sharpening on belt sander

[Ed Lowenstein]

Does anybody have experience sharpening (knives, plane irons) on a stationary belt sander? I just found a source for 300 and 800 grit belts and I thought it might work well though I understand I'll need to try to estimate the blade angle and hold it by hand. Thanks much.

---> Ed

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Works for my lawnmower blade.

For a precision tool, it can probably be made to work, but easy for an"oops" also. Ed

[MSH]

I use a floor edger for my rough chisels. I use 100 grit. Eyeball the angle, a little on the backside too. I don't think 800 grit is going to last long against metal.

[David Shapiro]

Haven't tried it myself, but look at FWW October 2003, page 15-16. This technique was described in Methods of Work, with a drawing of a jig to make it easier.

David

Ed Lowenste> Does anybody have experience sharpening (knives, plane irons) on a

[John McCoy]

[e-mail] (Ed Lowenstein) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I tried it a couple of times, with poor results. I think the problem is that the belt isn't a rigid surface, but instead can flex a bit just past the edge of the (chisel, in my case) being sharpened. This lead to more work than I expected on the stones. YMMV.

John

[Kelly Shamash]

I am assuming it is a regular 1x30 or 1x42 sander, Lee Valley Tools

15 micron grit belts, supposedly equivalent to 1000x Japanese waterstone. I've tried it, gives reasonably sharp edge on my chisels.

[Preston Andreas]

They also have a leather belt and green honing compound ( 0.5µ ). I regularly use the 15µ belt and leather belt for sharpening and honing knives. You can set a steady rest at 25° or whatever angle and do a good job if you have a steady hand.

sells 15 micron grit belts, supposedly equivalent to 1000x Japanese

[Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D. P.A.]

Preferred by cutlers.

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

It's not pretty, but it'll work in a pinch.

Keep the sparks out of the dust bag / collector.

Barry

[Steve Knight]

you can use it to grind but belt sanders are just not accurate enough for the final grits. You have to have a platten that is flat and accurate under the belt. that helps a lot. but you can't really freehand them on a belt sander. I can freehand grind on my makita and sharpen freehand. but when I need to grind a regular plane iron I use a tool rest.