Sharpening Method

[John Fino]

I want to devote one of my belt sanders for sharpening my tools and build a jig for it. My question is if I use my Harbor Freight 4X36 Belt Sander, what would be the best grit to use assuming only one grit would be sufficient. I've been using a homemade 2X48 Belt Sander but 2" is too narrow for me. Before that I was using my 4X36 hand held Porter Cable mounted in a homemade stand. Am I wasting my time with a belt sander and should just bite the bullet on a cheap grinder?

John

 

[John Walls]

You get what you pay for. What do you call cheap? I bit the bullet, saved a while and picked up a Tormek. My arty ritus causes my hands to tremble a little so using a jig on the tool saves me from destroying my edges. If I used only a bench grinder, I would make sure I have good stones on it. More, experienced turners will reply soon.

 

[Richard Coers]

I wouldn't stay with one grit. I'd have one belt like a 60 grit for shaping the tool when new or changing bevel angles, then a 180 for quick touch ups.

 

[John Fino]

My Arthritus and Severe Nerve Damage is the reason the 2" Sander is too narrow. I don't work anymore and am on a very fixed budget so I need to be very selective with what I spend. I can do the 2 grits, I was just wondering what grit I would need once the bevel is established.

John

 

[john lucas]

I use a 220 grit on my strip sander although I have used much higher. Depends on your sharpening skills and whether or not you are using a jig. For hand sharpening it's best to use a slight courser grit because you may not set the tool exactly the same way each time and will need to remove more steel to guarantee you get a good edge. For that maybe 150 or 180. If you use a jig to sharpen you can easily get buy with 220 to 320.
I took a class with Frank Sudol many years ago and we hand sharpened. I was. Ot very good at sharpening back then. He used a worn out 400 grit that claimed cut more like 600. I had one hell.of a time getting a good edge.

 

[Glenn C Roberts]

http://www.truecreations.biz/files/Sharpening_Systems_Oct2012_AAW_Journal.pdf Scroll to page 31.

https://www.woodturner.org/common/Uploaded files/AmericanWoodturner/AW2010s/AW2706-2012.pdf His article on how to build it. Reversing the motor may be tricky, but I think Jim did a figure 8 with the drive belt which does the same thing, so the sanding belt moves away from the gouge edge. Jim is a professional turner.

 

[John Fino]

Great article! I am a retired Woodworker/ Carpenter and am very experienced with sharpening plane irons and chisels. I usually free hand touchups but I think I would like my wood turning tools to be mounted to a jig since I have no experience with them. I already have everything I need so I'll be giving this a shot.
Thanks Again, John

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Sorry if this is a bit off topic since I don't use sanding belts for sharpening

I'm using an inexpensive Rikon grinder with CBN wheels and jigs for sharpening. I'm very pleased with the results and the ability to keep tools sharp with minimal waste. Plus, I'll never have to change wheels and it saves me a bunch of time having the jigs pre-set for my gouges.

I did bite the bullet and add a second ($89) Rikon for chisels, skews and other "flat" tools and it's been a great boon. If you figure how easily you can add up the cost for gouges, skews and such - never mind a chuck or two - the cost of a couple of cheap grinders and wheels is money well spent in my opinion.

 

[John Fino]

Thanks for your input Mark but when I checked into that it was gonna run me a good 400 plus and I just can't see spending that kind of money for something that I would use just once in a while. The belt sander, sandpaper and any accessories and things and jigs Ialready have or I could make a. Wood turning is a new found hobby for me and I don't see it turning into anything too serious but if it does I can always upgrade later.
Thanks Again, John

 

[robo hippy]

Well, I have never used a belt sander. I would think the same advice would apply that I give for grinding wheels. 80 grit is fairly coarse. 180 grit is good for 90% of what you will ever need. If you need a finer edge like for skew chisels, then you hone. Getting much finer than that isn't really necessary for a lot of what you will be doing. I do like 600 grit for fine finish cuts in softer, more tear out prone woods. You could use 220 grit, but I have no clue as to what are the more common metal grinding grits. 36 grit is for heavy shaping of your tools, and probably not a good one for cutting edges.

robo hippy

 

[John Fino]

Good info to get me started. I just built the jig mentioned in the above article and aside from the smell the belt makes, it works pretty good. My free hand grinds were looking pretty bad. Thanks for all the help.

