If the blade on your miter saw has become worn or dull from frequent use, it will not be capable of cutting with the precision and accuracy you need for your project. The more your miter saw is used, the more quickly the blade will wear down, ultimately becoming blunt and less effective. If this has happened to your miter saw, or if the edges of your miter saw are beginning to appear rounded, you will need to sharpen it so that it can slice quickly and easily once again. Thankfully, sharpening a miter saw blade is not a tedious or time consuming process. In fact, it only takes about 15 minutes, after which you can return to your work and get the job done.
Tools you will need
Before you can begin sharpening your miter saw blade, there are some tools you will need to collect. The most important tools that will be needed are:
- workbench that has mounted clamps
- small diamond file
- crayon.
Once you have all the tools, you are ready to go. Here are some tips to help get you started:
Sharpening your miter saw blade method
1- Remove the Blade from the Saw
The first step is to remove the blade from the saw. The blade cannot be sharpened while it is still attached to the saw, so you will want to remove it before you begin. Once you have removed the blade, place it on the workbench, over the clamps.
2- Mark the Teeth of the Blade
Before you can begin sharpening, you will want to mark on of the teeth on the blade using your crayon. This is so that you can keep track of your starting position. Without marking the blade, you run the risk of sharpening the same teeth twice. While this will not harm the blade, it will waste time, in addition to being redundant and unnecessary.
3- File the First Tooth on the Blade
After you have prepped the blade for sharpening in the previous two steps, you are ready to file the teeth of the blade. File them one after the other, focusing on one tooth at a time. To do this, you will need to place your diamond gile at the bottom front edge of the first tooth on the blade. Move the file upward and forward in a smooth motion along the edge of the tooth.
While you are doing this, the face of the file should be against the flat part of the metal. Use a similar pattern to run the file in a smooth motion along the top flat part of the tooth. Be careful not to touch the point of the tooth while you are sharpening the blade, as this may result in an injury.
4- Repeat Step Three with Each Tooth
You will want to repeat the filing process, described in the previous step, for each one of the teeth until you arrive back at the first one, marked by the crayon. As you go along sharpening the teeth, be sure to avoid touching points or corners of the blade.
When you finish with the first side, turn the blade over to the other side. To do this, reposition the blade on the claps. Then sharpen each tooth, following the same process as you did with the first side. When you arrive back at the first tooth, marked by the crayon, you will have finished sharpening the entire blade.
Final word
At this point in the process, you are finished with the sharpening of your miter saw blade. It is ready for you to get back to work and begin cutting with it again. You can now expect to see higher quality results than what you were seeing previously with a dull blade.
Eventually, after enough use, the blade will become blunt once again. When this happens, simply follow the method above to restore it to its ideal sharpness. While there may be other procedures for sharpening blades, this method is quick and easy to follow while still being effective. It doesn’t require many tools, and it will get you finished sharpening your blade and back to working on your job in no time at all.