purchased my first belt sander

Ray_Gears said:
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
Click to expand...

Great info, thanks Ray! :thumbup:
 
Dave Rishar said:
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.
Click to expand...

how does micron compare to grit? and how do those compare to the difference grades of rouge?

bladite
 
Nasty said:
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.
Click to expand...

i've been advised to skip the Griz entirely... as in "i was hoping it didn't suck, and it did - stay away"...

i'll quote this one "If you have the money, get a BaderIII with 2hp variable speed 2x72". If not, get a coot, hardcore, or similar."

but for $100 or so? that harbor freight can't suck TOO much ;)

bladite
 
Bladite said:
how does micron compare to grit? and how do those compare to the difference grades of rouge?
Click to expand...

The Magic Eight Ball says...

http://www.facetingmachines.com/grit-mesh-micron.shtml

BAM! Be advised that Japanese grit numbers -- as in waterstones -- are not on the same scale as these.

As you can see, a 9 micron belt (when new) is pretty damned fine for what we're doing here. #1800 is easily fine enough to shave body hair with, although I wouldn't want to trim whiskers dry with it. As finer belts are costly and hard to find, I don't bother; I just skip from 9 micron to the leather belt and chromium oxide, then hand strop if necessary a few times after that. If I'm really taking my time and being careful I'll follow a fresh 9 micron belt with one that's nearly worn out, as this tends to leave a more polished finish than a new one.

By comparison, the Lee Valley green honing compound is .5 micron/#60,000, IIRC. Going from 9 to .5 micron (as some of us do) is a pretty big jump, but using a charged leather belt on powered equipment makes it possible. The only other compounds that I have laying around are what Sears makes; you'd have to ask them for the specifics. Without knowing more I believe the white one to leave the finest finish, although I can't prove that. The black seems to be the coarsest.

The advantage of some approaches over others is not the degree of polish left, but rather the comparison between the resulting polish and the aggression of the medium. I really like the finer belts that Lee Valley sell because they're quite aggressive for the finish that they leave; the 15 micron in particular cuts incredibly fast for its smoothness. I like their green compound for the same reason -- it will just about produce a mirror finish but it won't take all day to do so. Both items will function on the supersteels just fine; I've used both on S30V and ZDP-189, either of which will simply tear up natural hones.

I will repeat for the record that some of us (well, me, at least) tend to refine edges far more than is necessary. A khukuri doesn't need a #1800 or better edge to chop wood; I sharpen my axes on the #120 belt and they work just fine. (And they shave, albeit roughly...even the splitting maul. Edge formation is more important than edge polish.) There's nothing wrong with this, but don't think that a khukuri has to catch hair above the skin to do its job. It doesn't.
 
Thank you dave,,
I too have just got the belt sander and all the belts and the (leather one) and the green compound, it is going to be a long weekend.

P.S. do you need some Ballistol?
 
Gunmaurer said:
P.S. do you need some Ballistol?
Click to expand...

I bought a jerry can of the stuff a while back. I'm good to go.

Give me a call sometime, but not from the base -- I've blocked most of their numbers. :) I currently work 2130-0600 Sunday through Thursday nights with occasional overtime during the days. I should be off from Thursday morning to Sunday evening this week, assuming that nothing shakes loose. I'll give you a hand getting that sander up and running.

You still have my email, right? If not, you can email me through Bladeforums.

Good to see you here. Stop lurking and welcome to the forum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top