12-28-2019, 02:36 PM
I would like a good powered sharpening system. I currently have a WorkSharp Ken Onion and have sharped several hundred blades with it. It's a really good machine for the money, but it's "slow" in that it can't really remove metal fast enough to sharpen knives quickly. On maximum speed, it's also very loud.
I think what I want is a 1x42 belt sander with variable speed and reversible. I also want something to make deburring very easy. Several people have recommended a paper wheel on a bench grinder (buffer). This has the added advantage of having two wheels, so I can use the other wheel for something like a cotton buffing wheel, which I would use for deburring serrated blades (the serrated side, after having ground the flat side to form a burr).
I would like to be able to see the burr forming as I sharpen. It seems like a horizontal belt is the best way to do this. I've occasionally gotten lucky with lighting and been able to see the burr form on the WSKO. It's really neat to do it this way. I'd like a setup that's designed to make this happen.
Until recently I thought that sharpening edge leading on a belt was incredibly dangerous. But over the last week or so I've read a lot of discussion on this that seems to conclude that edge leading sharpening on a belt has a very low probability of grabbing the blade and throwing it. I'm interested in opinions on this too. Edge leading would seem to be a better way to reduce burr size to start with so deburring will be easier.
I've looked at the Veil S5 that Steve Bottorf sells, with the adapter plate to let it take the Penn variable speed motor. But that setup doesn't appear to be truly variable (only goes down to 600 RPM) and it is not reversible. Maybe reversible isn't important; I'm not sure as I lack experience with real belt grinders.
I've also considered the Kallamazoo 1SM. I can only seem to find these with a single speed motor included. Which probably means I need buy my own motor and waste the money on the motor that was already included.
Today I talked to Richard Pope who has made a lot of machines like this. But he's mainly focusing on scissor sharpening now and his products are mostly out of my price range at > $1000 .
Thanks for any advice for specific machine setups. Also thoughts on edge leading sharpening, reversible motors, and deburring are all appreciated.
Brian.
I think what I want is a 1x42 belt sander with variable speed and reversible. I also want something to make deburring very easy. Several people have recommended a paper wheel on a bench grinder (buffer). This has the added advantage of having two wheels, so I can use the other wheel for something like a cotton buffing wheel, which I would use for deburring serrated blades (the serrated side, after having ground the flat side to form a burr).
I would like to be able to see the burr forming as I sharpen. It seems like a horizontal belt is the best way to do this. I've occasionally gotten lucky with lighting and been able to see the burr form on the WSKO. It's really neat to do it this way. I'd like a setup that's designed to make this happen.
Until recently I thought that sharpening edge leading on a belt was incredibly dangerous. But over the last week or so I've read a lot of discussion on this that seems to conclude that edge leading sharpening on a belt has a very low probability of grabbing the blade and throwing it. I'm interested in opinions on this too. Edge leading would seem to be a better way to reduce burr size to start with so deburring will be easier.
I've looked at the Veil S5 that Steve Bottorf sells, with the adapter plate to let it take the Penn variable speed motor. But that setup doesn't appear to be truly variable (only goes down to 600 RPM) and it is not reversible. Maybe reversible isn't important; I'm not sure as I lack experience with real belt grinders.
I've also considered the Kallamazoo 1SM. I can only seem to find these with a single speed motor included. Which probably means I need buy my own motor and waste the money on the motor that was already included.
Today I talked to Richard Pope who has made a lot of machines like this. But he's mainly focusing on scissor sharpening now and his products are mostly out of my price range at > $1000 .
Thanks for any advice for specific machine setups. Also thoughts on edge leading sharpening, reversible motors, and deburring are all appreciated.
Brian.