Sanding Belts and Beckers

Col Defender

Col Defender

Joined
Nov 11, 2011
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1,398
At Ethan's Fall Gathering I had the opportunity to try out his belt sander and was able to sharpen and convex a couple of knives.

Well for Christmas I got a Sears 2x42 belt sander which I have not used yet. (Super cold in the shop) It came with one 80 grit belt which I think is pretty coarse to be touching up or convexing blades. But I was able to find some 400 and some 600 grit belts on line. And those are the only finer belts I have found so far.

Any advice on which belt to use or tips on how - again I'm not making knives just fine tuning them.

Thanks.
 
I use a worn 400 grit belt to sharpen my knives. works well for me.
 
we were using a well worn 220 grit belt at E's.
400 or 600 should work fine -- since the 2x42 will be moving faster than we had E's set at, the finer grit will help reduce catastrophic mistakes. ;)
 
Hey Col. Buy you a bunch of 280 and 320 grit belts. They are great to do a wide rande of work. As far as blade bevels there a little agressive for a knife that has already been sharp. But once they've worn. There great for just such purpose. In the meantime, you can use them for anything you want. The perfect utility grits.
 
The HD home improvement store has a line called "Diablo belts". Not sure if the have that size but they should. They are fairly inexpensive & last a lot longer than HF belts.
 
This is good stuff. I was thinking of getting the Crafstman sander, too, so it's nice to have a little help from those who know what they are doing.
 
I bought a Craftsman 2x42 that was defective. I hear they are great and a major step up from the HF, but if yours sounds like a jet taking off, and rattles, bring it back because that's not normal ...lol
Sadly now I dont have the space to use one, so I didn't exchange it, just returned it. I hope you have better luck than I did Col. and Grats on the new hobby.
 
for fast material removal, I like the Norton Blaze belts.
I'm also liking the gator belt I picked up in 400 grit - but haven;'t used it much, so we'll see how durable it is.
 
1066vik said:
for fast material removal, I like the Norton Blaze belts.
I'm also liking the gator belt I picked up in 400 grit - but haven;'t used it much, so we'll see how durable it is.
Click to expand...

I finish my knives with the 400 gator belts before I ecth them. I love those belts.
 
First try with my new toy this afternoon, using 400 grit belt. Both these knives are "pretty sharp" right now and with a little stone and strop work should be quite good later tonight. My technique needs improvement for sure but I hope practice will help. (At Ethan's I had a couple of coaches but I'm on my own now :-) )

F4451D1C_zps65c53839.jpg
 
First try with my new toy this afternoon, using 400 grit belt. Both these knives are "pretty sharp" right now and with a little stone and strop work should be quite good later tonight. My technique needs improvement for sure but I hope practice will help. (At Ethan's I had a couple of coaches but I'm on my own now :-) )

F4451D1C_zps65c53839.jpg
 
Col. If you say those knives are pretty sharp now. A new 400 grit belt is too aggressive for them. You need something a little finer.
 
Because most "super fine" belts are only avail through the mail, get a pack of the cheap HF belts. After just a little use, they will become "super fine" belt. I use them for the final edge.
 
TMHunt said:
Col. If you say those knives are pretty sharp now. A new 400 grit belt is too aggressive for them. You need something a little finer.
Click to expand...

Thanks TMHunt but I am a little confused. I said "pretty sharp" because I did not know exactly how to describe them. Obviously a couple of old knives that were dull but in a few minutes the 400 grit belt had them sharp enough to slash paper without any further work and without any damage or overheating of the metal. That said they are not sharp like a TMHunt knife.

Do you mean that if a 400 grit belt worked that fast that I should go to a finer belt to slow down the process or do you mean that a finer belt would have gotten them even sharper in the same amount of time? Not questioning your judgement in any way; I just want to be sure I know what you meant before I do anything else. I do have 600 grit belts here and was thinking that for me a 2 step process might work - start with 400 and finish with 600.

????

Steve
 
Sorry if I confused ya Steve. When I responded to 1066vic saying I love to 400 grit gator belts it had nothing to do with working the edges of knives, which that's what your doing. I finish my grinds with a 400 gb. What I ment to you was if you have a knife that's already been sharp. Unless its so dull that it will not cut at all in my opinion a NEW 400 grit belt MAY be to coarse. Of coarse without having your knives in my hand its hard to tell and I should of probably just kept my mouth shut.;) I have personally met you and know that you are a intellegent man and if you got them as sharp as you described then your judgment was correct and your mission was accomplished. I've got a catalog somewhere around here that you can order ever belt you could think of and some you can't. You'll be able to find anything you want. I'll try to locate it in the next day or so and I'll send you the link/info.
 
Thanks Tim

Understand now. This afternoon I may experiment if I have time (need to shoot a little and there is the game to watch). Think I will try a 600 grit belt just to see what happens. Maybe if that helps (and does no harm) then a touch up with stone and strop will be great.

Surely cannot hurt and thanks again for your wisdom.

Steve
 
They make leather 2x42 belts. I'd get my hands on one of those. With a little compound I bet those edges will be screaming sharp.
 
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