Landis 5 in 1 DIY Blade Sharpening

Several years ago I made a Dremmel grinder attachment for my lathe to sharpen small tools.
This week I brought out my Landis trimmer and one of the reasons I put it away was because it didn't cut cleanly.


I made the Herculean effort to get the blade off of the shaft so I could sharpen it using my DIY Sherline sharpening system.

Removing these blades must be done carefully, the Left Hand thread is always confusing, they are hard to hold, and easily damaged.

I set an angle that would work for both the front and back side of the blade.

This set up required a custom holder for the blade, not too hard to make.

There seem to be two thread sizes for 5 in 1; 7/16-20, and 1/2-20, both Left Hand and both pretty rare.
Not having either of these what I do is make a holder out of a piece of steel Hex.
I turn down one end to a diameter that just interferes with the threads.
The 1/4-20 screw holds the blade hard onto the holder.


Grinding is about taking 0.001" inch at a time VERY slowly,  let the wheel cut for 30 seconds or more as you move towards the finished edge.

The cutting difference is great! If you find that your 5 in 1 is not cutting all the way thru it is getting dull.

American Skiver - Model B

Could not resist this "Skiver Only" machine on CL

Did a complete tear-down and rebuild unfortunately I don't do repainting in the winter so that will have to wait.

It spun OK but slowly, I like to take every part off of the main casting.
With these old machines I like to update the screws when they have been abused and make subtle changes for the better, here I added a thumb screw for the lower blade adjustment 

Sharpened the blade on the WorkSharp

This one is in good shape none of the shafts are loose, no cracks in the casting, and the gear teeth are in good condition.

The patent number is maybe just a date so I haven't found the original drawing.
The weird "monkey motion" blade positioning system and all the parts are straight from the 5 in 1