I need help!!!/bench belt sander

killerskill

killerskill

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I want to go to home depot right now and buy one. I was reading the threads about bench belt sanders and Hossoms tutorial, what exactly do I need to get? and will home depot have it? I have a gift certificate. I've used them before on knives, my grandfather tought me how when I was a kid, it's been years, but I can start on cheap knives. but what grit belts do I need? A list of exactly what I need to get would be verry helpful. I'll post my results. Thanks
 
They all work. If your Home Depot's selection mirror's mine, you'll be nabbing a 4" x 36" belt sander with a disc attachment. Pew pew pew, I know, but Jeff Clark uses one to start out his edges. The belt selection at Home Depot (at least the two near me) is a bit sparse, so maybe ordering from www.trugrit.com or www.customsandingbelts.com would be better. An 80 or 100 grit belt works great for thinning edges and 180, 220, 320, 400, 600, and 800 grit belts can be found. Try calling Hand American and see if Keith has any 4"x36" leather belts for final polishing of the edge or stick with a 600 or 800 grit silicon carbide belt and enjoy its finish getting finer and finer with every use.

Avoid open-coated belts for sharpening if you can. I got exposure to the lesson, but didn't actually learn until Bill DeShivs, Cliff Stamp, and Bastid schooled me on my choice.

If they have a 1"x30" or 1"x42" sander, nab it and go to www.leevalley.com for your high-grit sanding belt needs (other places sell the coarser grits for much less).

Hope that's helpful.
 
Open Coat – A coated abrasive product in which abrasive grain covers approximately 50-70% of the coat side surface to help resist loading.

Closed coat - A coated abrasive product covered 100% by abrasive grain on the coat side of the backing for maximum abrasive exposure.

I've ordered belts from customsandingbelts.com and www.supergrit.com Supergrit's were better quality.... my opinion.
 
me2 said:
How do you tell the difference?
Click to expand...

When you need more than one 100 grit belt to fix a damaged edge on a 10" blade and when your D8XX hone usually pwns your belt sander, it's an open-coat belt.

cbwx34,

I meant Supergrit, not Trugrit. My mind is toast today.
 
Ok, I got a 6' ryobe bench grinder, but all they have are the medium grinding stones/wheels. I want to get leather ones like the people who sharpen knives at bass proshops use, but they didn't have any there. I also got a 4"x36" bench belt&disc sander. all they had there was the 80 grit that it came with. I'm ready to start some projects. I have old big knives I wat to mess with and I have some bars of steel too. What I really wanted to do first was sharpen but all they had was the coarse wheels and belts. I guess I need to get some finerand finer grits then leather. What else do I need to know, and are there any tutorials online I can read. I want to put false edges on some of my old big ontarios and on a Buck/Strider folder to start. any info is very much apprecieated. thanks.
 
See I don't think the ryobe 4''x36'' will wok for anything. The belt isn't free hanging like these, it has a back, and 4'' might be too wide anyway. I got a bench grinder too. I saw all the different wheels I can get, some to put a satin finish on, wich I like the idea of that, and alot of different ones for sharpening. The bench grinder seems to be the best investment so far with all the different wheels just for knives I can put on it for only $39. but the bench belt sander cost well over $100 and' it just seems to be the totally wrong thing.Here's a link to the bench grinder I got. I can take off the gaurds too http://www.ryobitools.com/power-tools/tool/bgh827/ And here's to the bench belt sander, can someone tell me if it's worthless for knife work? or will it be ok? http://www.ryobitools.com/powertools/tool/bd4600/ If it's no good for knives I'll pawn it and get this one at sears, that craftsman makes, that looks exactly like the ones they sell on knifemaking supply sites. so what do you guys think I should do? And help is VERY apprecieated. thanks in advance.
 
accually the grinder is the 6'' but that doesn't seem to matter, all the wheels come in either both sizes or sell adapters to fit.1/2 or 5/8.
 
