Do you guys sharpen on a belt grinder?

"sharpening" on the grinder is something I reserve for machetes and sicles
the grinder is for establishing and finishing shape and geometry. Sharpening I do by hand on DMT diamond "stones", can't beat it, and it's absolutely repeatable

-Page
 
T Blade said:
Dan those rotary platens really are the cats pajamas :D :jerkit:.

I missed Dave's edge pro demo, I was hammering out a blade at the time. I don't have a rotary but my flat platen has a nice 2" slack before the lower 4" contact wheel. I sharpen with edge down on the slack till I get a nice burr on either side using and old 400 grit, then use an old belt flipped over and conditioned with a yellow bar that I had gotten from a friend who managed the inspection dept. at a chrome platters.
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I have always sucked at sharpening blades effectively, but after seeing Dave's demoing that edge pro... I think i need to save my pennies and get one.

I've got a lot of nice tools in my shop now ( <3 KMG!!! ) so i need to really start pumping out some more knives, but it wouldn't do to actually sell a knife that doesn't have a final sharpened edge.

Need an edge pro apex... and i need some real quenching oil, i had to throw out my veggie oil again because it got rancid...
 
I sharpen on the grinder and buff the edge. I have started leaving off the buffing for restaurant knives. It leaves a little tooth for their use. And the convex edge is perfect for their hard use.
Just what I do,
Lynn
 
Edge Pro for my customers - Split 400 belt followed by a leather strop for my shop knives.

Robert
 
Greetings,
Tormek wet sharpening system then finish up on a paper wheel. Repeatable edge and it will never heat up the blade. Only negative point, it's expensive! But I learned a long time ago so are all good tools.

Dennis
 
I like to use a contact wheel, edge down, 220 then 400 grit, then I go to a leather honing belt (on the grinder) loaded with green chrome and polish the edge. I slightly increase the angle of the last pass on each side for a bit of a micro bevel effect. It works fast for me, and gets a hair popping edge easily. But for my straight razor, I use a 4000 and then 8000 grit King water stone followed by stropping on a belt, no rouge.
 
I don't sharpen on the grinder anymore. I bought an EdgePro Apex and do 100% of sharpening on it. Occasionally i'll just take a tiny bit of meat off just to save the wear and tear on my waterstones...

Honestly, I just could never get perfectly consistent enough on a grinder that I was happy, plus the idea of putting that 99.9% finished knife anywhere near the KMG scared me a bit.
 
Well, it was probably silly of me, but at lunch today i went out and bought an Edge Pro Apex at the only new england re-seller, which happens to be only 20 mintues from work >_<
 
Justin.Mercier said:
Well, it was probably silly of me, but at lunch today i went out and bought an Edge Pro Apex at the only new england re-seller, which happens to be only 20 mintues from work >_<
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Not silly of you! Once you get over the initial learning curve, you will never look back!

Treat yourself to taking a knife and progress it through every single grit stone, then the 2000 grit papers, then strop with a loaded leather belt. The cutting bevels will be a mirror polish and should be able to whittle hairs into little trees....

I practiced on learning mine by sharpening all my wife's kitchen knives...
 
Apperantly the kit that i got was an older version of the Apex kit 3 on their site http://www.edgeproinc.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=&idproduct=6

Because instead of a 1000 grit, it's got an 800 grit (which they dont even sell anymore) and it's got a pack of 3000 grit polishing tapes (no polish tape blank though) So i got the kit 3 but with an 800 instead of 1000, and a pack of 3000 grit polishing tapes. I got a good price on it though because it was an oddball out. The guy only carries the Apex 2 kit now and some individual stones. Guess i should go online and get a polishing tape blank stone and a 1000 grit to add to the kit =D
 
Justin.Mercier said:
Apperantly the kit that i got was an older version of the Apex kit 3 on their site http://www.edgeproinc.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=&idproduct=6

Because instead of a 1000 grit, it's got an 800 grit (which they dont even sell anymore) and it's got a pack of 3000 grit polishing tapes (no polish tape blank though) So i got the kit 3 but with an 800 instead of 1000, and a pack of 3000 grit polishing tapes. I got a good price on it though because it was an oddball out. The guy only carries the Apex 2 kit now and some individual stones. Guess i should go online and get a polishing tape blank stone and a 1000 grit to add to the kit =D
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Mine came with a 800 grit and no 1000. I dont see a reason to have the 1000 since you can go from 800 to 2000 really easilly....you will want the tape blank, too. If you also want an insider tip heres one:

Buy an additional tape blank and glue a strip of leather to it. Once you are all done sharpening, raise the angle of the sharpener about a degree then switch to the leather blank you made. You now have an ultra-precision strop.
 
David Schott said:
Buy an additional tape blank and glue a strip of leather to it. Once you are all done sharpening, raise the angle of the sharpener about a degree then switch to the leather blank you made. You now have an ultra-precision strop.
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Shouldn't that be lower it a degree or two? If the leather has any give, increasing the angle almost guarantees that you round over the edge, to my knowledge.

If you were talking about the sharpening films, sure, microbeveling is awesome, but for an abrasive with some give to it, I'd let the give take care of the microbeveling, not raise it.
 
Lucky Bob said:
Shouldn't that be lower it a degree or two? If the leather has any give, increasing the angle almost guarantees that you round over the edge, to my knowledge.

If you were talking about the sharpening films, sure, microbeveling is awesome, but for an abrasive with some give to it, I'd let the give take care of the microbeveling, not raise it.
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You are correct! Lower and the pressure pushes the leather to the edge. Im geometrically dyslexic.:D
 
Disclaimer: I am not a knife maker (yet, but hope to graduate). Yes I do sharpen on my belt grinder. I also like to use files,sand paper, and always finish up on stones. Depends on the blade shape and what it really needs.

Matt
 
David Schott said:
You are correct! Lower and the pressure pushes the leather to the edge. Im geometrically dyslexic.:D
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Heh, glad we sorted that out! I'm planning on getting a glass platen for sharpening films (my Al one just isn't flat) so I can relegate the one I have now to strop duty!
 
Does anybody use a 2x72" leather belt?
I just have a small Arkansas stone, but I don't do much sharpening.
 
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