Belt sander and Sharpmaker combination

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postoak

Joined
Dec 23, 2011
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What's a good technique for matching the 40 degree angle of the Sharpmaker on a 1 x 30 belt sander? I like the "zen" aspect of finishing blades on my Sharpmaker once I've established a burr on both sides with the sander.
 
Easiest way would be to sharpen below 40 deg. on the belt sander, then use the Sharpmaker to put a microbevel on.
 
Thanks, that's what I thought might be the case. BTW, I had my first successful experience free-handing today.

I had one kitchen knife I just couldn't get sharp even after I had burred it on the sander. I took a look at it through my 10x loupe after using a Sharpie and the Sharpmaker. At first it looked like I was getting down all the way to the apex, but after looking harder I noticed about an inch long section that had Sharpie about 1/100" wide (estimate) along it. No amount of use of the diamond hones at either 30 degrees or 40 degrees could get rid of this section -- apparently I had hit right there at a steep angle with the belt. It took me a while to realize that, and to also realize I needed to go really shallow until I had removed enough metal to get rid of the Sharpie. I felt I had done enough damage with the sander for one day and used the Arkansas stone to remove metal at a really shallow angle. It didn't actually take too long to fix the edge and then the Sharpmaker did its work. I wound up with a nice edge that would slice cut phone book paper (with the grain only, not across it), which is about as good as I've ever done. I know if it will do that it will cut arm hair but I've cut off so much arm hair recently I'm giving that test method a rest!
 
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I set the tool rest to the desired angle using an angle cube. Then I hold the knife on the table at 90 degrees and offer it up to the belt being sure to maintain the same angle.
 
Does your belt rotate down like mine or up? I'm trying to imagine how that would work.
 
postoak said:
Does your belt rotate down like mine or up? I'm trying to imagine how that would work.
Click to expand...

The belt is rotating down and I place the knife on the tool rest with the edge down, so when I put the knife to the belt, it's running away from the edge.

I look straight down on the spine of the blade so it's pretty easy to judge whether it's at 90 degree to the tool rest. Then I only have a short distance to move the edge onto the belt while maintaining the same angle.

I check again between each pass.
 
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