Quick tip

[scdub]

Thought I'd share this before I head off to work...

I bought something called a belt cleaner. It's designed to rub on a moving belt to take out grit and extend the belt life. Well, today as I was grinding on impulse I used it to hold down my blade on the belt - and it works great. It's 1.5 X 1.5 X 6". It's a great size, I use it often since I'm already holding it, but best of all it's kind of rubbery so it sticks to the knife just where I place it.

Try it out.

 

[GibsonFan]

Cool safety tip in light of the guys who've gotten hurt lately. Thanks!

I've seen those in catalogs and at HF... how does it work as a belt dresser? I'd love to keep my belts cleaner longer. I've been using a regular file card but it's probably not the best way.

 

[J.McDonald Knives]

ive used them before and they work well. i just got my shipment of 6 dozen belts in today and it came with a free dresser. go get one and try it out. its basically a big soft eraser.

 

[GibsonFan]

Cool, I love stuff that's cheap and handy like that. Maybe some folks will add more quick tips to this thread. *hint-hint*

 

[J.McDonald Knives]

i use just a piece of dowel that is tapered on 2 sides towards the front and then round off the front as a push stick. if you have an old broom handle you can cut off a piece about 4-5" long and make it. its easy to use and its even cheaper and i feel that i can get better control especially when starting your bevels.

 

[TekSec]

I use one of the belt "erasers" from HF and it works well, especially for cleaning stabilized wood grindings out after working a handle. Another good one, some may have seen a few makers doing it, is use a file handle on stick tangs to hold the blade while grinding. Give you a handle instead of just a spike of metal to grab.

 

[GibsonFan]

Good one TekSec; I keep an old, crappy but reasonably safe and comfortable file handle on my bench, and use it with various files that didn't come with handles.

 

[G L Drew]

I have been using a magnet for years to hold down my blades on the flat platten. It requires a ceramic liner on the platten so the magnet doesn't snap the blade to the sand paper by attracting to the steel platten. A de-magnetizer is nice to get the blade back to normal so it doesn't pick up shavings in the shop.

 

[indian george]

Try a old sneaker to clean the belt.

 

[J.McDonald Knives]

ive got a tip, when at someones house and they ask you to cut something and hand you the angle grinder, make sure you have the right cutting wheel on it before you begin cutting.