Thread: Sharpening with a Belt Grinder

You guys are scarin' me......I'm stickin' to hand honing......ummmmmmm maybe.....hahahahaha.

Lynn

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Thank you for the link to the leather sharpening belt.
I just happen to have a 1x42! I really want this to reduce the amount of time I spend removing nicks from blades.

Thanks again,

You're very welcome!

I think you'll love what the leather belt does for you. Here's another link to the kind Bill has. The leather belts are comparable to our hand strops, and will do the same kind of thing, either plain or pasted. They're just much faster.

I think if you want to take out anything other than tiny nicks you will probably want to go up to one of the fine grit belts. I see Lee Valley is offering a 15 micron, which should do the trick. I looked around and can't find where I got my 9 micron but I know they're out there somewhere. If I were just tooling up I might try to find an even finer one, maybe 5 or 6 micron.

Please be very careful of safety. Many knifemakers bear scars where their buffers or grinders caught a blade and made it into a projectile. This often happens when holding the blade with edge leading. Bill is a pro. Not only does he really know what he's doing, but he's also using an expensive variable speed grinder, which he says he uses at a "fast walk." That's different than the mandatory 3000 SFPM we'll get out of our cheap grinders. At 3000 SFPM the razor will be torn out of your hand and solidly embedded in your leg before the nerve impulse telling you it left your hand has made it to your elbow. That's why I grind with the edge trailing. I think grinding with the edge trailing is not as efficient, because you have to deal with those "wire edges." However, the extra safety is worth it to me.