What's a good belt sander for sharpening?

Dinozzo has a very good point. It's extremely easy to overheat the EDGE. The edge can easily overheat before the heat travels to the thicker part of the blade.
A belt sander can be a great sharpening tool, if you know how to use it.
Convex edges are no better than conventional edges (which are convexed to a degree, anyway.) I think a lot of people just use the sanders and strops to get a pretty, polished edge.
 
Decanon and Bill D have it right.

Don't know your experience level, but jumpin into a belt sander is like tryin a HALO first time skydiving.

Maybe try the paper wheels first, cheaper and safer.
 
Fubarski said:
Decanon and Bill D have it right.

Don't know your experience level, but jumpin into a belt sander is like tryin a HALO first time skydiving.

Maybe try the paper wheels first, cheaper and safer.
Click to expand...

Well what the best way to learn? Practice on the real thing. if i mess up some cheap blades, what is the problem with that?

Eventually ill get good enough to do my more expensive blades
 
Belt sanders are great, most knifemakers do the initial sharpening work on a beltsander, some even do all their sharpening on one. Just don't start off practicing on a nice blade, once you get the hang of it though it's easy to do safely.
 
Fubarski said:
Decanon and Bill D have it right.

Don't know your experience level, but jumpin into a belt sander is like tryin a HALO first time skydiving.

Maybe try the paper wheels first, cheaper and safer.
Click to expand...

IME, paper wheels are at least 10X more likely to totally ruin a blade than a belt sander.:thumbdn::thumbdn::thumbdn:
 
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