A little more on belt sanders...
As Pendentive said, sharpening is geometry and polish. Wanna slice soft materials like meat? A thin bevel that is semi-polished but with some teeth is awesome. Wanna carve wood? A thin bevelis good, though maybe a bit thicker than a meat knife, since the material youa re cutting is harder. Also, you want a very high polish, which will push cut right through the wood fibers. Need somethign to hack and chop through God knows what? Maybe go with a thicker edge bevel, so that it will stand up tot he rough stuff. See, simple!
One of the more important factors in sharpening I think is control. You want to be able to set even bevels, not damage the knife, get an even polish, etc. The sharpmaker allows a person to easily hold a 15 or 20 degree angle, maybe with a bit of variation which won't matter much. The Edge pro offers greater control, since the knife is stable and the stone is stable. WHen using a sharpenign stone (free hand sharpening), you have to teach yourself to hold an angle steady on BOTH sides of the knife, which does take practice. A belt sander is no different in this regard. I liek to think fo mine as a fast file, or in the case of sharpening, a stone that moves itself. You still have to choose the angle you want, hold it consistently, and do so for both sides fo your knife. With a belt sander, you have to worry about heat build-up too. But those caveats aside, I think a belt sander offers a lot for folks, as long as oen is willing to put in the time to learn to use a sander. You have to move fast, because staying put in one place for any length of time will lead to problems. This is especially improtant for heat build-up. But you know, anyone can learn. They don't use Edge Pros and Sharpmakers in the knife factories! Most custom guys sharpen on their grinders too.
A 1x30 is a fine machine for sharpening too. You can usually get new belts anywhere, though maybe only in the rougher grits. No matter, a belt sander (called a grinder when used on steel)belt will last a long time if just used for sharpening. Order 2 belts in 220, 400, 600 and 800 grit from a knife maker's supply place and you're set for years probably. With a belt sander, you can sharpen on the platen to get flat bevels, or sharpen above the platen to get a slight convex edge, or remove the platen to get a better convex edge. As Pendentive knows, a convex edge is EASY to put on a blade, and works very well! The key is a light touch, smooth passes, and dunking the blade in water after a pass or 2. Slap on a 220 grit belt, make 1 or 2 passes on one side, and I bet a burr will pop up. Do the same on the other side (be dunkign every 1 or 2 passes!). Then swith belts and go as smooth as you want. From there, strop! Or, get a leather belt and stropping compound, whatever you want. I use my grinder for sharpening axes, hatchets, lawnmower blades, a lot of kitchen knives, the knives I make, etc. For good practice, go to yard sales or thrift stores and buy a bunch of cheap knives of different sizes. If they have those ridiculous "never need sharpening" scalloped tearing teeth on them, those are fine too! Grind 'em off
I have done that lots of times. Get long blades, medium length ones, and a few small ones too, paring knife size. Gee, paring knives are kinda like fodler size eh! Practice on those and you can tackle your folders.
With a belt sander too, you can easily make a few extra bucks sharpening knives for folks. I like my grinder for this, because most non-knife folks don't care for their knives, so you always get their knvies with chips in them, and/or very thick bevels. No problem! Put on the 220 grit belt, and 1-2 minutes per knife you have 'em all at a 220 grit finish. Switch belts if you want. A quick strop, and done. You can do 10 knives in under half an hour. Ask for $2 a knife. You can have that little Delta 1x30 paid off, with the extra belts and practice knives, in an hour and a half maybe. Then you can sharpen up your lawnmower blade and cut the lawn easily. Oh, clean up the bevels ona shovel and watch 'em cut through earth easily!
And don't get me started on modifying/makign knives! Try making new scales for your knives with a sharpmaker! I can with my "knife sharpener"
With that advertisement over, I must say that I would love an Edge Pro myself. Something portable that gives you control and options liek the Edge Pro does woild be handy to have. Also, I'd liek oen for "experiments". Take a knife to 40 degrees included and test. 35 and test, 30 and test, etc. You can really play with degrees and finishes with the Edge pro in a very controlled manner.
Oh hey, I just remembered something! A grinder sure does a great job on recurves, like on Pendentive's khukuris! a 1" wide belt follows the curves nicely.
That will give you "the eye"...
