Power Belt Sander

NotSoSharpBob

NotSoSharpBob

Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Messages
255
Hi..Inherited my dad's Loray 1x30 belt sander sharpener. It uses a clamp system like the Lansky and the sharpener is like a woodworking sander laying horizontal and running at low speed.

My question is I can get the burrs on both edges, leather belt them off and pop hairs but I'm not sure I'm going about it the right way. Specifically belt grits.

Any suggestions. So far I have started with 120 grit gone to 240 then finished with 320 just before the leather belt.

Is this a good spread? I assume with a really dull knife I would need more grinding power than a 120 grit but I have a hard time determining the levels of dull.

Thanks for any insight or tips

Bob
 
Unless you're regrinding the blade, I think 120 would be fine. For machetes and such on the first sharpening or to take out damage, I'll go to 80 grit. I've been going from 180 grit to leather lately, so the in between grits aren't strictly necessary. I do like to use 220 or 320 for sharpening, but they are not locally easily available. The 180 belt is pretty worn and puts a very nice finish on the edge. I have gone as high as the Lee Valley 9 micron (1200 grit) belts, but that was just to see what would happen.
 
I have not heard the name Loray for long time I almost bought the same outfit years ago. Grampa Loray as he liked to be called said his ideas were often copied and used with out his permission:mad: I will not go in to details but he was very bitter at the time. He had interesting ideas on sharpening way ahead of his time:)
 
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Don't know if anyone here's seen this, but when I Googled the Loray sharpener, I found these:

http://sharpeningmadeeasy.com/Loray.htm

http://users.ameritech.net/sharpening/Loray2.htm

The belt sanding mechanism looks pretty unique, especially when combined with the guided clamp assembly, but the clamp & hone assembly looks an awful lot like the Lansky clamp (but, before the Lansky I presume?). Very interesting. I don't see any dates in these links, so I'm wondering what the time frame was...
 
Thanks for the Loray links. I had not seen one of those. The M30 I have is a little different than the M19 but I get no answer back from the sons who apparently are running the Loray company now as to what the difference is between the two. I had also heard Grandpa had a unique personality. I remember my dad telling me he talked to him several times in search of a sharpening system so I guess he sold my dad!

My dad taught me how to use it and I can get a hair popping edge off of it. The sharperner is in overall good shape after I gave it a good cleaning and oiling this weekend so I know I have a lot more years with it I was just trying to get some feedback on belt grits. Like when I get a knife from someone to sharpen I pretty sure I can get it sharper but I don't know how to tell how dull it is when I start and subsequentally what grit belt I should start with. An 80? 60? 100? A 120 has always worked good for me but I'm always yearning to learn how to get to the ultimate edge.

Thanks for everyone's input
 
NotSoSharpBob said:
... I don't know how to tell how dull it is when I start and subsequentally what grit belt I should start with. An 80? 60? 100? A 120 has always worked good for me but I'm always yearning to learn how to get to the ultimate edge.
Click to expand...

In general, if you're not really sure how 'dull' your knife is before you start, it's always good to start off with the highest (finest) grit first. If that gets the job done, so much the better. If not, then take one step back to the next lower grit, and see if that works, and so on. That way, if the edge really doesn't need that much work, you don't end up grinding too much of it away. After a time, if you get in the habit of sharpening frequently, you'll quickly develop a feel for where to start, based on what your edge looks/feels like.

Good luck. Thanks for posting here. I hadn't seen this rig before, so I found it to be very interesting. :thumbup:
 
Thanks OWE

I like the rig for sure, easy edge in short time. So I understand what you're suggesting fully you're saying start out with the finest grit I can that still gives me the first burr on each side?
 
NotSoSharpBob said:
Thanks OWE

I like the rig for sure, easy edge in short time. So I understand what you're suggesting fully you're saying start out with the finest grit I can that still gives me the first burr on each side?
Click to expand...

If the knife is really dull (won't cut anything; requiring a re-bevel, more or less), then I'd start with a coarser grit to establish a burr. But sometimes, all you might need is a light touch-up, in which case, raising a significant burr (if any) wouldn't likely be necessary. You can likely get it sharp again using a finer grit. When you're still not sure about how dull the edge is initially, the idea is to keep it as light as possible when starting out, just to make sure you aren't taking off more metal than necessary. As I said before, this is something you'll develop a feel for, the more you do it.

For the most part, the burr should only be created once (at the beginning of the process), then the finer grits are utilized to gradually reduce/remove the burr. Stropping afterwards should remove whatever small trace is left of the burr.

Dave
 
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