G1013 Grizzly 1x42

Hi Sierra :) What are you using now ? Are you a knifemaker or just a knife user ? I ask wondering whether or not you have a KMG or like grinder and are looking for a "dedicated" sharpener. If that is the case, I would recommend skipping the 1 x 42 and getting a roller platen from Rob Frink at Beaumont. Not only has that become my finish grinder for convex grinds, it has also become my preferred method for sharpening. I am able to spin the platen around so the long face is 10* - 20* to the floor (dependant on what the purpose of the knife is that I'm sharpening). I pull up my stool and go to it with micron belts and my variable speed turned down to "way slow". To me, this seems like a very natural method of sharpening. Maintaining the knife blade parallel to the floor and allowing the platen to establish the correct angle is much easier for me on the roller platen. The griz is moving "fast" too, also without a fixture or angle block, maintaining the consistent, correct angle on the knife using the grizzly may be rather difficult. Are you sharpening a large number of knives daily or just your users when they need a touch-up ? If the later is the case I would get a good Diamond Stone,( DMT ? ), one with a med. & fine grit face. They work very good. That's my "2 cents", "my humble opinion", and "how I do it". There are makers who use the grizzly or a like grinder with very good results. Not knowing the details in your situation it is very hard to say whether or not the griz is a "wise decision" for your specific needs. I can only give you my experiences. I hope it helped ;)
 
I have a grizzly 1x42 in my shop. It is a handy machine and I use the disk on it quite a bit. I use the belt for a few small things and have sharpened a few blades with it. The only problem I have had with it is the pully on the belt drive came lose. I drilled in a bit where the allen set screw hits the shaft and it will not happen again. That being said I use a set of Grizzly cardboard sharpening wheels on a good 6" bench grinder to do most of my sharpening. If you have a good grit glued (comes with wheels) to the one wheel and get above it and hold your angle well it will bring up a fine feather of steel on the edge in a hurry. Then a couple passes on the other wheel with rouge applied to take off the feather and polish the edge and you are ready for a good shave.
 
I am a chef by trade. I work 6 days a week, sometimes double shifts so it's easy to let your knives get away from you in the edge department. I used to have time to polish an edge on a japanese stone but now my time for actually sitting down with my stones is near impossible given work, family, the house, typical errands and chores. So yeah, it'll primarily be just for sharpening my work knives, some of my slipjoints and other knives.

I may get into trying new handle materials down the road but that's on the back burner.
 
CAREFULL!! If your not accustom to useing a grinder to sharpen your knives you could really jack them up!! Personally, unless you are putting the original edge on a knife I see no need for power tools. I've seen too many of these kitchen gadgets and weekend trades days knife sharpeners(the old dude with the paper wheels on a bench grinder) screw good knives up because they either take too much off, or they get the blade too hot. Granted there are many folks that do a good job, I would just be weary. I agree with David go with the diamond stones. I sit with the kids and watch TV and hone on my blades all the time.
 
I'm not above sitting down with stones when I have time. I love my Nortons. It's just that after working from 7am to 11pm 3 days a week and from 12pm-12am friday-sun day doing near 200 fine dining covers a night, I'd rather not devote an hour on my stones when I could be devoted to family and other important things.

And I don't plan to jeopardize my hundred dollar knives first. I have a drawer full of old faberware knives to practice on. ;)

I just need a solid recommendation on a belt sander that's going to be mainly used for sharpening knives and not kill my wallet.
 
Get some DMT diamond stones, Howard Schacter sells them, I don't have his website offhand. I used to sharpen professionally for a couple of restaurants, with the DMT stones you can get an edge for doing transparent-thin cuts in about 5-10 minutes, where the Nortons will easily take twice as long. Use a belt for profiling when you are making a blade, establishing a bevel for the first time etc, use a diamond stone for sharpening, a strop if you really want the ultimate edge.

-Page
 
That 1x42 will be just fine for sharpening and light knife work. You could probably even do ok with a little 1x30 grinder form the local HomeDepot equivalent, but I would prefer this one, personally.

You can get a decent range of belts from trugrit.com. I'd also recommend getting a 1x42 leather belt and green buffing compound from Jantz Supply and using that for the final edge. That can acheive sashimi-slicing sharp on the right knife.

A little practice and you'll achieve the time savings you seek.

For keeping a sharp knife razor sharp, if you've never experienced crock sticks, invest in a good pair from AG Russell and learn how to use them.
 
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