# How do you sharpen your ice auger blades



## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

Does anyone do this themselves??? Or do yu just go get new ones.?


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2007)

I have an old jiffy (bought in '84 or '85) and I just last year had a little trouble cutting through the ice. I took the blade off the auger and put it to the old grinding wheel and voila' good as new! On those mora hand drills, I could never get the edge right and just bought new ones. I guess it depends on what type of drill you use Norm.


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

I have about a 10 yr old jiffy with newer serated blades on them.


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2007)

I think mine has about 5 fingers on it and like I said, I just put it to the grinder and I was good to go. What have you got to lose? Have at it and if it doesn't work, get a new blade. I think it was about 10-15 bucks for a new one. Might just save you a few and you may save enough to get a 12 pack. :beer:


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## MOB (Mar 10, 2005)

I have a 10 year old 3.5 HP 9" Jiffy with a serrated blade. I sharpen my blade with a 4.5" angle grinder and finish with a file to get the burr off. Make sure to follow the original bevel of the blade with the angle grinder. It seems to work great.


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

sounds good my blade is fine now, but when you live 2 hrs away from where you can get one, it would be nice to just sharpen it before i put it away for the year.


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

keep the protective covers on the blades at all times and don't stand em up on the ice. I see guys all the time drill a six" deep hole to support the drill and stand it up only to pull it out drill some more holes and plop it back in to look cool standing upright. Might as well stand it up in the corner of your garage when you get home. Take care of the blades when they're not turning and you'll get many years out of them.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

cut'em said:


> and don't stand em up on the ice. I see guys all the time drill a six" deep hole to support the drill and stand it up only to pull it out drill some more holes and plop it back in to look cool standing upright. Might as well stand it up in the corner of your garage when you get home. Take care of the blades when they're not turning and you'll get many years out of them.


   Ummmm...learned something new there. :lol:


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## curty (Sep 18, 2003)

Something else I've learned is if the point in the center of your auger is dull and cant cut, niether will your blades.


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## drpanett (Jan 23, 2008)

curty said:


> Something else I've learned is if the point in the center of your auger is dull and cant cut, niether will your blades.


If the point in the middle gets dull is there a way to sharpen it.


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## curty (Sep 18, 2003)

Sure... Just use a grinder ( I use a dremel tool)


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

I have a 20+ year old Jiffy 30 10" and went through the trial and error of sharpening them as well. Two things I have learned is that switching to the new ripper blades is worth the cost. They are about 3x the cost of a regular set of blades but last longer and can be sharpened easier than the old style blades.

Jiffy has a blade truing sharpener that I bought in 02 when I bought the ripper blades. I still have those blades on and once or twice a year run the truer over them. Curty also give good advice on keeping the edge on the diamond point sharp. A hand file or dremel works well but make sure and put something over the auger blade or remove it when doing this. A slip can result in a trip to the ER for stitches.

Also the point on not standing your auger is also good. Dick who works in the repair dept at Scheels in Fargo says that most people that ended up buying new flights had bent the bottom area where the blade mounts. Once it is bent it will loose its ability to cut well regardless of shims or if you have it straightened.

My old Jiffy with the ripper blades never requires me to put any downward pressure on the auger to get it to cut.


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## Jerryv (Jul 16, 2008)

Ron Gilmore said:


> Also the point on not standing your auger is also good. Dick who works in the repair dept at Scheels in Fargo says that most people that ended up buying new flights had bent the bottom area where the blade mounts. Once it is bent it will loose its ability to cut well regardless of shims or if you have it straightened.


The worst thing you can do is bang it up and down in a hole or on the ice to knock the slush off. That is what bends the blade mount.

Jerry


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## stalker (Oct 29, 2008)

I used to work at a place where we had a tool and die department. They had a surface grinder and that thing did a lot of ice auger blades in the winter. Those things were just like new when the guys were done with them. We also made extensions.

Those were the days. I never met a machinist that wasn't into the outdoors.


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