Shopsmith Forums

I hate sharpening. It is boring, slow and I'm no good at it. That may have changed.

I finally got a set of the finer grade belts (150, 220, 320, 400 & 600) for my recently acquired strip sander with the chisel sharpening attachment and ran a set of bench chisels through them. Wow! Very easy and took a lot less time than other methods I've tried.

Soon I will see if I can get equally good results on my lathe chisels. I have tried the other Shopsmith sharpening jig (the one that mounts in the miter slot and works with the disc sander) but I have never gotten satisfactory results. I am optimistic the strip sander chisel sharpening attachment may do the trick.

Yes, I have found the strip sander does a very easy and good job on lathe gouges. Just have to be careful of the angle. Also I've found that a couple of small waterstones with rounded edges are needed for removing any unwanted burrs. Of course, burr removal is not a good thing for the scraper.

I have found this to be the best method for me to sharpen chisels as well. I also use a Worksharp 3000 to touch up chisels while I'm turning. It does save time for me.
BPR

The highest grit belt Shopsmith sells for the Strip Sander is 600 grit. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... gbelts.htm.
Using this belt set I got my bench chisels sharper than I had ever been able to get them.

But I just achieved an even higher level of sharpness. To do that I purchased a leather strop for the Stip-Sander. The brand is Surgi-Sharp brand (website here http://www.surgisharp.com/index_files/Page392.htm) but I purchased mine off of Amazon.

There's nothing too exciting about they way it looks but here are a couple of photos of what you get.
The belt is initially a very tight fit (apparently to compensate for the fact that leather stretches). But I got it on the Strip Sander. Instructions specify rough side out.

While the belt may be boring to look at the results were terrific. After stropping, the bench chisels are capable of taking minutely thin shavings off of end grain Sapele.

Do you use a paste or compound to dress the belt?

Yes, it comes with a small block of white (diamond?) compound. I applied it sparingly. The instructions say to apply it to the belt with the power off (turn by hand?). I admit I did add a touch more while under power.

Today I finally got around to sharpening my Shopsmith lathe chisel set on the Strip Sander. Previously I had tried to use the sharpening guide that uses the disc sander seen here. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... gguide.htm Frankly I never had much success with it.

With the Strip Sander and its chisel sharpening attachment it was ridiculously easy and the tools never got too warm!

Now I want to modify the Strip Sander as several others have done so it can be used while the lathe is in use. Others have mounted a drive hub to the lower wheel on the inside, but I only have a little over 1/4 inch projection beyond the lower wheel (which has a thick hub). Any suggestions? One possibility is to simply epoxy the drive hub on. Another idea would be to try to machine the the lower wheel hub down on to give more room to mount the drive hub. I'm open to ideas.

Sounds like you nee a PowerPro!