Wading into a belt grinder.

RobertK

RobertK

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Been reading and watching videos about sharpening using a belt grinder and it's a little overwhelming. I wanted to ask some advice. I currently have a KME, but it and me both have limits. Perhaps mostly the latter, but I haven't been wholly happy with my successes. I have stones that I have had good results with, but like the KME, it's just very time consuming when I want to tackle something.

My use case would be pocket and kitchen knives, some fixed blades (5-13" range), etc. However, I am not a professional and have no aspirations of such. Mostly just my own, and maybe F&F. I also don't expect to pick up knifemaking. There do seem to be options all over the map, for as (almost) little to as much as you'd want to spend. Two routes on my radar would be a HF 1x3. Plus belts would be ~$100. Go the opposite direction and a Kalamazoo 1SM, belts, and if one wanted a Kallyrest is 5X the HF.
 
I have zero regrets about buying a harbor freight 1x30.

does what it's supposed to every time. just takes practice.

buy a couple sharpies to mark the edge and you should be good to go
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
I have zero regrets about buying a harbor freight 1x30.

does what it's supposed to every time. just takes practice.

buy a couple sharpies to mark the edge and you should be good to go
Click to expand...

That's the direction I am leaning. The cost is just so drastic, especially for someone with limited planned usage. I don't mind better tools, but it's hard to justify when usage is so low. I haven't read a lot about belts yet, but even a pre-assembled kit like this isn't crazy to me: https://prosharpeningsupply.com/col...ning-polishing-belt-buffing-compound-included ~$25!
 
I dont use mine much. so just like you're saying the investment is right where I'd like to be.

sharpening supplies.com has a nice selection of 1x30 belts. they can be found other places too. get a couple 36 grit (not REALLY necessary, but good for if you have a dinged up edge to fix) couple 220 grit and couple 1200 grit and you should be gtg.
 
I’ve always wondered how you figured what angle your at. They don’t have an adjustable platform do they?
 
sickpuppy1 said:
I’ve always wondered how you figured what angle your at. They don’t have an adjustable platform do they?
Click to expand...

There's an adjustable guide that looks to be about $12-15 bucks for the HF one, though you have to sharpening leading edge on it. For the 1SM I found the Kallyrest which is an adjustable guide to sharpen trailing edge.
 
Thanks! I noticed the Grizzly 1x30 has a simpler version for theirs. Food for thought…..
 
Yeah that’s just like the one I saw the first HF. It’s prob the same one.
 
For me personally, the HF 1x30 was not the right choice. The down sides for me:
* Low quality machine that vibrates and wobbles and is said to require a good bit of tuning to make it run nicely.
* Extremely high SFM (surface feet per minute) so that material is taken of quite quickly. More danger of high heat to the blade.
* Smaller selection of available belts compared to a 1x42.

The WorkSharp Ken Onion eliminates almost all of those. But it's not a "real" belt grinder and by the time you buy the BGA you're quite close to the cost of a 1x42. I like my WSKO, but haven't used it in well over a year since I got the 1SM.

The Kalamazoo 1SM runs pretty smoothly. Not perfect by any means, but it's a heavy quality tool. I found a pretty large selection of belts fairly easily and bought about a dozen different ones including Scotchbrite in 3 grades, leather, and quite a few from 36 grit up to 3000. It's speed seems just about right to me. I have rarely (if ever?) been surprised by removing too much metal. If anything, I occasionally think that it's too slow. But then, slower is safer. I generally only think things aren't going fast enough when I'm doing a really big job, like reprofiling a blade with a bit of thickness to it.

All that being said, lots and lots of people have achieved good results with the HF. It just wasn't the tool for me. I was willing to spend the extra money. ...and yes, I also bought the (somewhat expensive) KallyRest.

If I was really trying to do this the best way possible and spend as little as possible, I wouldn't buy an HF. Instead I'd go watch a bunch of videos from Curry Custom Cutlery on youtube. Curry has worked with a pretty wide variety of inexpensive sanders, including ones that can run a second tool (like a buffing wheel) at the same time. He's made quite a number of mods to them to make them run true and smooth. As I recall he has two or three machines that are in the same price range as the HF, but work better after his mods. I particularly like his "box around the sander", which allows him to run it upright or horizontally just by laying it down, as the box has square sizes in two dimensions. Might be worth your time to do some investigation.

