Clipper Blade Sharpening- How Often?

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Crazy_cat_lady

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So used my new Liveryman Red Rocket clippers for the first time today. I really liked them they even clipped easily through his Welsh D feather (unlike their harmonys which would hardly clip coat let alone feather!!) Also found them v comfy to hold.

Now the question is, would you send the blades to be sharpened yet given have done blanket clip and fairly thick feather? Doubt I will be clipping again this season as he needs vet to sedate so rather costly!

Also how often are you meant to service clippers?
 
I send mine away after they've done 2 full clips. Although the cob is clipped all year round and the other 2 don't have thick coats/feathers.
 
Well my blades have done 3 x full clips last year and 2 x full clips and a blanket clip today and still not going blunt. Iv got spare ones in case but they keep going. Think it helps having clean horses as mud etc will blunt the blades quickly
 
Clippers serviced once a year - blades sharpened after maximum one full clip or a couple of chasers - have a whole different set of blades reserved for legs/feather/hogs and these will do about 3/4 horses before sharpening, as a clean tidy cut isn't quite so crucial here as on the body with finer hair!
 
Usually advise, buy a second set of blades and send your first set off when they are blunt, that way you are always ready to go with fresh blades. As for service, each season if used a lot, every other season if light use. Unless you are using on a yard and letting others use your machine. Then get done every year and safety tested.

Regards

Ian
 
If you need your vet to sedate your horse then it's not worth the risk of the blade going blunt halfway through.

It's hard to say how much more life the blade has before sharpening as it depends how dirty the horse was or how often you oiled the blades etc.

I use Farmcare, they only charge £4.99 a set and are great.
 
ofcourseyoucan said:
i send them off when they are blunt!
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Stupid question - but how do you tell when they are blunt? I tend to use one set of blades per 2-3 horses for first clip, then get them sharpened - and then a fresh set for the second clip - and then send them off again - but actually they are getting half the wear - I am fairly paranoid about clipping a horse with blunt blades, as clearly I want the experience to be as nice as possible for the animals - but as I only clip max 3 horse per annum, I not really sure how you tell when blades are knackered - worse cut? Clippers getting hotter (than normal.....) horse becoming more fidgety? Advice welcomed.
 
If the blades go blunt they just wont cut through the hair unless your tensioning is too tight as I believe that forces the blades to still cut a bit, in which case they would pull at the hair and the horse will let you know it's not nice!

It's best to have a few sets, i have 7 and just use each until they go blunt then when I have 3 i send them off in one lot.
 
Hi i get about 2 clips out of a set of blades and have my clippers serviced every other year as i only clip my 3 ponies , i also have 5 sets of blades so hopefully one set will be sharp when i need them :)
 
I get 6-8 full clips out of a set of blades, that includes a few with legs off, and the odd full face.

Blades are blunt when they 'push' through the hair, not glide through easily.
 
CrazyMare said:
I get 6-8 full clips out of a set of blades, that includes a few with legs off, and the odd full face.

Blades are blunt when they 'push' through the hair, not glide through easily.
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Thanks for that, most reassuring, I am sure that I have never used blunt blades, and I know in racing stables that they will clip abpout 10 horses on the trot with one set. But was feeling a little paranoid!
 
I get about 4 to 5 full clips of my very hairy lad out of each set of blades before I need to get them sharpened. I've got 4 sets so I tend to take 3 sets up for sharpening at the same time. Coincidentally I managed to buy two second hand newly sharpened sets of blades for my clippers from the place that sharpens them, at less than half the new price so may be worth asking if the place you send yours sells second hand stuff ;) I also get mine checked and serviced every year, but then I have to clip my boy every 5 weeks max and will also lend clippers to friends in return for a couple of quid towards sharpening and servicing. Probably wouldn't get them serviced so often if other people didn't use them as well though.
 
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