Claas automatic knife sharpener keeps forage wagons cutting efficiently

Derbyshire contractor Andrew Whitelaw has invested in a fully automatic wet grinding machine to sharpen the 360 knives used across his fleet of Strautmann forage wagons. Is it worth the investment?

Geoff Ashcroft

16 October 2026 • 6 min read

Image:

Andrew Whitelaw, left, with operators Adam Gregory and Ben Wager, and a fleet of four Strautmann Giga Vitesse 3601 forage wagons.

Armed with an angle grinder and a box of flap discs, most of us are perfectly capable of putting a sharp cutting edge on a knife. But when it comes to repeatedly sharpening multiple items to the same spec,...

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