Belt/disc sander as a sharpening tool

[johncee1945]

These belt/disc sanders are quite useful, particularly where there is a fair amount of preperation to do and or, where you have to sharpen tools a couple of times each day. (like chisels)
This machine comes as basically a wood sander but use a proper metal grinding belt such as a linisher 120 grit then fine finish by hand using water stones. The tools that are easy to sharpen with this method are chisels, skews, draw knife, hand plane blades and axes. Because of the longer blade on knives and scissors I need more practise to get the required consistent angle. A similar story for the half round gouges. At a woodshow I saw an experienced demonstrator sharpening the gouges as well as drill bits - so quickly. This grinding method is also useful for rust removal and restoring old tools.
I have not encountered any overheating or bluing of the edge being sharpened, however I still take my time.

[Nadsworld]

I think 120 grit getting towards the danger zone on a belt sander,,,,,depending on speed and how the belt is set up.I use a belt sander 100 grit,modified, and a hard felt wheel. Last load of 90 chisels I got from the Uk, took 89 minutes to do, and some were really tough, and chewed up.......This was with my high tec cobbled together system..Thinking that I'll inspect all the tools and sharpen the ones needing it,,,,prob about a hundred..I wear socks in the carving room and all the tools fall cutting edge down????? Cordially Nad

[sarge]

do you use a belt sander to sharpen carving tools with? If so do you use a counter clockwise rotating moter, and do you know the size of the pullies. Are you familiar with the carver-sharp machine, they no longer make it, but chip away has one similar. I am trying to locate one the carver-sharp I mean before i buy the chip-away mode;l.

[Whittling]

For what its worth, I don't use a belt sander for sharpening any more. (Let's clarify... we're talking about a 4 or 6 inch, bench mounted, combination belt/disc sander). These are great for what they were designed for but the width of the belts do not come to edge of the sanding platform. This is ok for chisels but its no good for blades, especially short carving blades. The hilt/bolster of the knife interferes with the edge of the sanding platform and makes it very hard to get a consistant angle on the blade edge.

So... I use a belt sanding tool that attaches to a grinder. Here in Australia its called a 'multi-tool'. Probably marketed under another name in the US. They come in various widths... I have a two inch wide unit. The belts are also two inches wide and come right to the edge of the sanding platform with lots of room to bring a short blade onto the moving belt all the way up to the hilt.

Two comments on this system:
1. After a lot of trialing various makes of belt I strongly recommend Trizact belts by 3M. Nothing comes close to their performance. Ask around ... you'll get the same anwer. They are graded in microns which means the higher the number the courser the belt. I use 100 micron belt to shape blades and for jobs where stock removal is an issue. I use a 64 micron (finer) for setting bevels.

2. Since belts are only half the job... you need to have a honing wheel too... it makes sense to put this on the other side of the grinder. Then both tools are in one neat package. However I strongly recommend you mount both the belt assembly and the honing wheel (I use MDF or pressed paper fiber... works just as good as hard felt and about a 5th of the cost), so that the rotation is AWAY from you. This is the opposite of a normal grider rotation but it is much safer and easier to use if the wheel is turning away from you.