Sharpening ice auger blades

So im planning on getting a hand ice auger with a drill adapter to use for ice fishing as i would prefer that over gas, however my main issue with buying a auger is the blades. Ive owned several pre owned augers and almost all of them have failed me and wanted me to quit fishing all together. Now im without a auger entirely. My main question is how can i know weather my blades are sharp before i get on the ice. How do i sharpen them? I have looked up videos on Youtube but cant really find anything that doesnt use a belt sander or angle grinder. I know its a simple question but I figured i might as well ask.

Run to the lake and just try them out. If they are dull then sharpen them. If not your good to go. You can sharpen them on your own. But if your not set up or skilled then some bait shops will do it for 15 or 20 bucks. Or buy new blades. It’s not all that often that you need to do it. So if you have to buy new blades they will be good for a few years. Mine have been drilling for 4 years. So far. I bet 4 to 5 thousand holes

Bearcat89 wrote:

Run to the lake and just try them out. If they are dull then sharpen them. If not your good to go. You can sharpen them on your own. But if your not set up or skilled then some bait shops will do it for 15 or 20 bucks. Or buy new blades. It’s not all that often that you need to do it. So if you have to buy new blades they will be good for a few years. Mine have been drilling for 4 years. So far. I bet 4 to 5 thousand holes

Really? I bought a new pair for a hand auger last year and after a few holes they were tore up with a bunch of burs on the end. They were made by Eskimo.

Kdrill will sharpen the blades for free.

Really? I bought a new pair for a hand auger last year and after a few holes they were tore up with a bunch of burs on the end. They were made by Eskimo.
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I run a strikemaster lazer hand auger 5 and 6 inch on my drill and I’ve never even thought about sharpening them. Plus my 7 or 8 year old strikemaster 2 stroke auger I did 1 blade swap on. I can’t speak for eskimo blades. It does ruin them if your banging them all over and say hit sticks rocks or really bad dirty ice. But honestly I’ve always put my stuff through hell and back. If I only got a season out of something then I wouldn’t ever buy that same item again. I have had bad luck back in the day with the old blue mora auger blades. But that’s why I switched to a lazer and have been thoroughly impressed. It’s a great hand auger on my hilti drill