This post came out of a desire to solve my own problem. I have some Oster Fast Feed hair clippers, and the blades became dull after a while. I spent $50+ on these clippers, so I wasn’t about to throw them away. They sell replacement blades, but at almost $20 they seemed awful expensive. I wanted to figure out how to sharpen the existing blades.
After spending half an hour combing through the dregs of YouTube and Google I had yet to find a simple, no B.S. article on how to sharpen hair clippers written by someone who actually knew what they were talking about. Plenty of shill sites were willing to serenade you with articles barely written in English, and plenty of people on YouTube were willing to fumble around for 10-20 minutes trying to explain this simple process. Neither of those experiences left me feeling good.
Eventually I was able to figure it out, and I wanted to pay it forward by putting together this quick guide.
So I apologize to my regular readers if this is outside our normal programming, but the article does involve sharpening things, and Japanese water stones, so it sort of fits the theme of the site. Maybe you will find it useful or mildly entertaining. And don’t worry, I won’t be reviewing hair clippers any time soon…
Without further adieu, I present my no-nonsense guide to sharpening hair clippers:
What You Will Need
You won’t need much to sharpen your clippers. Here’s a bulleted list so you don’t forget anything:
- Some Dull Hair Clippers; (In this article I sharpen a set of Oster Fast Feed clippers.)
- A Phillips Screw Driver;
- A Cleaning Brush;
- A Bench Stone; (I use King Whetstones, but any set will do.)
- Clipper Oil; and
- A Rag.
The most important piece of equipment will be your sharpening stone. I used Japanese water stones, because those are the bench stones I have, but you could easily substitute in a diamond stone or Arkansas stone. Heck, you may even be able to use super fine wet sandpaper.
I will say that the water stones work great for this. I have a set of King 1000 grit and 6000 grit stones and they are perfect for the job. If you use water stones like I did, you obviously need to soak them before you start. If you have a diamond or Arkansas stone you may want to hit them up with a little lubricant before starting.
Disassemble Your Clippers
Now that you have everything you need to get the job done, carefully take your clippers apart with a Phillips screw driver. There are 2 blades to a set of clippers, so pull those both off and clean them. Now would also be a great time to clean out your clippers with a brush.
Sharpen the Blades
You will want to sharpen the flats of both the top and bottom blade. This is easy to do, and is much easier than sharpening a knife. The arrows in this picture point to the flats I am talking about:
The trick is to lay the blade flat on the stone, and run the blades back and forth along the stone with gentle pressure. It should not take much to sharpen your blades. I would suggest 10 passes along the stone.
Make sure you keep the flats of the blades flat on the stone. The only way to screw this up is if you don’t keep the blades flat. Some people use a magnet as a handle. That’s a next level clipper sharpening move. I’m not that sophisticated. Thankfully if you don’t have a special magnet your thumbs and index fingers will work fine.
I sharpened my blades on my 1000 grit stone, and then polished them on the 6000 grit stone because I had it handy. I don’t think you need a super fine stone to get a decent result, but it doesn’t hurt.
It should take only a minute or 2 to sharpen the blades. I ended up taking 5 minutes because I was trying to snap some pictures while I sharpened. The actual sharpening is super easy.
Clean and Oil the Blades
Once you have sharpened your blades you will want to clean and oil them prior to reassembly. I used a little soap and water to clean my blades, but rubbing alcohol wouldn’t hurt. I then oiled my blades down to prevent rust, and blotted away the excess oil.
Reassemble Your Clippers
This is probably the trickiest part of the process. When you reassemble your clippers you will want to take the time to make sure you have the blades lined up properly. The blades are sharp so be careful.
I don’t tighten the blades down all the way until I am sure I have everything adjusted the way I want. Once you have your blades dialed in add a drop of oil to the blades, and then fire up your clippers before you start cutting hair to make sure everything was put back together properly.
Sharpening Hair Clippers – Final Thoughts
Cutting hair with dull clipper blades is no fun. They don’t cut cleanly, and will sometimes pull hair. It’s just like trying to use a dull knife. I use my clippers once a week or so, and end up sharpening about once a year. I’d be curious to hear how often professional barbers sharpen their clippers.
I hope this article helps some people. Don’t be intimidated by this if you are new to sharpening things. Sharpening clippers is easy to do and you will immediately be able to tell the difference after sharpening.
A good bench stone will make a big difference here. You want something that won’t move while you are trying to sharpen, and a stone that is wide enough to accommodate your clippers. If you don’t already have a good bench stone, I’d recommend the investment. The King stones I used in this article are inexpensive, and they will last most people a lifetime. Plus, if you learn how to freehand sharpen you can also use the stones for your kitchen and pocket knives.
Reed says
May 17, 2017 at 5:58 pmGood job. I had the same problem and experience recently trying to sharpen the blades on my pet trimmers. Ultimately sent them out for service because I couldn’t find a clear explanation of all parts that needed to be sharpened. This helps tremendously.
Dan says
May 17, 2017 at 6:04 pmThank you, Reed. I am very glad to hear this article was helpful. It has been sitting in my “drafts” folder since 2016.
Dan
June says
August 17, 2017 at 5:01 amGreat information. I will try it. Thanks
Mark says
May 19, 2017 at 1:01 pmVery nice. I think I have the same Oster clippers. Mine are about 17 yrs old, and I sharpen them every few years, but I only use them once a month or so.
Dan says
May 20, 2017 at 7:33 amThank you, Mark!
