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Belt grinder for sharpening

A

Alex Ku

Joined
Nov 24, 2008
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Location
San Francisco,CA
I am using belt grinder for sharpening. Is there are anyone on this forum who does the same? I am surprised that more people are not using belt grinders. For me a belt grinder makes sharpening easier and gives better result. It does not need wheel dressing or truing. You can get belts in any grit possible. Belt changing takes 5 seconds. You can even get a leather belt and load it with compound for polishing.

Here is some interesting articles on belt grinders:

http://sharpenit.blogspot.com/2007/12/using-tormek-jigs-with-2-x-72-belt.html
http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpen/beltsander.html
 
Alex I guess there are many people out there and of course Robert Sorby market a purpose built Belt Sander for Tool Sharpening.

I have used mine for many years and along with a number of Jigs I have made find it the method of choice for many [not all] of my tools.

Details can be found in the Hints and Tips Pages of my web site on how I adapted a relatively inexpensive Belt Sander.

Richard
http://www.laymar-crafts.co.uk
 
I did it for a while. I used my 3" belt sander laying on it's back. Then I used disc sander for a while. Frank Sudol used a strip sander when I took a class from him. I have wanted to try a strip sander but just haven't set one up.
The problem I had with sanders is the sanding belt wears out quickly. Of course this was before the cubic zirconium belts. Also it can be very easy to get a convex grind instead of flat. Since some people are now advocating convex grinds for some tools the belt would be a good choice.
On hint. If you use a standard belt sander for sharpening, take the dust collection bag off. The sparks burned little holes in my bag. It was one of those things that was blatantly obvious when it happened and you couldn't believe you didn't think of this first.
 
I only use a belt sander (stationary) to knock-of the sharp edges on the shanks of new turning tools so they are more comfortable in the hand and don't have as much of a tendency to dig-in to the tool rest. You only have to do this once in the life of the tool. Otherwise, I don't see the advantage of using a belt sander over a grinder to sharpen the cutting edge; I don't think that the ability to change grits easily is an important factor. The cutting effect between 100 grit and 150 grit would be very subtle. I'd rather sharpen on wheels as a more time efficient way to get the mundane but important job of sharpening done as efficiently as possible.

Rob Wallace
 
One reason I'm looking at belt sanding to sharpen is the reduced dust. I get an awful lot of dangerous dust from the friable wheels on my grinder. I have planned to add a small shop vac to my grinder to catch this dust but haven't take the time to build it yet.
I don't seem to get the same amount of dust when grinding metal on my 2" belt sander. I would try to use this for sharpening except I would have to redo all the tool rest and stuff since I also use this for a lot of wooden shaping I don't want to dedicate it to sharpening.
I have drawn up some plans to build a 1" strip sander just haven't had time to even think about building that yet. Maybe this spring when I can spend more time in the shop.
 
Belt sanders can move some major metal. I use them for the mower and brush hog. I have become so accustomed to sharpening on the wheel now that I probably won't ever go back. When I experimented with a belt it was in the bad old days of overlap joints, and it was not fun. with flat joints, it's a lot more comfortable. You still have to maintain good tension and not press, because it can compress the tensioner spring and ruin your day. Easier to avoid trouble with the belt moving away, of course, which leaves a lot of the old machines out of the picture.

I don't think I would suck up hot shards and sparks into a vacuum. Never seen even anecdotal evidence of dust explosions in ungrounded hoses, but have read a few on smoldering dust from using the DC on the grinder.
 
Rob Wallace said:
I don't think that the ability to change grits easily is an important factor. The cutting effect between 100 grit and 150 grit would be very subtle.
Rob Wallace
Click to expand...

I agree changing grid between 100 and 150 is pointless.
But ability to change from 40 grid to 3000 grid in 5 sec. is a huge deal

Rob Wallace said:
I'd rather sharpen on wheels as a more time efficient way to get the mundane but important job of sharpening done as efficiently as possible.
Rob Wallace
Click to expand...

