1'' by 30'' harbor freight belt grinder?

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BearPawBlacksmithing

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Mar 27, 2017
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I have been beveling my knives with files which works very well for me, however sanding them down to a final finish with emery cloth is a bit time consuming. I am looking at possibly getting a 1'' by 30'' harbor freight belt grinder to help with the finishing part a little bit (I would not be using it for any beveling or shaping just scale removal and finish work).

Does anyone have any experience with this particular machine? I understand that it would be built cheap but how cheap? Could it save me some time on the finishing?
 
I know people who have made whole stock removal knives from it. For what you are looking for in it, I think it would be just fine. I have this grinder myself and haven't had an issue yet.
 
should work ok. another choice is same price range is a 4x36, you can usually find the Craftsman for about $125. does have more belt options as it is used a lot by metallurgical labs and lapidary folks.
 
scott.livesey said:
should work ok. another choice is same price range is a 4x36, you can usually find the Craftsman for about $125. does have more belt options as it is used a lot by metallurgical labs and lapidary folks.
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I do not suggest a 4x36 for knifemaking. It makes working on pieces very hard. When the belt is that wide there is not as much shaping capabilities and most 4x36's do not have an edge for ricasso.
 
I started out with one and made 7 or so knives with it. I still use it to strop edges, as I don't have a leather belt for my 2x72. It served me well for the price.
 
I am in the same situation as you, filing bevel is not that bad but sanding manually... And I just bought and received one (not harbor freight but one from Rikon pretty similar). So I hope it will do.
 
I know plenty of knifemakers started using the HF 1x30, but I've been using my Craftsman 2x42 now for a few years, and though it's definitely limiting in a few areas, it's definitely significantly better than the 1x30. If you can scrounge up a little bit more and handle about $180 for the Craftsman, I'd go that route instead, until you can get a 2x72. There are also some nice little tweaks you can do to the Craftsman to improve it significantly. Here's a link to one of them. 2x42 belts last a lot longer too, but are still easy to find good belts for online.
 
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