Dull tooling never announces itself — it just asks the motor and the operator to push harder. Shops that schedule sharpening cut better than shops that wait for smoke.
Read the edge, not the calendar alone
Burn marks in cherry, fuzz in pine, chipping in melamine: each is a specific complaint. Log which blade did what and rotation intervals become obvious within a month.
Pitch is not dullness
Half of “dull” blades are just dirty. Resin baked onto carbide cuts like a butter knife; ten minutes in cleaner brings the edge back without grinding away tooth life.
Send cutters out in sets
A freshly ground blade beside a tired one moves the problem, not solves it. Rotate complete sets so the machine never mixes sharp and spent edges on the same cut.
Store edges like they cost money
Carbide chips against carbide in a drawer. Blades hang or sit in slotted blocks; router bits stand in drilled hardwood — the storage costs an offcut and saves a regrind.
