New platen for Kally 1SM

[SHARPCO]

[CasePeanut]

interesting, how is it different than the stock platen?

[Mike Brubacher]

Was going to shoot a picture of the stock platen and post it for you Peanut but can't seem to find it any longer. As memory serves - the stock platen looks like the bottom half of the Reich/Kalamazoo platen and without the  1 x 3 flat bar protruding above.

[blgentry]

interesting, how is it different than the stock platen?

Video incoming with some information from my perspective.

Brian.

[blgentry]

My thoughts on it in video form:





Brian.

[grepper]

Another fine video by Mr. Brian, Samurai of the BESS Exchange.
 
You nailed it Brian concerning perfect platen/belt alignment on the Kally.  It seems every Kally is unique and each unit tracks a bit differently.  To get perfect alignment the platen must support the following adjustments:
 
Left to right
Closer/farther from the belt
Clockwise/counter clockwise rotation
Top to bottom tilt
Left/right side tilt
 
The Kally is a great sharpening machine.  While exact platen/belt alignment is not an absolute necessity, perfect setup makes any system perform better.
 
Thanks for taking the time to make a video explaining that important aspect of the Kally Brian.

[CasePeanut]

Brian - thank you for the video! I just watched it and found it so instructive. Thank you!

[Oceanrider]

Hi, I'm new here and am looking into getting a belt sander for putting an edge on knives.  The more I search I am liking the Kalamazoo 1SM 1x42 belt sander.  I would also be new to using a belt sander for putting an edge on knives.  I have had a 6x48 Delta belt/disc sander that is nearly 25yrs old that I've used mostly for boat work, so I'm not totally new to belt sanders.  I've got a garage full of woodworking tools mostly.  I had a Jet 10" Wet Grinder that needs replacement as well as wet stones.  But I think I would like to get a belt sander

What I would like , if I purchase the Kalamazoo 1SM 1 x 42 inch belt sander, would be the ability to have an angle guide rest similar to a Surgi-Sharp angle guide http://www.surgisharp.com/surgi-sharp-angle-guide.  Mainly because I would want to have as consistent angle as possible.

It could be used like this:

https://youtu.be/CN4jouW1BJg

Has anyone here installed a guide like the Surgi-Sharp on the platen 536-042 the OP posted above?

blgentry, thanks for your videos regarding the Kally Rest.  Personally my gut tells me that I would not like that Angle Guide Rest for a few reasons.  One being the inability to have a free flow non-stop movement with both hands when moving a blade across the belt.  I watched your video and it seems you have to stop and move your hand to the other side of the rest quite often leaving the blade in one position on the moving belt.  I also don't like that you loose visibility of the edge with the Kally Rest.
I personally think a rest like the Surgi-Sharp would work better for me, be it edge-leading or edge-trailing.

Again being new here I might have missed posts regarding using angle guides with the Kalamazoo sander.  I did a search here and also found this thread: http://bessex.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=415

[grepper]

Welcome to the Exchange!

Edge leading tries to push the blade away from the belt.  Edge trailing the opposite.  Both require some technique and a bit of practice to maintain even blade to belt pressure while pulling the blade across the belt.  

With the Kallyrest this is accomplished by placing a finger on the spine of the blade and maintaining slight upward pressure against the finger while pulling the blade across the rest.  In some of Brian’s videos, he starts with his finger on the opposite side of the rest from the knife handle, stops part way through and moves his finger to the knife handle side of the rest and continues on.  This is matter of personal preference, but not necessary.  By starting with your finger on the side of the rest next to the knife handle switching sides is not necessary and the blade can be pulled across the rest in one smooth motion.  

That said and IMHO, starting and stopping part way through has no effect on the final result.  In fact, that is one of the advantages of a narrow 1” belt when knife sharpening.  Many times it is handy to focus on a small area along the bevel.   I’ve used 2” wide systems and they prevent working on small areas along the knife edge which can be very frustrating.  As an example, burr never forms evenly along the edge, so it’s advantageous to be able to work on areas along the edge where burr has not yet formed.  Continued grinding in areas where a burr has already formed is not necessary and only creates a larger burr.

Another example might be if the edge does not lie flat against the cutting board and light shines under part of the edge.  It might be that a small area of the edge next to the heel needs additional grinding so the blade evenly contacts the cutting board.  In that case, working on that small area solves the problem.  

One consideration when looking at rest systems is does the rest allow sharpening right up the handle of the knife. With some rests the handle of the knife hits the rest preventing the last part of the edge next to the heel from being sharpened.  This is not an issue on all knives but is on many.  At least for me, trying to perfectly match an existing bevel free hand is difficult.

Brian has a Youtube channel! You can view his videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0-cxhr...26Q/videos

[Oceanrider]

Grepper
You say “Kally” in posts above and I think you are referring to the machine, not the rest/angle guide that Brian is talking about?  Is this a general nickname for the machine everywhere, or just here on this forum?

Do you know if a guide like the Surgi-Sharp can be attached to the new Platen?

Edit:
Further reading I found a tread where it looks like you are the designer of the “Kally Rest” http://bessex.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=271

Do you feel that edge-trailing is a better method than edge-leading on a belt sander?