Getting Started On Knife Sharpening Using the Harbor Freight 1x30" Belt Sander

SpyderPhreak SpyderPhreak Jared, I has so much, I just found this and even though it's almost 2 years old so much great info and links. I appreciate the work that goes into doin' posts like this, I've done a few too and I get how long some of them can take. It takes time to write, embed the links and pics, you sound like me, I have many half written and almost finished posts saved as drafts on my drive.

Anyway back on track, I've been freehand sharpenin' since I was 15, stopped makin' the edge worse by the time I was 17, I hit my 20s and I could get slightly better than a factory edge, kinda like a hair scrapin' edge ;). Now right around the mid to late 80s I had gotten pretty good, I was at the shavin' sharp stage, push cuttin' newspaper and borderin' on hair scarin' sharp where the hairs leap off my arm before the edge gets there. :)

That level of skill was fine and with my basic stone set and a couple of water stones I could maintain and even re profile a really bad edge to hair scarin' sharp again pretty consistently for any knife. At this point too my family and friends began to notice my skill at creatin' a uniform apex with an equal angle on the bevels. I started gettin' all the huntin' knives, kitchen knive, wood workin' tools and even their chainsaw chains. Huntin' season also afforded me a lot of practice and in return game meat and firewood.

It got to the point where I was freehand sharpenin' at least once a day and many times 3-4 times a day. My equipment was basic and over the years I'd ass what stones I found in yard sales and whatever relatives and friends gave me. At one point I must've had 30+ stones and half as many steels and strops. As systems began to become popular like the tristones in the oil bath cradle, the early Lansky s and the first Sharpmaker I bought from Sal himself at an East Coast custom knife show. I used the LAnsky but was never as a happy with the results as I was free hand. The with of the bevel changes as you approached the arc in the belly, it wasn't really efficient or easy with longer blades plus the clamp really only worked on square spines with enough parallel material to get a secure grip. Otherwise it's hard to consistently secure the blade in the clamp resulting in compound/multiple bevels eventually makin' it near impossible to easily resharpen a really dull knife.

Now don't get me wrong, the Lansky works great on the right knives, it's a fantastic tool for people who are sharpenin' challenged but it has it's limitations and if you own one you should make sure you know what they are before you try to reprofile that $600 Sebenza. Same goes for the Sharpmaker, what a great sharpener for the kitchen cutlery but again it has it's limitations. I bought a slow speed powered wet stone with a few simple fixtures and used that for 20 years on my gardening and outdoor tools like machetes and chisels even to reprofile some folders and fixed blade belt knives. Again it had its limitations, it required a steady hand when doing longer blades and there's more room for an inconsistent angle.

I bought various diamond hones with a 8" bench hone bein' my favorite size and after a few pocket diamond hones and double sided Eze-Laps I was set for even dealin' with the super steels. These along with some ceramics, a few homemade strops and a couple of waterstones completed sharpenin' toolbox which carried me from the 90s till today. I did add an EdgePro in there a couple of years ago but that too took a backseat to freehand which by now after nearly 40+ years of practice I graduated to hair whittlin' and bein' able to skiv newspaper. Still after all these years I still look for an easier, quicker way to get a superior edge. I tried paper wheels and even used the 2x72 at work occasionally to reprofile but the swiftness with which one can ruin a blade on a powered sharpenin' system scares me. I have to literally work hours to destroy a blade where with a 2x72 belt grinder I can do it in seconds. ;).

So here's where I'm at, I do 90% of my sharpening and reprofiling freehand but I do it mostly for mental therapy, I find it very relaxing and centering enablin' me to concentrate and focus. My problem is I get so many knives to sharpen from all over and tryin' to do everyone freehand is near impossible, it's not relaxin' anymore, it's becomin' a chore and my knives suffer for it. I'm thinkin' of buildin' a 2x72 from a brand new high end treadmill I took from my SIL, it has a lot of features to make it good for the type of work I want to use it. With a variable speed mother with the electronics to monitor and maintain speed and the help of one of the many tutorials out there for building one I will eventually have a full size 2x72. In the man time I'm considering something like the HB 1x30 you mentioned. Plus it would make a great benchtop belt sander/grinder after I build a full size grinder.

Now after all that text and my explanation here's my question. How do you compensate for the lack of speed control? Do you just adjust the pressure against the belt and keep a can of water around dousing often to prevent heat build up or do you just use different belts that are less likely to build up heat, something that dissipates the heat better like the ceramic stated belts? Like I mentioned earlier I know how quickly one can destroy a blade on powered equipment and that makes me gunshy, especially when I'll be usin' the 1x32 on everyone else's knives root and practice but I don't wanna be buyin' knives to replace my friends that I run while learnin.

Thanks again for startin' this thread Jared and thanks to everyone who's added to it over the last almost 2 years. I'll be sure to post back here when I eventually get out to HF or I build my own 2x72. By then I'll have a ton more questions for you and the rest of the folks who posted here and in this forum.
 
Ted T. Erdelyi T. Erdelyi , thanks. :) These kinds of posts definitely take some work, and in hindsight, I'm really glad I didn't add photos after the great photobucket debacle of 2017. o_O I've gotten my brother and a few hunting/fishing friends using this sharpening method now as well. There is definitely a learning curve like with anything, and at the speed with which you can really screw up an edge, is why I advocate learning on some junk knives before trying on your favorites.

While it definitely doesn't have the "zen" of freehand sharpening, it sure gets great results quickly! I still advocate learning how to freehand sharpen, as you certainly can't touch up a knife with the belt sander while in the field, so it's definitely still a necessary skill to learn.

Like you, I got to the point where I was sharpening knives for just about everyone I knew, and it sure became a chore. While it still can be, it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be.

I also have a good digital treadmill motor and electronics out in the garage that I'd like to turn into a nicer grinder at some point, but the ease of using the HF has kept that project at bay for some time now. One of these days... ;)
 
Bumping to mention I am still VERY impressed at how well the 3M diamond film belts work on hard, high-alloy steels. They make short work of S110V, M4, and Maxamet. And they seem to have a good lifespan too! :thumbsup:
 
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