A) It’s small and cheap
B) It works
C) Not that well designed for purpose
D) No adjustment for bevel angle
E) Belt availability ?
F) Bearings run warm
G) Is it better than a guided knife sharpener ? ( Maybe for some )
H) Would I buy again = No
I) Buyers remorse = No
J) Would I recommend it = No ( You would have to make up your own mind )
K) Yes , you would need to develop some skill to use it ( minimal )
L) Is it a quicker easier option ? I don’t know ? ( How hard do you find knife sharpening ? )
Using the belt sander / sharpener .
Probably everyone will have their way .
I set mine up so there is some slack before the belt hits the guide plate ( ? ) .
I did this because I want to use the base plate as a guide ( pressure guide ) , so as not to put to much pressure on the belt .
When the belt gets pushed to the base plate it really grabs the knife and makes a grinding sound ( I try to avoid this ) .
When you get a decent edge just kiss the belt to remove the bur ( if there is one ) .
Thats me … you’d probably want to strop the blade after , but if it’s a Cheap nasty knife - that’s personal preference .
I put a wood wedge on mine to increase the bevel angle from 15 deg to 20 deg ( It was a guestimate ) .
Also the wood is better for the knife to ride on . Would you put an expensive knife on this ?
If you have expensive knives , why would you even think of buying this product ?
Anyways , Covid 19 boredom strikes again .
I’m no expert for sure but I was a butcher for some years and sharpened a lot of knives on a grinder. I would say that the belt should run flat on that plate (our knife grinder did), ie the belt should touch it, the main reason for this is if your knife is particularly curved, or short and curved it may put an ever so slight curve in the belt if it is not laid flat on something hard when you push down on it, that is to say it may try to take the shape of the blade, rather than be flat.
You, I’m sure know way more about it than me, but that is my observation anyway lol! other than that, it doesn’t look too bad a device for the price.
Obviously it won’t replace a hand sharpener, especially if it’s a kinda hobby and you are good at it. I’ve never used one of those, they are a bit ‘enthusiast’ for me, hell I just use an anysharp on my kitchen knives, followed by a steel - I hear plenty groaning about them, but if used lightly and carefully they work very well and don’t eat you knife for breakfast like people seem to claim. I have been using mine for a few years now on my henckels knife and a few sabatiers and they barely lost any material over like 7 years ( the sabatiers are like 30 plus years old). I think overall people just use way too much pressure on them, which is easily done.
I bought a 1"x30" belt sander from harbor Freight on sale for $30. I also picked up a leather strop belt and some 1"x30" polishing tapes to go along with an assortment of abrasive belts.
That rig could put a beautiful convex edge on a knife. It lasted about three years before the motor burned up. I never bothered to replace it...
I’ve used a HF belt sander to re-profile a blade before but not a fan of actually sharpening knives with electric. I feel I can get a better edge with more control with diamond plates just as fast.
Same here.. I mostly used it to reprofile edges to convex, but the leather belt was excellent for touching up blades to scary sharpness. Most of my blades made of modern "super steels" usually can stay scary-sharp with just an occasional stropping.
I’ve been playing with a 1x30 belt sander on some of my larger knives and it definitely is quicker and easier for reprofiling or on a badly neglected edge… but its not magic. Since I haven’t rigged up a jig to hold it horizontal I do find it pretty challenging following the blade’s original curve. If I planned on using it more extensively I would certain build some type of horizontal jig. As it is, its great for quick touch ups on cheap knives as well as axes. A few minutes goes from an overtly round edge to shaving sharp on even my cheapest axe. Run the angle a little shallow and follow up with some work on my Sharpmaker at 40 degrees and so far so good on the axes.
Hey, I strugged for years to find a good knife sharpener. My buddy who works in the metal industry recommended this bad boy and it’s amazing: Amazon.com
I’ve used it on our kitchen knives, as well as my Emerson pocket knives. It even sharpens the serrated parts of my Kabar TDI’s. I won’t use it on my M390 Microtechs though
Back when I used to sharpen a lot, I used Norton Oil Stones. I have one of those tri-sided jobbies that sit in an oil bath. Stones are like 2”x13”
The finest stone is fairly course so I followed it up with a black Arkansas stone. Moved to diamond stones and never looked back.
Now I’m out of practice, old and shaky and I need some extra help holding the angles.
I picked up one of the Edge Pro clones from Amazon. Something like this one: Edge Pro Clone
It keeps the blade at a fixed angle. The stones are not very good, but they do the job. All the higher grit stones seem to be the same thing, just with different grits marked on them.
I use the sharpie trick to find to find the correct angle.
And finish up with a leather strop loaded with Red polish.
These have a clamp for the blade that turns 180 degrees. The older version I have you get to hold the knife in one hand and work the stone with the other.
The advantage to the hand hold version is you can move a long knife along the guide and not have to worry about the angle changing as much if the blade were fixed.
The advantage to the clamp is ease of use and being able to flip the knife and keep everything aligned.
I may have to give one of these a try.
I follow up with the same leather strop.
If one could get one of those Harbor Freight, or other, cheap 1x30 belt grinders slowed down to something that was more controllable that would be nice.
I wouldn’t put a good knife on one. I’d be afraid I bugger up the shape or kill the temper.
All the Best,
Jeff
