purchased my first belt sander

Jaiofspam

Jaiofspam

Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
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ordered a harbour freight 1x30" belt sander :thumbup:
dont know what kind of belt it comes with soooooo...

i purchased this stuff from lee valley:
honing compound (6oz. of green stuff)
leather honing belt
15micron silicon carbide belt
1200 grit aluminum oxide belt
500 grit aluminum oxide belt
320 grit aluminum oxide belt
180 grit aluminum oxide belt

is this all i need or should i pickup something else before i get started? any advice when all this stuff arrives?
most of the info i absorbed so far is from kosters webpage :D
no real hands on yet though... any help is appreciated
 
Hey cool, maybe I can bring my khuks and katana down and we can sharpen them? Yeah, that's it, we'll practice on yours and when we find the right combination we can sharpen mine.:D

Seriousely, let us know how it goes, cuz I can't sharpen anything by hand.:eek:
 
come on down bro lol... youre just about 1.5hrs away on a good day :rolleyes:
ohhh mannn dont know what im really getting myself into :D i'll start on all my kitchen knives orrrr a butter knife to practice with? i think it would be a good idea to whip out the kevlar gloves :eek:
 
If you happen to know any machinists, ask one of them to show you how to do it safely.

Be careful...
 
Start with a cheap kitchen knife for practice. I'd start with the 400 or 1200. Go very lightly at first. Don't get the blade hot. Be careful with the tip, it's easy to round it off.

Steve
 
Gloves might be a mistake -- they can give the whirring bits something to grab hold of.

Do you have a Salvation Army or Goodwill store nearby? That would be a good place to get cheap pre-ruined knives to practice on.
 
Now that you've got a sander you need to make yourself a Po-Boy Puukko. Its a real satisfying feeling to make your own knife.

Kevlar gloves, I'd say no. The knifemaker I got some training from does it bare knuckle.
 
I dont see any coarse belts for blade profiling in your list? The belts you have are perfect for finishing up the blades but you need some grinders too. Get yourself some 50 grit, 80, and some 120 grits too. Use the coarse belts to grind out the blade from the steel billets. You will need several of each. Happy grinding.:thumbup:
 
ok... so far no gloves but a first aid kit lol
some grinding belts... go slow and get somebody experienced to show you how to do it safely

and make your own knife lol :D

cant wait till it arrives

EDIT: going to order 40,80,120grit blue zirconia grinding belts next payday from lee valley. anythings else i need?
 
I wonder if a speed control would be worth having. I'm thinking of something that behaves a bit like a dimmer switch for a light, so that you can slow the belt down. Anyone know if these are good to have for a belt sander?

(I have one for a router and don't much like it. If you set it at say, 50%, it does slow down, but put any load on it and it just bogs down.)
 
You missed the 9 micron belt. You won't need the very coarse ones. I've never needed to go coarser than 40 micron and I only use that if there's fairly serious edge damage; I don't normally go above 20 micron for an initial sharpening and touch-ups never require more than 15 micron. My 9 microns get used the most. 40 micron is pretty darned coarse. (And the steel will get hot. Fast.) Keep a bucket of water nearby. Wear eye protection. Watch that edge, it's out to get you!

What Nasty said. Belt sanders rock, but that's the second most dangerous tool most people will ever own. (Buffers are the first.) Life will suck if something goes wrong and things can go wrong quickly. Keep it in mind and stay safe.

I've been hit with khukuries several times but I've never been injured by my belt sander. One interpretation of this is that I respect the sander more. That's probably the case.
 
wow sounds like some dangerous stuff :eek:
so what will i really need?
i have not ordered the 40,80 & 120grit belts yet... do i really need these?
what about the stuff i already ordered?
 
I get by with 40 micron, 20 micron, 15 micron and 9 micron. With the leather belt and the green compound (which is excellent, BTW) I'm set. I rarely use the 40 micron and don't use the 20 micron much, either. 9 micron gets the most use by far.

Disclaimer: I don't make cutlery, I merely sharpen (and occasionaly repair) it. People who do more, need more.
 
Dave's advice is right on for sharpening, but for grinding a knife you'll need the rough stuff.
 
ferguson said:
Start with a cheap kitchen knife for practice. I'd start with the 400 or 1200. Go very lightly at first. Don't get the blade hot. Be careful with the tip, it's easy to round it off.

Steve
Click to expand...

Steve, I have run into this myself. Do you raise the edge to prevent this at the tip? I skip the gloves because I want to feel the blade heating up.

It is always a struggle to know how much of a bevel to apply to a dull knife. Can you tell me, what did you think of the edge I put on Danny's FF I sent you? Please be honest and tell me if it was wrong. I know you had to do some more work on it.

Right now I am doing just a primary edge with a 220 grit belt, which is the highest I have, and then finishing on the buffer. They are very sharp, but you can see the slight bevel I'm adding.

I need to get some more belts, as well as a leather 1X42. For leather right now I am just using the 4X36 sander with a belt lifter, but that doesn't work too well for the inside curve.

Thanks for any feedback, and sorry didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Norm
 
FallingKnife said:
I wonder if a speed control would be worth having. I'm thinking of something that behaves a bit like a dimmer switch for a light, so that you can slow the belt down. Anyone know if these are good to have for a belt sander?

(I have one for a router and don't much like it. If you set it at say, 50%, it does slow down, but put any load on it and it just bogs down.)
Click to expand...

No No don't use dimmer switches on any motorized machinery unless you know for sure it is compatible!:eek: Dimmer switches reduce the voltage going through your motors. When voltage goes down the motor will draw more amperage to compensate. When this happens a motor will overheat and burn out.:rolleyes:
As you stated your router doesn't like it. Dimmer switches are made for incandesent lightbulbs but motors work much differently. My best advice would be to contact the manufacturer and ask them if there is a speed control kit.
I bought a Wilton square wheel grinder 20 years ago. I added a speed controler from Wilton a year later. I had to replace the motor with a DC motor and hook up the DC speed switch. It was like having a brand new machine, and it does nice work. Well worth the money and effort.:thumbup:
 
Bufford: Thanks. That looks like good advice. I doubt that HF has a decent speed control, though. That's where I got my router speed control. While I'm not certain that the word "dimmer" is a correct description of it, I suspect it is.
 
Be super-careful and practice on throw-away knives.

I learned both these things.


Mike
 
i hope you fellows don't mind me posting a pair of links to another forum. jerry hossom has 2 threads on knifeforums about sharpening with a harbor freight belt sander. jerry tells what belts to buy and describes how to do the job. i have used an inexpensive ontario machete sharpened by jerry and its performance is out of this world.

Sharpening My Way

Back To Sharpening
 
Speed control wouldn't be worth it for this machine...wait until you commit and are ready to move to a Griz or similar grinder.

BTW...quench the blade at least twice as often and sooner than you think you need to.

Also...grind, quench, *then* look.
 
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