Shopsmith Forums

Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum. Anybody use their SS belt sander or maybe disc sander to make or grind knives? II'd like to try and wondering if anybody can give me a leg up.

thanks

I know it's not the belt sander, but you might get tips from this Video Shop Tip on sharpening knives with the strip sander. I can't get it to load on my computer, but maybe you can. On the bulletin board, you can see the knife holding jig and the plans for it.

http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/Tips_Ar ... Knives.htm

Also, here is the link for the Chisel Sharpening Jig, with links to other sharpening videos -

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... ingatt.htm

Mike

ibskot wrote:Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum. Anybody use their SS belt sander or maybe disc sander to make or grind knives? II'd like to try and wondering if anybody can give me a leg up.

thanks

Yes, this is the correct forum.

Yes, I you can use the Shopsmith for making and sharpening knives. You have a wide choice of jigs and Special Purpose Tools to get this done. My recommendation is the grinding wheel setup or the strip sander.

I ave used the disk sander to sharpen lathe tools using this jig. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... gguide.htm

and the conical disk to sharpen plane and jointer knives using this jig. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... rpener.htm

My all time favorite for carving knives, chisels, and lathe tools is the Strip Sander with this jig. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... ingatt.htm

There's also the grinding wheel. - http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... lguard.htm and wheels with arbors. - http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... lguard.htm

Both the Strip Sander and the grinding wheel can be run in reverse with a standard Mark V. Just mount the Strip Sander on the spindle side of the headstock. To reverse the grinding wheel just rotate the grinding guard and work from the back of the Mark V.

Thanks for the responses.

I mean grinding bevels on knife blanks before honing.

Caveat...I have the conical sanding jig, belt sander and the disc sander. I don't have the strip sander...

ibskot wrote:Thanks for the responses.

I mean grinding bevels on knife blanks before honing.

Caveat...I have the conical sanding jig, belt sander and the disc sander. I don't have the strip sander...

If you mean the 20 degree or so edge on a knife blade, then you might be able to use the conical disk jig intended for jointer blades. The trick would be to angle the table top to the desired angle. You would have to re-mount the knife blade to the other side of the jig for its second side.

The overall shape of the metal to form a knife blade could be done on a belt sander or disk sander.

If you are making only one knife the strip sander and conical disk probably can be used with care to do the job. If you want to make more - it would be best to invest in a strip sander.

Search the forum for belt grinder. May be what you're looking for.

Ken