clipper blades

[Ginny Nightingale]

Hi all! I have been grooming my two doodles and a few other "customers" with an Andis two speed clipper with a #10 ultraedge blade and combs of various lengths. I know that I need to invest now in more blades, but I was just getting started so I only purchased a #10 and a #7. My question is--do these blades get dull pretty quickly? I have probably used the #10 blade less than 20 times, but it seems to be dull now. I do bathe the dogs after the cut and someone suggested that the blades may be getting dull because of dirt on the coat. I may just need to clean them more thoroughly. If that doesn't help, how does one get a blade sharpened?

I am ordering some ceramic edge blades in other sizes and hopefully I will start to get the hang of all of this soon! Here is one of my happy customers before and after--this guy had the thickest, softest coat I have ever seen and grooming took almost 5 hours! 

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

Nice grooming job! The pup looks like an ALD that could be related to Simon. :-) I have just started doing my own total grooming, so sadly, I am no use to answer your question. Just wanted to compliment the nice cut and cute pup. :-)

[Ginny Nightingale]

Thanks--he is an American Multigen and is the dad to my dog Lyric who just had a litter this winter. They do look alike though!! Seems like we are getting a pretty consistent doodle appearance sometimes. Here is Zampe,my nieghbor's goldendoodle who is an F1b (GD crossed back with a poodle) She looks a lot like your Simon too!

And here is Lyric (with her litter), who is the daughter of the doodle I groomed but has an ALD mom.

And I get to groom them all! 

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

To keep grooming equipment in top shape, the rule is to work on only clean coats. BUT, I have found that scissoring first, brushing second and washing last gets the best look. This is hard on the blades and scissors and the result it extra sharpenning. 20 haircuts is a lot for a blade. Especially on an unwashed coat. I don't usually use my clipper on unwashed coats. I do standard grooming of brush/comb, wash, table dry and shave. I do this mostly because I wouldn't be able to get a blade thru many of my dogs' coats without the traditional preparation.

To get the best sharpening, I have to mail my blades to professional. I recently found some cutters that are the same cost as the sharpening so I am considering just buying the cutters instead of sharpening. I will need to try this out first before I decide.

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I use scissors and have Gators by Ed Geib. After half of Calla's unwashed coat, the thickest on the planet, the scissors are already getting dull.

[Bonnie and Kona]

He's adorable! Great job.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

wow, great job!  I will be interested in hearing what everyone has to say about the blades because I have the same questions.  I also use the same clippers.  So are ceramic blades supposed to be better?  I always use a #10 with comb attachments

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

What a beautiful coat he has.  You certainly did a wonderful job.

[Aimee Santa Monica]

Great job on the trimmings!  Looks nice! I 've been a professional hair stylist for 16  yrs and i'm excited (to learn)  to do my first all over trimming of my 2 pups!   I usually keep my clippers in top shape by using a clipper wash (you spray it on & it also disinfects blades) and i am often taking apart my clipper blades to clean off any hair that may be stuck inside. Then i go over the blades with clipper oil.  

 I hope to get a new clipper set and try my first all over cut on Storm & Ayla in the next week.

[Kate C Pappas]

Beautiful grooming job!!