High Vs low speed leather belt?

[Ryansknives]

I’ve been using an old HF 1x30 belt sander for a while now. It’s lasted many more knives and years than I expected. Guess I got lucky.

Anyway I bit the bullet and bought a Kalamazoo 1x42 recently I’m fixing to order a Kallyrest. On the HF I usually keep an angle guide. I often freehand slack belt my personal stuff or if I can’t get something to work with the rest. I freehand large stuff like machetes and hatchets axes large hunting / camp knives.

This weekend I was messing around with the 1x42. It’s a low speed 1750 rpm. The belt is going obviously slower than the HF, which is screaming fast. I initially started with a Trizact A65 (240 grit I think) then a Trizact A30 (600 grit) then on to the leather belt with green compound. For the 1x30 I also have 1000 grit ish and 3000 grit belts. But I stopped using them regularly they just heat up way to fast.

I noticed right away a major difference when using the leather belts! I don’t know if the leather belt I got for the 1x42 is if a lower quality or what. After the A65 to the leather belt on the 1x30 it would only take like 2 quick passes to remove the burr. The edge would not be polished but perty sparkly. A few more passes and it would shine. With the low speed 1x42 it just seemed to take forever to remove the burr. I did not time anything but the longest part was the damn leather belt removing the burr. I went ahead and worked a knife a little longer on the leather to see if it would shine. Well it did but it seemed to take way longer.

So are leather belts better going really fast? Or am I possibly doing something wrong? I don’t really intend to polish knives on a belt sander I’m more concerned with removing the burr.

 

[HeavyHanded]

Faster is better as long as it tracks well and doesn't vibrate too much.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

For removing a burr more efficiently, I'd rather use something like a white rouge compound (aluminum oxide). Green compound used on a powered apparatus generates a lot of heat very quickly and may or may not remove the burr anyway, depending on the steel. Aluminum oxide has a reputation for dissipating heat better in powered applications and it's also very good at quickly removing even stubborn, stiff and very ductile burrs. It'll polish very quickly too. So, if not wanting to polish, it may be better to clean up the burr by hand alone, on a simple strop. No significant heat risk doing it that way, although I've even noticed my blade edges get warm after a few passes on a leather strop with green compound.

I don't use belts, but discovered the heat risk with green compound as used on a buffing wheel for a Dremel. It gets at least hot enough to melt Delrin handle scales if one lingers too long (more than a second or so) in one spot.

 

[Ryansknives]

Cool I’ll try out the white compound and see how it goes. I’m also thinking of using my HF as a dedicated machine for leather belt.

 

[CasePeanut]

Leather belts like high speed. Also trying raising the angle to remove the burr. If you sharpen at 15-20 dps, then go a little higher when you strop to 20-25 Dps