Dan
Andrew McCormick says
May 24, 2017 at 4:57 amCome to think of it hair clipper reviews wouldn’t be too out of place for a website called bladereviews…
Dan says
May 24, 2017 at 5:14 pmCareful what you wish for…
Rob says
June 20, 2017 at 11:09 amDon’t forget to use a scale to ensure you have the proper tension on the blades after they are assembled. Set the blade to 3-4 lbs before the blade begins to move across the comb. This can be done on a kitchen scale or a fish scale.
Becky Veal says
August 6, 2017 at 7:47 pmThank you for this. I have two long hair dogs to trim and after a few uses my clippers started pulling more than trimming. So…. hopefully now I can trim and not pull!!!
Dan says
August 8, 2017 at 4:44 amBecky,
I am glad this article has proven to be useful! Sharpening clipper blades isn’t that hard if you have a decent whetstone. Cheers!
Dan
fredo says
January 5, 2018 at 12:00 pmthanks for the info! according to this page: http://coolmenshair.com/2011/10/sharpen-hair-clipper-blades.html the blades will sharpen themselves if you clean them and run them for 5 mins. Any thoughts on this?
Dan says
January 5, 2018 at 7:06 pmFredo, It’s worth a shot, but I keep my clippers cleaned and oiled and they eventually go dull requiring me to sharpen the blades as I’ve described.
Best,
Dan
Nancy says
June 30, 2018 at 11:52 amI’m a bit confused…..in the paragraph “Sharpen the Blades”….you have a pic of both blades with arrows showing where to sharpen……one arrow is showing the back of the blade by the screw holes?? Don’t you just sharpen the cutting edges of both blades? Oil or no oil on the whetstone? Thanks
Dan says
June 30, 2018 at 1:50 pmHi Nancy,
You want to sharpen both parts of the blade, otherwise it won’t work. Hard for me to explain in writing, but both of those flat pieces need to be kept at the same thickness, and if you only sharpen one of those flat parts you are going to ultimately going to throw things off balance and eventually the clippers won’t cut right.
Regarding the oil question: It depends on the kind of sharpening stone you use. I used a waterstone, so for that kind of stone you definitely don’t use water. If you are using an Arkansas stone or something else that requires oil then by all means use oil.
Dan
Connie says
January 2, 2019 at 11:11 pmWhere do I buy the stone ? Great article. Can’t wait to try it.
ThAnk you !
Dan Jackson says
January 3, 2019 at 7:44 amConnie, I use King water stones. Here is a link to a basic set that will work fine for clippers.
Dan
Paul says
January 26, 2019 at 6:33 pmExcellent article. I have some Oster and Andis T-84 wide clipper blades that I use on a horse and dog. The blades stop cutting and were pulling the hair. I used the above method with the fine side of a DMT diamond sharpening stone which is perfectly flat. Now the blades cut hair like a hot knife through butter. Thanks for the sharpening tip!
Dan Jackson says
January 27, 2019 at 10:18 amPaul, Thanks for taking the time out to leave a comment. I am happy you found the article to helpful!
Dan
Cynthia says
January 30, 2019 at 10:56 amYour article is easy to understand and to the point. I groom my own 4 poodles so I really wanted to sharpen my own blades.
I purchased a set of Norton Waterstones, 200/1000, 4000/8000. I sharpened exactly like your directions say to do. None of my 4 blades will cut hair now. I saw a video saying to sharpen them side to side so I tried that and it helped but no where near good enough to get the job done.
Now I’m thinking I better just buy 4 new blades till I can find out what I need to do to make these blades cut hair again. Very frustrated.
Dan Jackson says
January 30, 2019 at 2:56 pmHi Cynthia,
I am sorry this method did not work for you. Were these stainless steel clipper blades? They won’t work on ceramics. Yes, you can also sharpen side to side, and some people even swirl the blades around in a circle. I find the back and forth method works best for me.
And at some point after multiple sharpenings the clipper blades wear down to the point where they will no longer work. At that point you have to replace the blades. But I was able to sharpen my clipper blades several times before they wore down to the point where they no longer made contact and cut properly. I find it doesn’t take much to sharpen them. I probably was a little overzealous when I first started and sharpened away more metal than I needed to. Best to start with a light touch.
Dan
DEAN MILLER says
March 11, 2019 at 11:12 amDan,
Can you explain why stainless steel will not work on ceramic stones?
Dan Jackson says
March 11, 2019 at 7:34 pmDean, I should clarify my comment to say that these sharpening instructions will not work for ceramic clipper blades, and this guide is only for sharpening steel clipper blades only. If you want to sharpen clipper blades made of ceramic you probably need to consult with a professional of some sort.
You can use a ceramic sharpening stone to sharpen steel clipper blades no problem. Sorry for any confusion.
Dan
highclass says
February 26, 2019 at 9:03 ami need good stone to sharp blade
Dan Jackson says
February 26, 2019 at 9:38 pmI recommend a couple in the article. If you are new to sharpening any basic stone will do. I used some water stones in the example, but ceramic, Arkansas, or diamond stones will all work.
Dan
Paul says
February 27, 2019 at 7:17 amCynthia, assuming you have the type of blade that completely removes from the clipper as a set like for an Oster A5, following sharpening, you need to make sure that there’s proper tension on the bottom blade and that the bottom blade is properly aligned with the top blade. There are various videos on YouTube explaining how to set the tension and the alignment, both are easy to do. Thanks.