How to Sharpen the Blades on Electric Hair Trimmers

If you're noticing that your electric trimmers aren't cutting as well, it may be time to sharpen them. Before you try sharpening your trimmers, make sure to apply a five-in-one trimmer care spray to increase your trimmers' effectiveness. This spray will cool, disinfect, lubricate, clean and prevent rust. This should be applied before each use. If this doesn't work or if it's been a while since your blades were sharpened, it's time to take the trimmers apart.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Three-sided blade sharpener (coarse, medium, fine)
• Small flat head screwdriver

1. Using the flat head screwdriver, unscrew the trimmer blades and remove them carefully. Wipe off any oil, grime or dirt that has built up on them as this may make it more difficult to handle and keep them in place during the manual portion of the sharpening process.

2. Separate the blades and re-apply only the moving blade to the tension spring. Then apply the moving blade to sharpener surface and turn the clippers or trimmers on. Hold the moving blade on the surface of the sharpener and apply light pressure while moving the blade back and forth for one to two minutes. You can also lay the blade on the sharpener first, then put the trimmer tension spring directly on the blade.

3. Turn off the clippers and remove the moving blade. It should look shiny and feel sharper.

4. Remove the guide from the guide blade by unscrewing it using the flat head screwdriver. Place the guide blade on the sharpening surface and manually run it back and forth for about one or two minutes or until it's been sharpened to your satisfaction. Screw the guide back onto the guide blade while being careful to readjust it before you tighten the screws.

5. Screw all the blades back on the trimmers and power them on to make sure they've been fitted correctly. Test them on your own hair to make sure they've been sharpened correctly and are set to the desired depth.

Tips & Warnings

• Which surface you choose, whether coarse, medium or fine, depends on how dull your blades are and how sharp you want to make them. If they are very dull, you will want to start with the coarse or medium side of the sharpener. If they just need a small amount of sharpening, use the fine side. If you've never sharpened electric trimmers before, you may want to visually observe and feel the sharpness of the blades with your fingers before you start to sharpen it. It may be hard to tell if the blades are sharp enough if you don't feel them just before you apply them to the sharpening surface.

Resources

• Video: How to Sharpen Your Trimmer and Clipper Blades

[lookout20]

on 8/10/2009 Thanx. Gonna give it a try..