Why do you think sharpening on wheels is more time efficient? Removing wheel deglazing and truing only speeds up the process.

As for speed of removing metal on belt sander look at this video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYllaxuzMk0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy_guBBaUTU
 
I don't have anything as sophisticated as the KMG belt sander and Santa ain't that generous in my neighborhood but I do use my regular stationary belt sander to sharpen (touch up) some of my lathe tools. It took a while to get the jig(s) just right but with a very fine grit paper I find I can touch up an edge quickly (when the diamond hone isn't quite enough to to the job) so I can get back to work and it doesn't take off as much metal as a grinder sharpening wheel.
 
john lucas said:
Also it can be very easy to get a convex grind instead of flat. Since some people are now advocating convex grinds for some tools the belt would be a good choice.
Click to expand...

Hello John.......

I wonder if you might take the time to explain this a little further for us......thanks. Are you talking about a grind that would be the opposite of a "hollow grind"?

otis of cologne
 
Exactly, convex, not concave or flat. Eli Avisera advocates a convex skew and so does Jimmy Clewes. I've tried it and find it harder to use on beads but I'm going to give it another try. They both seem to thinks it's easier for beginners.
Johannes Michelson uses a convex grind on his spindle gouge to turn his hats. There is a video on youtube showing how he sharpens the grind. I haven't tried this one yet but I've been thinking about ordering a new gouge from Doug Thompson and sharpening it this way just to see. Doug makes the gouges for Johannes.
I could not find his video. Youtube searches are not very good. Hopefully someone else will post it.
Russ Fairfield has also suggested using a convex grind for doing the interior of bowls. I haven't tried that yet but have tried a very short bevel like Jimmy Clewes teaches for bowl insides. It works well.
 
Here's the YouTube link the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wevTPeJoOrs

John, you may have missed locating him in a search because of a misspelling in his name -- Michelsen. not Michelson 😉

Love the grind, love the tools because they use Doug's steel, and the handles really are ergonomically designed to fit properly in your hand, AND make sure that you are holding it so that the flute is facing in the right direction. I use his gouge on all bowl work, and reground all my v-shape fluted bowl gouges to his grind.

I can see that it would be very easy to obtain the convex grind similar to Hannes's grind using a belt for sharpening. Peter Bloch, who turns lamp shades, sharpens his tools on the belt system, and his grind is very similar to Hannes', i.e., rounded bevel.
 
Some clarifications for people who are not familiar with belt grinders.

Sanding belt is tensioned between who rubber wheels. The straight part of the belt between wheels is supported by flat piece of steel behind the belt so when you press against belt it stays flat.

This is good for flat and convex grinding. If you can remove that flat piece of steel from behind your belt belt will slack when you press against it. Hoh much depends on how much your belt is tensioned.

Note that it's naturally hard to make a convex(lens) grind on a wheel(which want to make a hollow grind) and way easier on belt grinder with slacking belt.
 
The platen on my strip sander is kind of short so I just use the area above the platen. This usually has enough slack to sand rounded parts. I would guess it would work for convex grinds as well.
 
john lucas said:
The platen on my strip sander is kind of short so I just use the area above the platen. This usually has enough slack to sand rounded parts. I would guess it would work for convex grinds as well.
Click to expand...

I've used a hand-held belt sander this way on steel pipes, for at least two different grits. It seems to provide a more aggressive cut for coarse, and a better distribution of polishing for fine, IIRC. Could be dependent on the grits themselves, of course.

Joe
 
WOW. I have a lot of tools and I never thought to try my table top belt sander to sharpen those pesky skews. I never could get a flat grind with the Wolverine. I love it for bowl gouges. In a matter of minutes I had all my flat tools sharpeden to perfection. Thanks for the idea. I have welders, ginders and metal working tools but I had not thought of using the belt sander for a perfect sharpening. I will use it next on my wood chisles.
 
Wood chisels aren't made of high speed steel so be careful and keep them cool. You can burn a thin edge really quickly.
 
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