Jewelry burrs

Do you know you can have your jewelry burrs resharpened for half the new
burr price?

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 17:43:14 -0700, in =B8=07=F5 "huntyer" =

wrote:

Do you know you can have your jewelry burrs resharpened for half the =
new
burr price?


Well, yes and no.

Hi speed steel burs, or carbide burs, can be resharpened for considerably=
less
than the cost of new burs. They get slightly smaller in size in the =
process,
which may mean you need some new ones anyway, in some cases, but then may=
also
mean you end up with useful in between sizes with the resharpened ones. =
.. =20

The less costly types, such as the Vanadium steel Busch burs, or similar =
carbon
steel burs, are usually not economically feasable to have resharpened, as=
they
cost about the same or even less, new, as they cost to regrind, in most =
of the
often used smaller sizes. Very large ones, well, maybe. Also, most of =
these
have a wonderfully uniform and exact original geometry and teeth, and the
resharpened ones when they come back, having been hand sharpened usually,=
are no
longer as exact as they were when new. Also, the resharpened burs =
generally
come back with a considerably coarser tooth size than what's done =
originally,
also making them less useful as resharpened burs.

In a pinch, you can often resharpen some burs yourself too, using a fine
seperating disk or adalox moores disk or the like, to touch up the =
cutting edges
of a bur. Works best with larger sized burs with a coarse tooth =
structure, such
as many of the larger high speed steel burs. The services that do it for=
you
generally use a fine grit diamond wheel. Sometimes it's done "freehand",=
other
times it's with a cutting jig similar to what would have been originally =
used on
the new bur. Depends on the bur shape and size, and the individual =
sharpening
services.

And sometimes, some of the carbon steel burs, especially those with =
larger
teeth, and if only slightly dull, can be given a sort of partially =
effective
sharpening with just an acid etch, in the same way as some people =
occasionally
try to sharpen a file. As with files, the resulting teeth are not as =
strong as
those on a newly cut file or bur, so it dulls again quickly, but it costs=
little
to try, should you be inclinded to do so.

If you want to simply have them resharpened, most of the major tools =
dealers who
sell the burs, can also arrange for resharpening service on your burs. =
I'm not
aware of any one such service that's any better than any other, but there=
may be
such...

Peter Rowe. =20