Which sander is best for INFI?

Pygmalion

Pygmalion

Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
988
I've decided to bite the bullet and purchase a belt sander. I know nothing about them, and would appreciate any input.
Is there any one particular sander that stands out as the best for home use. It won't get a lot of use, just sharpening my own personal knives as they need it.
Also, what grits should I make sure and get?
 
If all you're doing is sharpening, the cheap $40 1x30 from Harbor Freight will work just fine.


Really, any 1x30 or 1x42 is good - it doesn't matter much. A high end model with variable speed control would be nice, I guess, but it's not really necessary. It's more important to find someplace to buy a good selection of fine grit belts. I get mine from Lee Valley.
 
MustardMan said:
If all you're doing is sharpening, the cheap $40 1x30 from Harbor Freight will work just fine.


Really, any 1x30 or 1x42 is good - it doesn't matter much. A high end model with variable speed control would be nice, I guess, but it's not really necessary. It's more important to find someplace to buy a good selection of fine grit belts. I get mine from Lee Valley.
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+1 to all that. There are plenty of threads about the HF 1x30 on the Maintenance Forum here. Jerry Hossom has very good info over on that other knife forum.
 
Din, you're a nut case! Just like me...but nonetheless a nut case!

I'm too scared to use a power sander on my INFI. Just call me a nut case.
 
I use the Kalamazoo 1" x 42" sander. It also works on cheap knives.

NMSFNO001.jpg
 
I don't have the HF, but I have pretty much the exact same sander from grizzly. Don't expect a high quality tool for the price you're paying. The belt likes to slip to the side a little bit, but works fine for sharpening. I stopped using the leather belt on it entirely, at the high speed you're better off hand stropping. It's great for reprofiling to convex however, and I use it up to my 15 micron belt, then I switch to a hand stop with green compound, then pink compound.
 
I'd avoid anything besides a 1x for a sharpening sander, easier to control how much of the blade is being ground at once.
 
What speed is it? The cheaper ones are still running around 3400 rpm. It's pretty hard to destroy the temper on INFI, i'm not overly worried about heat, especially if you consider i've yet to even get a blade warm. The only thing about the speed sucking for me is when you get to the leather and the finer belts, I think you could benefit from a slower moving belt.
 
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