Honing Your Blade

Honing your blade is a crucial component of your shear's upkeep because metal is malleable. This means that with regular use, the thin sharpened edge of your shear's blade will roll into a burr that throws the blade out of alignment, which results in poor cutting performance. And, even if the blade is sharp, it can feel dull because the sharp edge has been pushed off to the side, as shown below:

Diagram showing blade edge alignment: dull rolled edge versus sharp properly aligned edge

But, when used properly, your hone stone will realign the edge of the blade to double its life – and its quick and easy to do!

Pressing blade down above blade stop at 1/8 inch distance in BULLET cutter

How to Hone Your Blade:

With the blade in the machine, press the handle down until the blade is just above the blade stop (approximately 1/8"). Lay the wide, flat side of your hone stone against the flat side of the blade and run it back and forth 2 or 3 times to remove any burs or accumulated residue that forms there. Easy as that!

BULLET hone stone being run along flat side of blade to remove burrs

When to Hone Your Blade:

Hone your blade after making 5 cuts in laminate or engineered wood
Hone your blade every 10 cuts afterward
After 100 cuts (you can cut solid hardwood at this point), you will only need to hone your blade once per job for the life of the shear**

**When necessary, the blade can be sharpened to restore a one-side (21° – 22°) knife edge. It is important to note that the blade must be sharpened only on the beveled side. Do NOT attempt to sharpen the flat side. We recommend that power grinding only be done by a professional as the blade must be fluid cooled during that process.

What's the difference between honing and sharpening?

Many people confuse honing with sharpening, or vice versa, but there is a distinct difference. When you sharpen your blade, you're actively removing and shaving down your blade to create a new, razor-sharp beveled edge. Honing, on the other hand, pushes the sharpened edge back into position. However, both are crucial to keeping your blade in tip-top shape.

Bullet Pointers:

Blades are NOT covered by warranty, so honing and sharpening is crucial to extend blade life
Your blade must ALWAYS be mounted with the flat side facing toward the table.
ALWAYS use hand protection when handling the blade – it's very sharp!
When sharpening or honing, it isn't necessary to remove small nicks or chips from the blade edge.