Somebody's finally figured out a practical, low-cost way to put sharp, new teeth into worn serrated sickle blade sections.

That "somebody" is Texas farmer Randy Henson, of Wheeler, who began experimenting with resharpened combine sickles about five years ago. He's perfected and is now going public with two commercial models (patents pending). To get them introduced, he's making an offer he hopes many FARM SHOW readers will find hard to refuse:

"Mail me 20 worn serrated sections and I'll sharpen them free and even pay the postage to send them back. All I ask is that you test the resharpened blades against brand new factory-made blades so you can see for yourself how old blades with new teeth will outwear brand new ones."

Henson is offering a one-disc, hand-held grinder that grinds one tooth at a time and can be used to sharpen individual sections without removing them from the sickle, and a stationary seven-disc model that cuts in seven new teeth per bite and requires that individual sections be removed from the sickle for sharpening.

"Our experience indicates that cutting in 14 new teeth per side works best for combine sickle sections. That's half as many teeth as you get with factory-made sections but the teeth we cut in are deeper. Once you get the hang of it, you can grind in a new set of 28 teeth per blade at the rate of one blade per minute using the stationary or hand-held model," Henson points out.

Here, according to his calculations, is how the economics of do-it-yourself sickle sharpening pencils out:

"A new 24 ft. sickle for a Deere 6620 contains 94 serrated sections or blades. Instead of throwing it away when worn out, you can sharpen all 94 sections with our hand-held, high-speed grinder equipped a single 4-in. cutting disk that costs very little and is readily available at most local welding shops. It pencils out to mere cents per section to resharpen, versus almost dollars per section to buy new. The resharpened sickle will outwear a new one, plus you can sharpen it a second time with another cutting disk for still more wear."