The bench grinder can help if you're making knives (if you're near Vegas, contact John T. Wylie, Jr. and Neil Blackwood), but sharpening most knives works better with a belt sander.

I mentioned the 4" x 36" because it's at Home Depot and because Jeff Clark uses one and doesn't curse its existence. Another option is to use your Home Depot gift card for non-knife stuff and buy a 1" x 30" sander from Harbor Freight ($33 plus s/h as I type this) and a range of belts from www.supergrit.com , www.customsandingbelts.com , or Lee Valley.
 
4" wide with a stiff, supported abrasive surface that won't deform sounds like qualities of a good benchstone. Having it do most of the work by having the abrasive move instead of working the blade back and forth (much faster to boot) is a bonus. But that's just if you aren't set on making convex edges, though that is still doable.

The bench grinder will turn really fast and ruin your day very quickly if you cut in with the edge of the stone when you don't want to.
 
What I'm saying about the bench grinder is, they sell these wheels not made of stone., made to sharpen knives, and made to put a satin finish on it too. Here's a link to the satin type wheel http://jantzsupply.com/cartease/item-detail.cfm?ID=CNSMF and here's to polishing type wheels http://jantzsupply.com/cartease/item-detail.cfm?ID=WK612 and heres to sharpening system wheels, Something like these. There are all kinds of different ones, but all these things will work with my $39 Ryobe bench grinder. http://users.ameritech.net/knives/paper.htm So what do you think of these? ever used anything like it? my main goal is to make knives, but I have to start somewhere, and learning how to put a real factory edge on a knife, and a beautiful satin finish, like on a Camillus CQB-1, on an old scratched up knife is a great start I think. This is all I think about, I have alot of passion for knives. As for an art and for the SD aspect. plus I'm a chef and I have one in my hand all day long. I can allready sharpen any knife to a razors edge on anything.I sharpen everyons at work all the time too, and tought anyone that wanted to learn. And fix my people at works and friends knives, that takes up all my spare time, and my wife and reading and church. even if I don't have anything I can almost do it on a rock. But now I want to move forward in this thing that I love. So do you think that these wheels for my grinder are the right things to get?
 
Make sure the wheels are rated for the speed of your grinder, which is probably 3600 RPM.
1800 RPM works much better.
Your Ryobi 4X36 will be useful for flattening handle materials, and if you get good belts you can cut steel with it. It's just not ideal for knifemaking.
Bill
 
I spent some time today learning about closed coat v.s. open coat. Wow!

I have a HF 1x30, got it for around $30, lucky enough to have a HF store not too far away. I bought a couple of 80 grit belts to go with it. They are open coat. They work fast, but for some reason really burn my edges bad. Know what happens when you discolor a tip and try sanding it again? I do!!!! :D It disappears!

I just got an assortment from Lee Valley, and tried some of their closed coat belts in 40 and 120 grit, as well as some 40 and 20 micron belts, and a leather belt loaded with CrO. The 40 grit *really* hogs off the metal, which is what I'm looking for, the 120 does so at a more leisurely pace, and the 20 micron puts a nice satin finish on. None of these has the heat buildup that I had with the open coat belts. The edge still gets warm, but keep the steel moving and wait 20 or 30 seconds between passes, and no water dunk needed.

Whomever you buy them from, they're worth the price!
 
my buddy bought a 1X30 from Harbor Freight and some extra belts from Leevalley. It took him a few old knives before he got the hang of it...and now he tells me that it is awesome.

I'll be at Harbor freight this wednesday to pick one up.
 
double reply with a question...I know I want a leather belt for honing...please guide me on the other belts that I will need.

Thanks!
 
Killerskill,

Did the CD finally show up?

Is everything in your house now convexed and hair-popping fresh?
 
The 40 or 80 grit for hogging off metal, and a finer one for fine/polishing work. All the in-between stuff probably is used more by makers than me. Keep in mind I've only done this for a little while, so I might be waaaaay off the mark here. But so far, that's what I'd do in addition to the leather.
 
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