is the person cleaning it.

Now I have to get to work on her sad set of knives. She has one Stal 8" granton santoku that works, two others that can spread butter. A 10" connoisseur which looks like it's been put in a dishwasher and left in a snowbank. A 10" Sani safe chef, ya not so much as is the 8" boner.

In her defense this is a maybe a 9 month old business. Her mom has a sit down Korean restaurant. The owner/operator does have a college degree in (I think she said) restaurant hospitality, but not in culinary arts.

I, by no means am I a chef or an expert in the culinary arts or running a business, rather I am someone who likes to cook and use good tools. Oh and make things look nice.

Also knows my way around a blade.
 
Thanks, I was curious about that tub of knives.
Is the "connoisseur" the wooden handled one? It always pains me to see wood treated that way.
Are you going to rehandle it?
 
We used a lot of those in industrial sizes when I was in the food industry. They're pretty forgiving on needing a sharp edge because of the power behind them. I would think comparable to a lawn mower, certainly don't go for a very thin, keen edge.

I think our 500 lb mixers, we used serrated blades as they stayed sharp enough for a lot longer, but then we sent them in to be resharpened by the manufacturer with machine with guides.

Someone mentioned the blade balance being a problem, it's not. You you have to take a ton of steel off before it's a problem, likely a whole blade. Ths food in the cutting bowl is often the critical point of imbalance if there are issues... like throwing in something that was left out during winter and it's frozen. Gonna be a problem.

I had that issue with a lab sized one processing a whole frozen lasagna that didn't thaw quite enough. Nearly through it off the counter, rookie move. We used robot coupe brand in the R&D kitchen and QA lab
 
I used to work on those when I maintained the equipment in a commercial kitchen. I used a file most of the time to maintain the edge. As mentioned the edge doesn't need to me perfect as it has a good amount of power and speed behind it. I would normally maintain a double bevel similar to what you did. Worked great.

The meat/cheese slicers had their own built in sharpening stones so I would normally use those for that machine.

We also had a Robot Coupe cl60 that had a bunch of interchangeable blade attachments that I could normally get sharp with the bench grinder.

The Hobart HCM450 had blades that were probably twice the size of your ones. Those were fun to sharpen.

Most used unhardened stainless so there wasn't any real risk of ruining the temper. Maybe 304?
 
Aardvark said:
Thanks, I was curious about that tub of knives.
Is the "connoisseur" the wooden handled one? It always pains me to see wood treated that way.
Are you going to rehandle it?
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I sanded it dow, wiped with lacquer thinner and now mineral oiling it.
First coat:
IMG_1780.jpeg
In her defense, I think the dishwasher wood handled knives were leftover from the previous owners.

The place was a breakfast counter that closed. There is a flattop griddle, steam table, and a household stove and oven combo. No salamander, no shaam, no robo coupe, no pressure steamer, no 30gal tilting soup kettles.

Ya it is ruff. but nice for me. I just cut and do what I am told. No stress.
 
Looks a lot better.

Are you planning to seal that gap on the top?

I have one of those huge ceramic rods, also. I like the heft, because it doesn't jump around so much when I'm using it.
 
Yep on ceramic rods.

I use saw dust and Titebond III in gaps. Sometimes a superglue type thing with sawdust, or a two part resin.
 
What I use, also. For a gap as small as pictured, I'd lean toward a CA gel, probably without the sawdust, since it's a heavily used working knife (presumably).

Please show the final rework.

You also might want to install one of those detectors on the dishwasher, which sound a siren when a non-table knife is put into it. What?? That doesn't exist?? Ought to...
 
IMG_1788.jpegIMG_1785.jpeg
Now I have to decide if I should charge and/or how much. There is a chip in the blade:
IMG_1790.jpeg
 
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