Belt sander for stock removal

Sounds like you're off to a good start, then. Try tracing out the knife where it stands now, and follow up with refining it bit by bit just on paper. Create three knives from the one you have. Experiment, elaborate, and explore. Easier to see it on paper than to try to carve it on the fly, so to speak. One of the things I've been doing for years is doodling on bar-shaped paper to come up with new ideas. I generally just doodle on the actual bars with a sharpie, but they don't look highly on that when you're in the middle of handling and insurance claim! :rolleyes:

What else do you have for tools that you're using?
 
Just thought I'd throw one more thing out there.
Another low-dollar-high-yield tool is a Harbor Freight 4 1/2" angle grinder. Depending on what sale you catch they run $15-$25. The abrasive wheels, even the dirt cheap ones that come with the unit, last really quite a long time, even on tools steels (I haven't replaced that cheap grinding wheel in 1.5 yr, and I've ground off quite a few pounds of steel).

Use it for both stages of profiling- the blade shape AND roughing in the bevels. It's loud. And messy. But if you're grinding close to the blade shape you want and just cleaning it up on your belt grinder, and grinding the bevels close and just flattening them with the belt grinder... your expensive ceramic belts go a lot farther!

On top of that, I don't find a lot of time savings in shaping the blade outline with the angle grinder vs. belts (or in my case, discs), but I do find it much, much quicker to rough in the bevels with the angle grinder and then flatten. That seems to save me a lot of time. I admit I haven't taken a stopwatch to it, but subjectively it seems to make a big difference!

Mike
 
I bought a HF 1x30 belt sander for small stock removal but mostly for handle shaping. I HAD to forge my first knife out of the stock I had on hand....a R/R spike because...well I had to. I forged the general shape and then went to the sander. I was cruisin along removing metal when I got the snot shocked out of me. I kept going and I kept getting shocked and shocked and shocked. I know:eek: I gave up and took my hand held belt sander, turned it upside down and started grinding that way. I ended up taking my Dremel and cutting a groove on one side so the handle would fit. Anybody else have a problem with the grinder shocking the :barf: out of you? I took it back and traded it for another one but I haven't used it yet. The first one hurt so bad my chest hurt....I know :eek:

In His Service,
reid allen
 
Its probly static build up from grinding. Ground the table and that will likely fix your problem.
 
STR said:
A&H abrasives is where I buy my belts. On metal I use ceramic or zircon belts. On wood aluminum oxide. I have used aluminum oxide belts on metal but they don't last long or cut as cool as the others but heck they will work fine for a guy just wanting to get his feet wet. I mean I used those for years before I ever heard of the others. Some steels like D2 can work harden and stuff like that, although minimal can slow you down a bit on the lesser grinders.

You have to think that being that you are just wanting to test the waters, as Scott said, that you may not stick with it or even like it that much. So I'd go minimum spending until you know you are not throwing good money away.

I've had the daylights shocked out of me from the static build up on the belts from grinding and there are other things that need to be addressed as well around those machines. Loose clothing is a no no, have your hair, if long, tied back and out of the way, eye protection, respirators and filters need to be bought too. This is all stuff that you have to have and not optional. So just add all of it up and plan ahead now. Don't mess around with your lungs or your eyes. Its probably fine if you are just occasionally grinding to skip the respirator to find out if you will stick with it but in and out everyday you must have these things.

STR
Click to expand...

STR

Did you ever see the Resp-O-Rator? I developed it for exactly this purpose. It fits under a full face shield and has HEPA filters. You can have full face protection, the finest in respiratory filtration (even with a full beard) and through in ear plugs---total protection for about $65.00.
www.duxterity.com

Just a suggestion. I needed full protection and am on the thrifty side. You have to go over $300.00 otherwise.
 
My observation is that if you make one blade, there is a very good chance you'll catch the disease. Which means that you'll have uncontrollable urges to make more knives. When you're not in the shop making knives, you get the cold sweats, you'll feel lightheaded, and will have a miserable all over type of feeling. But, when you're in the shop and you design a new knife and it looks "cool" (by the way, "cool" is a technical term among knifemakers!) you'll just want to make more and more and more.

It's a nice disease to catch! Our wives always know where we're at, and we stay out of trouble.

Scott (Ickie) Ickes
 
UPDATE.

I did purchase the Delta 2x42.

To give it a try out, I took a cheap piece of angle iron and shaped it into shape using the belt that came on it. It did a fair job. Even got it kinda sharp.

I noticed 2 problems. First what that the piece got very hot. Second was while working near the tip, I burned some of it away. I know that I got it to hot and to much pressure.

Tonight I am going to try using the belts I purchased and the different grits.

I think the one thing I need to learn is when change the belt grit to achieve the shape with out getting the piece to hot.

Otherwise, it did a far better job than I was expecting. I cant imagine what a KMG or similar machine would do instead.
 
James Duxbury said:
STR

Did you ever see the Resp-O-Rator? I developed it for exactly this purpose. It fits under a full face shield and has HEPA filters. You can have full face protection, the finest in respiratory filtration (even with a full beard) and through in ear plugs---total protection for about $65.00.
www.duxterity.com
Click to expand...

Not to hijack the thread but I got one of these after your last post on the subject. I'm very happy with it. :D Light, comfortable, protection as good as I was getting from my heavy PAPR helmet and much better than I get with a normal respirator over my beard.

It does tend to drool though :confused: I think this may be due to condensation of my exhaled breath in a cool shop.
 
dlpierson said:
Not to hijack the thread but I got one of these after your last post on the subject. I'm very happy with it. :D Light, comfortable, protection as good as I was getting from my heavy PAPR helmet and much better than I get with a normal respirator over my beard.

It does tend to drool though :confused: I think this may be due to condensation of my exhaled breath in a cool shop.
Click to expand...


Thank you Dan. The Resp-O-Rator looks different because it is.

I have 2 US Patents on the Resp-O-Rator and one patent pending. Drool is one of the major parts of the patent. You are holding your mouth open slightly. You can't swallow right or control saliva with your mouth open. The mouthpiece is flat and goes between your lips, in front of your teeth. Close your mouth all the way--teeth together and swallow then forget it. Drool will totally go away.
 
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