hand held belt sander for stock removal?

J

jingo

Joined
May 11, 2008
Messages
27
Hey Guys

I am thinking about trying to make a couple knives this summer via stock removal. What it be a dumb idea to secure a hand held belt sander to a table for stock removal? I can get a good deal deal on a Porter Cable 362V variable speed sander which is why I am wondering.

Thanks

jingo
 
ive tried it.. felt like i had no control and would always get very uneven bevels all over the blade.. i'm sure someone has been successful but not me... i'm stickin with files for now.
 
I made my first knives using something similar being held in a vise on the workbench. I made a lot of chisel ground blades back then. That grinder paid for a multi-tool that then paid for my Burr King. A lot of guys use 1x30s or 2x42s and I would recommend them over the belt sander you're looking at.
 
I'm using a 3x21 belt sander secured upsidce down in the vise at the moment. Works pretty good but, I'd trade it for a real grinder in a second.
 
You'll get better results faster from a 1x30. You need to put a good amount of pressure on the belt to fracture the grains and keep them sharp. With a 3x21 you'll need to press three times as hard to get the same psi as with a 1x30 and the little motors don't have the power for that. If you don't press hard enough you won't remove material very fast and the belt will dull quickly.
 
syvmn said:
I'm new to this too. I've been contemplating getting this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=2485

Theres nothing fancy about it but I have heard good things. Otherwise I would think a hand belt sander would probably work, just not as well as something like the above, or a 2x42" etc...
Click to expand...

Apply the money you would spend on that and save it towards a real grinder. No offense to guys that have used that machine, but i felt it to be completely worthless when trying to remove metal evenly, not to mention it's way too RPM wise.
 
I used a hand held belt sander once when I was starting, the sparks ran around the belt up into the thing and caught fire. Bad idea, save for a good grinder.

Files work fine to make knives with to start out.
 
I've done a bit of grinding on an inverted hand belt sander clamped in a vise, mostly because that's what I had. I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy one for that purpose though. Also, most of the grinding I did was more along the lines of surface or flat grinding. I found that I did better profiling on a cheap bench grinder (stone wheels). What is probably even more versatile is a angle grinder. You can put thin disks on it for cutting and thicker ones on for grinding. I have enjoyed clamping them in a vise and using them way too. If you try that, make sure you set it up so the wheel is turning downward so it doesn't throw stuff up into your face. Anyway, you can move a lot of metal with one of these and clean up your bevels and surfaces draw filing.
 
syvmn said:
I'm new to this too. I've been contemplating getting this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=2485

Theres nothing fancy about it but I have heard good things. Otherwise I would think a hand belt sander would probably work, just not as well as something like the above, or a 2x42" etc...
Click to expand...

I use HF 1x30" grinder, got it for $29 on sale at local HF. It's not precise and very underpowered but it does the job. I feel like my skill level is the weakest link right now, not the cheap tools I use, so this grinder is good enough to start. It is loud, so I use ear muffs. I have removed those stupid plastic covers and modified the knife rest. I will upgrade to something decent later when I feel that my knifes are good enough and start selling them. The cheap belts HF sells for under $2 for the pack of 5 are OK for profiling, but I highly recommend to get good zirconium belts. They are around $1.50 each but worth every penny.
 
Jason Magruder said:
You'll get better results faster from a 1x30. You need to put a good amount of pressure on the belt to fracture the grains and keep them sharp. With a 3x21 you'll need to press three times as hard to get the same psi as with a 1x30 and the little motors don't have the power for that. If you don't press hard enough you won't remove material very fast and the belt will dull quickly.
Click to expand...

Good info right there. Thanks to everyone who has replied. I think I will just use files until I can put together something better.
 
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