Super Sander

Fred.Rowe

Fred.Rowe

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
May 2, 2004
Messages
6,848
I picked this idea up from a young man at Bowies hammerin this year.
They were using the set up clamped in a vise. I just took it a step farther
by adding the dampining effect.

This set up has cut my blade finishing time by 2/3.
I start with 120 sticky paper and work through to 600 on this sanding block.

With the 3" foam base and the foam padding around the block sander you elliminate all the vibration.
Well worth the time invested.

Fred

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Fred, maybe I'm a dolt (alright, I'm definitely a dolt), but I don't get it. Does the sander remain inverted and you drag your blade across the sanding surface?
 
MrPurple said:
Fred, maybe I'm a dolt (alright, I'm definitely a dolt), but I don't get it. Does the sander remain inverted and you drag your blade across the sanding surface?
Click to expand...
Purple,
Correct, you use this in the platform up position. Moving the blade across the surface of the sanding platform.

I used a piece of rubber belting to replace the soft rubber that comes on one of these sanders. use contact cement to attach it to the platform surface. The material that comes on one of these is to soft. This setup will put a flat finish on a blade in 10 or 15 minutes. It producesthe best surface finish I have been able to produce with any other techique.
It works wonders when you do the sanding at the tip. It sands right against the plunge cuts at the ricasso.
Will be happy to answer any other questions.


Dolts are those folks who do not ask questions.:thumbup:

Fred
 
Now that looks pretty useful. Who needs WATERSTONES!? You know, I tried using a detail sander to finish blades, and I got nothing but tiny swirls no matter how vigorously I moved the piece. I need to practice more.
 
This technique (with vise mounting) was mentioned several years ago, too. (I think one person was Bruce Evans, to give credit.)

It was reported that palm sanders can have a couple of different motion options; some are even selectable. One worked better than the other, avoiding the "fish hooks". I don't remember if it was orbital, random orbital, or more likely linear. Maybe this will jog someone to remember or figure out which.

The other thing I remember is it being mentioned that a really hard platen made of micarta worked real well. Fits in with your idea of switching to the hard rubber from the soft stuff, Fred.

That's a pretty nice adaptation of the idea, Fred. :thumbup: Thanks.
 
Thanks a bunch Fred!!:D

I bought an orbital sander a few months ago to do exactly this. It works great. Cleans up the plunge area really quick, but it vibrates the heck out of my Mom's wrists holding it upside down.

I have been trying to come up with an idea for mounting it, so your post is like a Christmas present.

I'll do it like you did.
 
fitzo said:
This technique (with vise mounting) was mentioned several years ago, too. (I think one person was Bruce Evans, to give credit.)

It was reported that palm sanders can have a couple of different motion options; some are even selectable. One worked better than the other, avoiding the "fish hooks". I don't remember if it was orbital, random orbital, or more likely linear. Maybe this will jog someone to remember or figure out which.

The other thing I remember is it being mentioned that a really hard platen made of micarta worked real well. Fits in with your idea of switching to the hard rubber from the soft stuff, Fred.

That's a pretty nice adaptation of the idea, Fred. :thumbup: Thanks.
Click to expand...

It makes sence that makers would be working to adapt this usefull tool to knife making. I was getting ready to attach a 4x10 diamond stone to the sander in this post, when I saw the demonstration at Knoxville. I had been using the diamond stone, held in two hands, to get a nice "flat" blade finish.

They were using that product thats used as an anvil in stamping leather. Its like a hard rubber.
They said they had tried the harder materials and had foud that they transmitted to much vibration and made the blade bounce against the sandpaper.
Thats when I moved to the hard rubber option.
When I used the sander pinched in a vise it was hard to control the sanding pattern in the blade surface because of the, pulling motion set up by the undampened movement of the sander.itself.
In the jig I built the sander itself does not come into contact with anything that would transmit the vibration. It is surronded with a foam glove, so to speak. The surface you sand with is both controllable and predictable with
very little vibration, only occillation of the sanding surface.

I will look into one of the selective models they sound interesting

The only dawback; now I have no block sander to finish my wood projects.

Fred
 
I am revisiting this after some brain storming. I want a fine, hand rubbed finish....i assume this is impossible with a random orbit or orbital pattern since even if im pulling straight, the sandpaper is moving in circles.

Does a palm sander sized device exist that only sands in a linear pattern? What model? the only one i found was the Festool Duplex LS 130 EQ Linear sander, but its pricey....
 
Great ideas. As I did auto body and paint work for 25 years,I'm always looking for and finding ways to use my million dollars worth of tools. I have sandpaper down to 3000grit for a DA sander. If I come up with a super way to use it,Ill post.
 
Theres gotta be ways to do this. Doesnt a tool exist out there that simply mimics hand sanding's back and forth motion? Might not be best at high grits, but for everything below 800?

Seems like all it would need is a motor turning a hinged arm, oscillating a plate front and back at whatever RPM the motor runs at...find a way to attach sand paper, and youre done. maybe im overthinking....
 
I'm betting that if you use this for your medium and fine grits and then do your final very-fine by hand you'll still save about a bazillion hours.

Hand sanding the last step will give you the non-fishhook finish we all want. Lets say you want an 800 grit finish. Use the sander up to 1,000 and then do a quick 1,000 by hand and then go back up to a quick 800 by hand. Even doing two operations by hand at the end will still be faster than doing it all by hand.

I can't wait to try it. I've got 10 unfinished folder blades on my bench right now, so there's some incentive for me to check this out.

-Ben
 
This works soooooo good!!! You can take the finish down as far as you want. Then mount a hard rubber pad to a flat surface and finish the blade by hand, pulling the blade straight to get rid of the swirls. I finished a 10 in. bowie blade in about an hour and a half....before I would have been days:thumbup:
 
I use a black and decker with a mycarta board bolted to it. It save a bunch of time hand rubbing. The fish hooks are there, but at about 600 grit there pretty easy to remove by dropping back a grit and hand rubbing. I mainly use it for 320 and 400 grit to level out high and low spots.
 
Fred.Rowe said:
you are most welcome Raymond. It's well worth the effort to construct it.

Fred
Click to expand...

Fred, did you just clamp the sander body in 2x4s, or is that a solid piece of wood with a hole cut in it? How did you stabilize the sander in that block?

I can see the platform you screwed to the bottom of the block to hold the sander up off the foam, good idea. I don't get how you hold the sander in the wood block, though. Thanks for the pics!

Andy
 
"I bought an orbital sander a few months ago to do exactly this. It works great. Cleans up the plunge area really quick, but it vibrates the heck out of my Mom's wrists holding it upside down".

Now that's funny
 
Mark Pointen said:
"I bought an orbital sander a few months ago to do exactly this. It works great. Cleans up the plunge area really quick, but it vibrates the heck out of my Mom's wrists holding it upside down".

Now that's funny
Click to expand...

No, it's sad, but I made a foam box for it and her wrists are getting better. ;) :rolleyes: :D
 
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