Sharpening Nirvana!

[Colonel26]

A couple of months ago I bought one of the Harbor Freight belt sanders. It's sat in the floor for a couple of months until I could get some belts. The other day I bit the bullet and bought one of the leather belts.


Wow! I love it! It's the best piece of sharpening equipment I've ever used. This is awesome. I wish I'd discovered it years ago.

[rexstubbins]

Hey Colonel,

Did you buy the belt at Harbor Freight? The one by me doesn't have leather belts.

[Colonel26]

Rex I bought my leather belt off eBay. It's surgisharp or some such name. Just search for 1x30 stropping belt.

I need some appropriate sanding belts I know, but this leather belt took knives that were dull all the way to sharp really fast.

I did take a lick or two on the steel to knock off the burr after using the belt. It made them hair popping sharp.

I bought the leather belt first since it's the most expensive, something like $24 I believe. I'll pick up the cheaper sanding belts after Christmas.

[singin46]

Good to know and thx for the update!

[gino]

Any pics? It sounds cool!

[glennbad]

Is that one of those 1 x 30"? I have 3 that I use in my workshop for my knife work. I've never tried them for sharpening though.

[Colonel26]

It is a 1x30. It does a great job too. The only problem is, now all my knives are sharp and I don't know what I'm going to do for fun now!

Like I said, I didn't get the sand paper belts yet, only the leather strop. I did that for a couple different reasons. 1) Cost. I went ahead and got the most expensive one first. 2) All my users are fairly sharp when "dull" I can't abide a dull knife. So I didn't have any bevels to set, just touch up. 3) I wanted to work on my technique with something that isn't going to take off a bunch of metal!

I did play around with different positions on the belt. I found that if I held the blade more toward the edge of the belt that it sharpened better leaving a pretty sharp toothy edge. Then I could hold more toward the middle and hone it up.

This does a great job of polishing the edge, and it will define the bevel really well. But I do use the steel for a couple passes just to knick off the little bit of bur this does leave.

I have an old a Camillus 69 that had the factory, although very blunted, edge on it when I got it. The sheepsfoot blade on these has some major, um what's the word for the offset twisting thing they do to fit the blades...... I had done everything I knew to sharpen it, but right toward the end I could not get the bevel right. But with this set up its now just right.

Here's a pic, excuse the junk in the background. I had sharpened about 15 knives, and took the belt loose when I took the pic. You don't want to leave the leather belt on because it will stretch. So I took it off one pulley.

[basser5]

I have the same set up and love it

Was your belt hard to get on? Mine was a bear!

[jerryd6818]

The sheepsfoot blade on these has some major, um what's the word for the offset twisting thing they do to fit the blades......

Cuz -- I think the word you're searching for is "crink".

Someone has gone from tipping cows to tipping your pictures. Here ya go.
Are you using some kind of polishing compound on the belt?

[orvet]

I have a 42 X 1" Delta belt sander I have used for years in sharpening.
The best belts I have found are 150 grit Norton ceramic belts from Jantz Supply.
http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/857.htm

I sharpen with the belts and polish the edge with a 6" leather wheel, called a Pow’r Strop, on a small bench grinder.
It is quick and gives a super edge to the blades.
Same technique you use, but slightly different equipment.

[Colonel26]

Thanks guys.

Cuz I used the white polishing compound that came with the belt.

Basser, mine went on just fine. I didn't have any problems at all.

Dale I'd love to have one of those old Deltas, but have you seen the prices one them? Whoa, and for old used ones too. If i get to sharpening a whole lot I'll probably get one of those Kalamazoo grinders with the baldor motor.

So you only use 150 grit? Nothing less aggressive? I'll have to look into that! Thanks for the heads up!

[orvet]

Dale I'd love to have one of those old Deltas, but have you seen the prices one them? Whoa, and for old used ones too. If i get to sharpening a whole lot I'll probably get one of those Kalamazoo grinders with the baldor motor.

I bought mine new about 2005 or 2006. I think I only paid $130 for it. It was well worth twice that IMO! The 12” longer belt on the 1 X 42 makes the belts last much longer.
You might look at a Grizzly: http://www.grizzly.com/products/1-X-42- ... nder/H8192


If you want a 2 X 72 belt sander, Grizzly makes a pretty decent one. I think I paid just a little under $400 on sale, including shipping, but that was 4 or 5 years ago.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Knife-B ... ffer/G1015

Those Baldor motors are the BEST! But you can buy a Brizzly 2 X 72 for the price of one Baldor motor.
If I was making a living by making knives then Baldor would be all I would have, but as a part time, hobbyist knife mechanic, I cannot justify the capitol outlay for all Baldor equipment.

So you only use 150 grit? Nothing less aggressive? I'll have to look into that! Thanks for the heads up!

150 is as aggressive as I go in sharpening, unless I have to remove a LOT of metal, then sometimes I use a 120 on an ax, machete, or lawn mower blade. But that is only if I need to remove a lot of metal. The less metal removed in sharpening the better, IMO. No point in grinding the blade away if you don’t have to.

Be sure to change your belts frequently, as a dull belt will generate a lot of heat when removing the same amount of metal as a sharp blade. You can definitely mess up the blade temper with a belt sander if you don’t keep the blade moving fairly fast.
On small blades and blades I want a nice fine edge, I will go even finer and use a 220 grit Norton ceramic belt.

Hope this helps.

[Colonel26]

Oh, I understand why you wouldn't go below 150 in grit. I just assumed that some of the less aggressive grits might be less likely to mess things up. But I see your point about building up heat.

I showed my dad a couple of edges I'd done today. He was right impressed.