John

 

[Mike Brazeau]

I started out with my old Sears 3" belt sander held at about a 45 degree angle by the handle with the switch locked on in a Black & Decker Workmate. I had put an outlet and switch controlling it on the underside of the Workmate. I think I used a 120 belt. I positioned it so that the Bowl Gouge handle could be supported at the end of the Workmate, in essence just like a Wolverine. I have the 42" x 1" Belt Sander that Lee Valley sell as well and added a reversing switch. It is a secondary grinding system to my Slow Speed Delta with a 180 CBN and 80 Grit that came with it when I bought it years ago.

 

[john lucas]

I used my 3" Craftsman belt sander for sharpening when I first started. Unfortunately I forgot to remove the cloth dust collector bag and it now looks like a projector for a planetarium if you shine light into it. It did work quite well however and it was really handy to be able to change belts from course for shaping to fine for sharpening. This was 35 years ago and I still have the belt sander and use it often. they just don't make em like that any more.

 

[John Fino]

The Harbor Freight 4X36 Belt Sander works great especially since it is a slow paced sander. I ordered 180 Grit Ceramic Belts from Wally World of all places and built a sliding platform for sharpening and it works great. The only issue I have is that I twisted my belt into a figure 8 like in the video so the belt would run in the opposite direction and although it does work, it smells bad. I'm actually thinking of putting it back and making a stand that will hold my sander upside down. I really appreciate everyones input.

 

[James Penuel]

https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...893fc07fb7efac14/1466138473202/Sharpening.pdf
This article has a few additional ideas about using belt sander for sharpening. I explored trying this with my Delta 4x36 belt sander, but could not figure out how to reverse the motor. I now have a Delta VS grinder with CBN wheels.

 

[Lars Hansen]

@ James: Thanks for the link to the .pdf. AND for your final comment

 

[Dennis Weiner]

I used a 2x27 homegrown belt sander for awhile running somewhere around 700-800 SFM. I used ceramic 120 grit for general wood tool sharpening. 60-80 grid for initial tool shaping. Currently use a 2x36 ceramic or zirconium belt at 100 or 120 grit at around the same speed on a tradesman grinder. Both old and new belt sanders, the belt is traveling down into the tool. So this concept is very doable.
There was a discussion about belt sanding mentioned in this thread and picture of my old belt sander. http://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?posts/135304/


There was also an article written years ago and is available in the aaw archives on how to convert your HFT belt sander into Woodturning grinder. You may find that useful.

 

[John Fino]

That article by Jon Siegel if pretty much what the article in American Woodturner brought out. I am no where new to sharpening chisels, knifes and plane irons but I did for some reason have a problem with consistently getting my turning tools sharp. There's no way I could afford alot of the equiptment that alot of you mention. I also don't think I need it since this is just a hobby for me in my small 2 car garage wood shop. I really appreciate the input and as mentioned before, my Harbor Freight Belt Sander with the 180 grit ceramic belt really works great. I would like to know if there's a way to reverse the belt direction besides twisting the belt as mentioned in the article. The smell is pretty bad but i'm more concerned with wearing out the belt prematurely. Again, thanks again.....

 

[john lucas]

Cant help you with reverse short of buying a new motor. I purchased the Lee Valley kit and then found a.motor I could.wire in reverse. It's only a 1" strip sander but does a good job on turning tools. I bought it because I already had a Tormek and a Rikon slow.speed grinder with CBN wheels. I wanted to play with all.3 systems.so I could find out what works.the best for me but also to be able to answer people's questions on sharpening. My personal.choice is the grinder with CBN wheels and a good jig set.up.like the Kodiak system.

 

[John Fino]

I guess i'll just have to put up with the smell for now. I may get the itch one day to build a stand for it and mount it upside down but at least for now it works great for my needs. Thanks Again