In this episode, Jesse explains, why some clipper blades drag. He explains secrets of good sharpening service and how to maintain your clipper blades sharp.
Show Notes
In this episode, Jesse explains, why some clipper blades drag.
If you've been using the same blades for months—especially pre-shaves—they're probably dull and will drag fur. It's unavoidable.
If your blades were recently sharpened, check your blade drive or lever. Andis, heiniger, or osterbolt. Wahl and A6 models. Check their condition.
I recommend every 4-6 weeks with andis. Everyone else, every 2-3 months. They just a few bucks and prevent many problems.
Having sharpened blades and a competent blade drive or lever. I examine oil next. If the blade isn't oiled regularly, it will heat up, seize, and not cut hair fast enough.
If you've been oiling your blade a lot and it's still not doing that, check tension. You can push your cutter blade out with your thumb. It shouldn't hurt your thumb or side out easily.
If it slides out easily, it presumably lacked tension and dragged. If you can't move it, it's usually over-tensioned, causing friction and seizing up.
If your blade tension, lever, sharpening, and oiling are good, Hinge next.
Any hinge that you can open with your fingernails is worn out and has to be replaced. It drags because it's not keeping the blades securely against the clipper.
Also tighten hinge screws. The screws often back out, causing the clipper to drag.
Those are some other reasons your blades may drag.
What is Sharp Edges Oklahoma?
Say hello to the Sharpening Specialist.
My name is Jessie Jaggers, and I own and operate Sharp Edges. My family owned a grooming salon and boarding facility in a rural community and couldn't find a sharpener to service their equipment, so I started this business in 2017.
Good afternoon groomers,
This is Jessie with Sharp Edges in Oklahoma.
And today I want to talk about a question that I see posted in the grooming forms a lot.
And that is… Why do my blades drag?
Well, let’s start with the most obvious answer: They’re dull
You’ve been using the same blades for several months especially during pre-shaves then chances are they’re dull and a dull blade will drag fur. It’s just no getting around it.
If your blades had been recently sharpened, I would look at your blade drive or blade lever. This is the andis or this is the heiniger or osterbolt. This is also A6 and wahl models. Make sure those are in good shape.
I recommend with the andis every 4-6 weeks. Everybody else I recommend every 2-3 months. They’re just a few dollars and they save you a lot of headaches.
If your blades had been sharpened and you know you got a good blade drive or blade lever on there. The next thing I look at is oil. If the blade isn’t being oiled regularly, it will get hot, it will seize up, it won’t make a fast enough stroke to cut the hair.
If you know you’ve been oiling your blade a lot plenty and it’s still not doing that, I would look at tension. You should be able to take your cutter blade and push it out to the side with your thumb. Shouldn’t really hurt your thumb but it shouldn’t side out super easy.
If it does slide out super easy, it probably didn’t have enough tension which will cause it to drag. Or if you can’t move it at all it’s probably over-tensioned which is causing higher friction it’ll cause it to seize up and not make a full stroke to cut the hair.
If the tension on your blade is good, and the blade lever is good, and you’ve had the blade sharpened, and you’ve been oiling it. The next thing I would look at is the hinge.
Take your hinge - any kind of hinge - and if it’s closed and you can open it at all with your fingernails, it’s wore out time to replace it. That means it’s not holding the blades securely against the clipper which will cause it to drag here.
Also make sure your screws are tight on your hinge. A lot of times the screws will back out and once again it’s not holding the blades properly on the clipper which will cause it to drag.
Anyways, those are the few other reasons that your blades may be dragging.