A professional told me...

Sharpnessis

Sharpnessis

Joined
Aug 11, 2012
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My local knife sharpening service guy told me when using a belt sander always sharpen with the edge facing the rotation of the belt. Any other way will ruin your knives. I sharpen with the harbor freight 1x30 and always sharpen with the edge facing the ground ie. away away from the rotation of the belt. Anyone agree with that? I think as long as I don't overheat the blade, it doesn't matter. Any input would be grateful.
 
Than sounds odd to me. Toward the rotation would increase the chance of a very bad hospital visit.
 
It makes sense if you think of the mechanics of sharpening on a stone. However, with rotating machinery, it seems that it makes more sense that if anything were to snag or grab, that you'd do it the other way. I don't use a belt, so the real world may differ.
 
I don't think it makes a difference, just keep a good grip and eye protection and there shouldn't be a difference.
 
I do all my grinding and sharpening edge up. The only time I have had a blade grab on me was using a scotchbrite belt. I do not think it makes a difference though as long as you are aware of what you are doing.
 
Thank you gentlemen. I was hoping to hear that. The guy at the knife place got me nervous. Thanks for restoring my confidence! :)
 
My local knife sharpening service guy told me when using a belt sander always sharpen with the edge facing the rotation of the belt. Any other way will ruin your knives.
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That is false. Trailing edge sharpening on a belt sander will not ruin your knives anymore than trailing edge sharpening freehand on a stone will. Certainly you can sharpen on a belt sander with the edge in, but I don't feel that it offers any advantages that would outweigh the potential problems it creates. It is easy to cut a belt and some belts, such as scotchbrite, cork & felt would be difficult to use. Power-stropping with a leather belt would obviously not work edge in and switching back and forth between edge in and trailing edge on a belt sander would require additional practice to master.
 
It's very risky from what I have read and I would never do it. I too use the HF 1x30 and have not damaged any knives doing it the safe way. Just think about the mechanics of it and what could happen if the knife got away from you: You'd be lucky if the only cut was the belt.
 
Brisket said:
Trailing edge sharpening on a belt sander will not ruin your knives anymore than trailing edge sharpening freehand on a stone will.
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Stropping is always done trailing edge. Sharpening on paper wheels is done trailing edge. I've seen people use stones and go both ways, back and forth.
 
Edge trailing for me. Most I know use edge trailing. The thought of sharpening edge in does make my wedding tackle cringe!

I use a 1x30.
 
Sounds like your Professional is full of it. I use a sharpening system that is basically a horizontal 1x30 belt sander. I've sharpened thousands of knives with it without ruining one. In fact, I'm not sure you could ruin one even if you wanted to because the motor turns slow.
 
One of the advantages to edge up sharpening on a 1x30 is that you can make sure that you don't quite grind to the edge of the bevel on coarser grits (this will make a huge burr and can gouge as well). Once you are down to a 600-1000 belt then you can go all the way to the edge with it in an edge-facing-the-ground manner and form a burr.
 
It gives me the willies thinking about leading edge on a belt. The reason for leading-edge sharpening is usually to lessen the burr. As long as you take care to remove the burr, trailing edge sharpening is no less effective and MUCH safer.

TedP
 
bdmicarta said:
Stropping is always done trailing edge. Sharpening on paper wheels is done trailing edge. I've seen people use stones and go both ways, back and forth.
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I agree with your statements. I'm confused as to why you quoted me. Are you disagreeing with something I said?
 
I tried with the edge facing into the rotation twice on my paper wheel. I am pretty stupid, same results both times, knife went flying once, second time was on a axe and that sent the grinder to the wall. I want put the edge towards any force again. 3rd time Ill get hurt I am sure
 
I've worked it both ways on my Kalamazoo, and I have generally gone to edge-trailing only. Occasionally I will use edge-leading when I'm using a coarse belt to reprofile or grind a new tip on (for the slightly better visibility it offers at the cut zone) but for the most part I do all sharpening edge-trailing. And if I'm careful, I can get an HHT-2 or 3 edge on the right steel, on a good day. Most of the time, HHT-0 or 1.

It goes without saying that ALL soft belts (leather, cork, scotchbrite, etc) *MUST* be used edge-trailing. An edge-leading pass on those will devastate the belt, and probably haul the knife out of your hand.
 
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