Woodworking disk/belt sander for knife making?

Z

zippin44

Joined
Aug 13, 2007
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I've been a woodworker for a while and would like to try my hand at knife making. Could I get by for a while with my Powermatic 6"x48" belt/12" disk sander, or is it too crude of a machine? I can get pretty much any grit belt for it.
 
i use a 9" disc sander to do about 90% of my grinding. how true does your disc run and what grit discs can you get for it? you can use the belt sander to clean up the grinds.
 
It runs fairly smooth but there's definitely room for improvement. THe disk runs true but the machine itself hops around a bit. Some sand bags in the cabinet should end that.

I can get precise miter joints (corner joints) for cabinet and picture frames. The nice thing about that machine is that it has a good size adjustable table and dust collection. I'd hate to buy another machine - or should I say my S.O. would hate for me to by another machine.
 
if you use it just make sure to clean up any sawdust so you dont have any unwanted fires. practice with a blade blank made from hardwood first which saves on abrasives and steel.
 
I use a 6x48 King Canada belt and disc sander to grind out my knives. Actually works better for certain things than my 1x42 Delta, especially grinding out the bevels on longer knives and such. I even have a knifemaking instructional video that shows how to use a 6x48 sander to grind out bowie blades. I use the belt part, not the disk to grind out the blades. The disk is vertical mounted to the side of the machine and is not easy to grind a blade like that. A horizontal disk grinder would work well though.
 
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