(Another) Belt sander question

Heavy

I've used one without compund right before my leather belt and can't see or feel a difference from just leather only. I'm not real keen on this stuff so maybe I'm to use the cork INSTEAD of the leather.

I will tell you the first time I using it I had to double take as it sounded just like a 80 grit belt on the steel. Everything was fine though just the sound was not what I was expecting.

Bob
 
I just tried one out last night, yeah it sounds like you're beating the snot outta the edge but has very little effect. I put a little bit of compound on it and it seems to work very well. Better than my leather belt w/ compound - that is it appears to remove the last traces of burr without removing too much of the grind texture (at least using only light pressure). I used it on an A8 blade that I sharpened on a 60 grit stone and the resulting edge is downright ferocious - refined the edge ever so slightly and lightly smoothed the bevel up to the edge, but left all the tooth. I also used it on a belt-sharpened 154cm blade (320grit belt with a sprinkle of water), and was able to easily cut a circle out of fine newsprint torn from a "Mouser Electronics" catalog. Also restored a coworker's older Benchmade (don't know the model #, an "Ares" I think) serrations and all. Did the edge on the 320 grit and followed it up with the cork belt and a little extra compound on the outer edge of the belt just for the serrations and Bob's yer uncle - it went from years of abuse and neglect to butt-kickin sharp in less than 10 minutes. I'm still very new to belt sharpening - just started two weeks ago, but already love it. Trying to find out what I can get away with without spending any more $.
 
I've used the cork but I don't care as much for the really rough texture (even though it is not gritty.) I thought they worked fine for my tool edges like axe, lawnmower, machete. Not that those should necessarily be sharpened on that kind of belt but more that I didn't like it enough to sharpen my pocket knives on.

On the cheap (me too)... you might also check out the wool/felt belts from supergrit. They are cheap and turn really smooth. Just use really light pressure like with the cork. I really like to use their 80micron > 20micron > 9micron > felt belt with mother's mag polish. Tip: Let the mag polish dry out some before or after applying it and before turning the belt so most of it doesn't fly off. I don't always start with the 80mic unless I'm starting from scratch and most of the time a worn 9mic belt will touch up the edge enough even if you don't polish it off. Maybe just strop it on a piece of balsa wood with some mag polish rubbed in. Works wonders for me!
 
oronocova said:
I've used the cork but I don't care as much for the really rough texture (even though it is not gritty.) I thought they worked fine for my tool edges like axe, lawnmower, machete. Not that those should necessarily be sharpened on that kind of belt but more that I didn't like it enough to sharpen my pocket knives on.

On the cheap (me too)... you might also check out the wool/felt belts from supergrit. They are cheap and turn really smooth. Just use really light pressure like with the cork.
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Can't find any felt belts for my size sander (3x21 handsander, I replaced the usual backing plate with 1/4 felt), but the cork ones are easy to find. I'll have to play around some more with it, I broke it in with a chunk of mild steel and followed it up with a light coat of stropping compound. So far it seems to be working far better than a leather belt with the same compound. I'm quickly running out of knives to sharpen, gonna have to raid my reject/parts box.
 
NotSoSharpBob said:
Heavy

What compound are you using that turned your opinion around about the cork?
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Some stuff I picked up at Woodcrafters -

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/20...=2a9bed04-f267-4d5d-80d9-5b8e0077fc6c#Reviews

Supposed to be good for hand stropping. As with just about every other compound I've tried, too much pressure will round the edge, but with a light coat on the cork it seems to be pretty forgiving. On leather it seems too aggressive for use with power tools, but that may very well just be me, with my tools, on my leather. I'm going to experiment with using a real light touch on the leather or plain cork, following the treated cork, but don't have much hope for an improvement over what I currently get. I can say this, when I "broke in" the plain cork belt prior to use I could see where it had removed a small amount of metal from the mild steel plate. It makes sense that the plain cork will do some nice final polishing - more testing needed.
HH
 
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