john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
When I first started turning all I had to sharpen with was a disc sander. It actually worked really well. I had carbon steel tools. I could move the tool toward the centers where the surface speed was slower and sharpen without burning the tools. As my skills got better I could move out and sharpen faster.
Then I turned my 3" belt sander upside down and tried using that. Worked great except that I didn't take the cloth dust collector bag off. It now has about a dozen small burned holes in it. Fortunately you can patch those with silicone caulking.
I took a weekend class with Frank Sudol and he used a 1" belt sander with a worn out 400 grit belt. It worked for Frank. I had a very hard time getting up to the edge because I couldn't feel when I was on the bevel. I ended up rounding my bevel pretty bad over the weekend trying to get it sharp. I know my skills are better now so I should probably try that again. Maybe with a little course belt at first.
I know Sorby has a new belt sharpening system and I saw a much less expensive system made from a modified Harbour Freight style belt sander at the Hartford symposium. These look like a good way to go.
Knife makers all use belts to both shape and sharpen knives. These are very expensive. The cheapest I can find is Grizzley at about $475. The better machines run $700 to $1000 or more.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a belt system?
Obviously the easy of changing grits is a plus. You could go from 60 grit all the way to a leather strop with just a 15 second or so swap of belts.
I would think belt life and expense might be an issue. Of course on a grinder the wheel wears so you need to compensate for the size if you are using jigs. On a belt sander the "wheel" or platen would never change so your jig settings would remain constant. Wheels typically cost from about $30 to $60. You can buy quite a few belts for that much.
Belts run cooler although they will still heat up a piece of metal in a hurry as I found out one day when grinding copper without gloves on. Man does that heat travel up the tube fast.
Depending on where you sharpen on a belt sander you could have a flat bevel instead of concave. Is this an advantage or disadvantage? With very short bevels like some people use nowadays this might not be an issue at all. In fact some like convex bevels like Johannes Michelson's grind. I believe his could be sharpened just as well on a belt.
Then I turned my 3" belt sander upside down and tried using that. Worked great except that I didn't take the cloth dust collector bag off. It now has about a dozen small burned holes in it. Fortunately you can patch those with silicone caulking.
I took a weekend class with Frank Sudol and he used a 1" belt sander with a worn out 400 grit belt. It worked for Frank. I had a very hard time getting up to the edge because I couldn't feel when I was on the bevel. I ended up rounding my bevel pretty bad over the weekend trying to get it sharp. I know my skills are better now so I should probably try that again. Maybe with a little course belt at first.
I know Sorby has a new belt sharpening system and I saw a much less expensive system made from a modified Harbour Freight style belt sander at the Hartford symposium. These look like a good way to go.
Knife makers all use belts to both shape and sharpen knives. These are very expensive. The cheapest I can find is Grizzley at about $475. The better machines run $700 to $1000 or more.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a belt system?
Obviously the easy of changing grits is a plus. You could go from 60 grit all the way to a leather strop with just a 15 second or so swap of belts.
I would think belt life and expense might be an issue. Of course on a grinder the wheel wears so you need to compensate for the size if you are using jigs. On a belt sander the "wheel" or platen would never change so your jig settings would remain constant. Wheels typically cost from about $30 to $60. You can buy quite a few belts for that much.
Belts run cooler although they will still heat up a piece of metal in a hurry as I found out one day when grinding copper without gloves on. Man does that heat travel up the tube fast.
Depending on where you sharpen on a belt sander you could have a flat bevel instead of concave. Is this an advantage or disadvantage? With very short bevels like some people use nowadays this might not be an issue at all. In fact some like convex bevels like Johannes Michelson's grind. I believe his could be sharpened just as well on a belt.