Sharpening question

[edctac]

I am planing on making a guided system, and was thinking about using sand paper. How well does sand paper work for sharpening? I would most likely be building it to only fit sand paper, and be able to swap out grits.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The wet/dry variety (silicon carbide abrasive), from brands like 3M or Norton, works excellently. The coarser grits (below 400 or so) will wear and lose some aggressiveness a little faster, but if you're not doing heavy re-bevelling all the time, you likely won't need them as much. The fine grits wear down also, but that can be an advantage in polishing your edges. They'll leave a higher polish with some use. When used wet (with water), the paper won't load up as fast, so it should be all the more effective. And the tactile feedback is great with the wetted paper.

Don't be shy about posting pics of your system, when it's ready.

 

[HeavyHanded]

YMMV
In my opinion, a hard stone of some sort is a better option in most cases. It is very difficult if not impossible to remove the burr using an edge trailing stroke, and edge leading on sandpaper doesn't seem to make a better edge than any other method while not being as durable. The main advantage sandpaper has is that its light-weight, can be wrapped around a curved surface for different edge types, and comes in large sizes. I use a series of bonded belts glued to wood to create extra large "stones" for sharpening machetes and feel the belt material is far superior to the average sheet of wet/dry. One of these days I'll buy a jumbo stone and stop using it for that as well.

That said, I've gotten very good results using wet/dry, but wouldn't feel too positive about building a guided system around it unless space and weight were very important to the design, or it was a powered unit.

 

[edctac]

I guess the main reason is that it would be easier to make something that can hold sand paper, and not worry about how to atatch several different kinds of stones. And sand paper is pretty cheep.

 

[RubiconSS]

I am planing on making a guided system, and was thinking about using sand paper. How well does sand paper work for sharpening? I would most likely be building it to only fit sand paper, and be able to swap out grits.

Yes, Absolutely. Most knives probably become "knives" at the end of the transformation process by meeting Sandpaper (albeit probably on a belt sander)
But for sake of the sharpening you may be doing:

Coarse for shaping and removing material (re-profiling if done by the new owner)
Medium for refining the edge
Fine for finishing that edge and polishing

I use 1500 grit (and up) on my guided system (Wicked Edge)

Works great.

 

[C.Grage]

look forward to seeing it when you are ready.

 

[edctac]

Well I got a lot on my plate right now, but in the next few weeks or so