Knife Belt Sander?

Somewhere I got the impression that we now have a belt sander suitable for knives?

Can someone please point me towards the info? Thanks.

https://beaumontmetalworks.com/product/variable-speed-kmg-10/

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Thanks!

I don’t actually want to make a knife. I want to sharpen a knife (small cutting chisel, actually). Would this tool be suitable?

I see there is a training class next week and I’ll take it if this would be a suitable tool.

It’s suitable for that task, but it takes a pretty sure hand depending on the condition of the
chisel. If it’s just dull, as opposed to damaged or needing a new bevel angle, I’d probably suggest hand lapping on the diamond stones we have or with some fine grit sand paper stuck to a reference plane.

OK thanks.

I can (and do) hand lap at home. These are hand cutting chisels/gouges for my microlathe and they’re not all a flat profile (although none of them are concave). I am not the best at hand lapping … but I think I hear you saying that the KMG could too easily just grind these things to the nub. :slight_smile:

However, from time to time I need to profile a new tool from a 1/8" or 1/4" cutter blank. It sounds like the KMG might be suitable for that.

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You got it exactly right. It’s a great sharpener, but if you slip, you start over and can damage a blade without realizing it. It’s also necessary to really mind the heat build up on hardened tools, 'cause it happens really fast.

It’s perfect for profiling new tools.

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Thanks! See you on the 10th.

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KNIVES
I would NOT recommend the KMG for final sharpening - it is quite aggressive. It’d be fine for profiling a new tool as long as you were careful not to lose the temper due to overheating.

DMS has a Lansky knife hand-sharpening kit with diamond stones. You can configure it for multiple specific bevel angles, but it won’t work for chisels. It makes pretty quick work of touching up the edge on a knife and supports compound bevels if desired for an exceptionally sharp edge. I have one of these at home as well (with regular, not diamond, stones). It works well as long as the knife can be held securely by the clamp. If a handcrafted knife does not have parallel sides on the spine, the knife will tend to pop out of the jig unless you stay on top of it.

CHISELS
We have a chisel sharpening grinder in the woodshop - not sure how well it’d work on very small chisels.

We have diamond stones for hand-sharpening - they should be fine for your tools as well. There is a jig which makes getting a flat grind easier. I don’t know if DMS has one though.

I have an older Tormek wet-grinder which can be configured for specific angles using an included jig. I don’t have the attachments for curved chisel grinding. I can bring it in for you/us to use if you’d like - PM me to work out details.

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May I ask what the location of the Lansky knife hand-sharpening kit is? I would very much like to sharpen our knives and if the KMG is not recommended, I don’t want to mess them up.

Woodshop has some CBN wheels for a grinder, that sharpen chisels and blades very well indeed.