Good luck!

Brian.
 
After using an Edgepro for years and struggling to get consistent and timely results, I purchased a Viel S5M and was able to get great results. But, this grinder (in unmodified form) is *way* too fast, potentially leading to overheating and other damage. Now I've moved to an AMK-75 and am quite pleased. Of course, the price point here is well above Kali w/the kalirest...
 
bgentry said:
For me personally, the HF 1x30 was not the right choice. The down sides for me:
* Low quality machine that vibrates and wobbles and is said to require a good bit of tuning to make it run nicely.
* Extremely high SFM (surface feet per minute) so that material is taken of quite quickly. More danger of high heat to the blade.
* Smaller selection of available belts compared to a 1x42.

The WorkSharp Ken Onion eliminates almost all of those. But it's not a "real" belt grinder and by the time you buy the BGA you're quite close to the cost of a 1x42. I like my WSKO, but haven't used it in well over a year since I got the 1SM.

The Kalamazoo 1SM runs pretty smoothly. Not perfect by any means, but it's a heavy quality tool. I found a pretty large selection of belts fairly easily and bought about a dozen different ones including Scotchbrite in 3 grades, leather, and quite a few from 36 grit up to 3000. It's speed seems just about right to me. I have rarely (if ever?) been surprised by removing too much metal. If anything, I occasionally think that it's too slow. But then, slower is safer. I generally only think things aren't going fast enough when I'm doing a really big job, like reprofiling a blade with a bit of thickness to it.

All that being said, lots and lots of people have achieved good results with the HF. It just wasn't the tool for me. I was willing to spend the extra money. ...and yes, I also bought the (somewhat expensive) KallyRest.

If I was really trying to do this the best way possible and spend as little as possible, I wouldn't buy an HF. Instead I'd go watch a bunch of videos from Curry Custom Cutlery on youtube. Curry has worked with a pretty wide variety of inexpensive sanders, including ones that can run a second tool (like a buffing wheel) at the same time. He's made quite a number of mods to them to make them run true and smooth. As I recall he has two or three machines that are in the same price range as the HF, but work better after his mods. I particularly like his "box around the sander", which allows him to run it upright or horizontally just by laying it down, as the box has square sizes in two dimensions. Might be worth your time to do some investigation.

Good luck!

Brian.
Click to expand...

I went with the 1sm and the kally. I bought the pack of belts from pro sharpening supply. Not sure what the right belt combo is, or which belts are ideal (visually, I like the ones from your video haha), so I just bought the pack that includes 3 EA 120/220 ceramic belts, 3 EA 600/1000 silicone carbide, and 1 leather stropping belt and compound. They're really proud of their leather belts, or rather, confident in them. They're "guaranteed against manufacturer defects, material defects & User Error." They say guaranteed from "from any imaginable defect." That's pretty cool.
 
RobertK RobertK I hope your 1SM works out well for you. Be careful with the 120 belts. They can take off metal pretty quickly. Not crazy like the 36 grit, but it's pretty quick. The 220 should give you a really toothy edge that is extremely sharp, as long as you deburr it correctly. That can be challenging at that grit level. It might be done best by hand. I've had decent success with a combination of the VF Scotchbrite belt (blue) and rough side leather. It takes patience to get it right, but the resulting edge is both toothy and very sharp.

The other way to do it is to hit in on the 600 a few times and then leather. That will almost certainly deburr it quickly and easily. It will abrade away most of the tooth, but it will result in a VERY sharp edge. Just without much bite to it.

Enjoy your new sharpener.

Brian.
 
I had the original Worksharp Ken Onion and didn't much care for the guide system. Recently added the grinder attachment and now it's perfect for my needs. Very compact, high quality belts, and I definitely need the angle guide. If you're good at holding an angle then save some money and get the big box machine.
 
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