Sharpening w/ 1" belt sander?

[cgallery]

Apparently a few sharpening experts suggest that a 1" belt sander is terrific for sharpening. Lee Valley has one w/o motor:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...84&cat=1,43072

($60 w/o motor and another $40 for a planer knife holder). Harbor Freight has this one:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=2485

And I noticed it seems to be the same as the Delta and Grizzley that are fairly decently rated on Amazon. And it comes w/ a motor.

So I'm thinking that the next time I have to sharpen my Inca knives that I may purchase it and make a little jig to position the knives on the table at the correct angle.

And in the mean time, I could use it for sharpening other stuff around the shop.

And I suppose it may come in handy for wood, too.

I wonder what the best deal I could get on it w/ all the Harbor Freight coupons that I see people posting here?

Any thoughts?

[John Hunter]

I have the HF one and use it all the time. I caught it on sale and used a 20% off coupon. I think I ended up getting it for around $23

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I have the HF one and use it all the time. I caught it on sale and used a 20% off coupon. I think I ended up getting it for around $23

Do you get belts at Harbor Freight, where they seem real cheap? Do you perform any sharpening with it? I can see myself using it for quite a few things. Does the motor bog down at all?

[John Hunter]

Do you get belts at Harbor Freight, where they seem real cheap? Do you perform any sharpening with it? I can see myself using it for quite a few things. Does the motor bog down at all?

It still has the original belt though i bought several spare ones from HF. I use it to sharpen all my turning tools and chisels, plus normal wood sanding. Motor bog down is no problem since you never use that much pressure when sharpening.

[final_t]

If you have an existing benchtop belt sander (Ryobi's belt/disk unit , or the Ridgid oscillating model), you can use that. Sam has a write up on using the Ryobi model, and I recall seeing a post about a angle holding block for the Ridgid.

[cgallery]

If you have an existing benchtop belt sander (Ryobi's belt/disk unit , or the Ridgid oscillating model), you can use that. Sam has a write up on using the Ryobi model, and I recall seeing a post about a angle holding block for the Ridgid.

I don't own one yet. The Harbor Freight model looked to be the least expensive, had the smallest foorprint (small shop), and they have a local store. Alas, they don't have any in stock at the local shop. So now I'm thinking of ordering the slightly more expensive Grizzly model, seeing as I've had better customer service from Grizzly on orders placed via the net.

Thanks,
Phil

P.S. I can't find the article by Sam or sharpening w/ a belt sander. Is it in the articles section or elsewhere?

[leehljp]

Occasionally you can find a 1 inch leather belt to use on the sander as a leather strop for really fine sharpening. The fine sanding belts do a good job, but for the best sharpening, honing and leather strops add that touch that make sharpening super fine.

I think Lee Valley has the leather belts but I am not poistive. WoodCraft might have them and they do take sharpening up a level.

[bigsteel15]

I think Lee Valley has the leather belts but I am not poistive. WoodCraft might have them and they do take sharpening up a level.

They do have them. Pricey but for razor sharp tools probably worth it.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...40&cat=1,43072

[scmhogg]

Phil,

I have the HF cheapie. It has done all I have asked of it. When you apply pressure to the belt it may throw the tracking off a little, that you have to adjust for.

I use my rigid OS for most sharpening. I stole Tom Millers brilliant jig.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...SANDER+SHAR%2A

In the June 2006 Lee Valley catalog they have SiC belts for 1" sanders in 15 Microns. They say, eqivilent to 1000 Japanese water stone. They also have AuO in 500 and 1200 grits. They are relatively inexpensive. $3.00 to $4.00 each. I am going to order some to try out.

They have the leather strop belts for $16.95. This seems steep. Ask your local shoemaker how much he would charge to stitch a couple up.

I have been using HF belts and, while I haven't done much fine work with them, they have held up pretty well.

As an aside, it seems to me that a 100 grit belt on a 4" belt sander gives a much smoother result than when on a hand block. I have used a fresh 150 on the belt sander and then used a fresh 180 on a block. Both in the direction of the grain. It seems that the 180 added scratches rather than reducing them. All sandpaper was the same grit series.

Steve