[Woodcarver] a dull sharpening question

[Jeodea at aol.com]

Dave,
 As others have answered, that sounds like the wrong direction to hold  the 
knife.
 
Holding the cutting edge  down sounds like the correct  direction  but it is 
hard to seethe cutting edge  when held down  and is uncomfortable for me.
 
Some motor you can switch rotation direction, but my cheap model did not  
have winding leads I could get to.
 
Here is how I solved it: mount the sander horizontal versus setting it on a  
bench vertical (this will take some jury rigging) and mount in a location  
that you can stand at the end that was the top. Now when you place the knife on  
the horizontal belt with the knife cutting edge away from you, the belt is 
also  going away from you.
 
Unfortunately, I don't much like it for knife sharpening with grit  
impregnated belts as it runs to fast (belt speed in inches per second past the  cutting 
edge) and it is easy to burn a small tool and at 1 inch wide I cannot  get my 
entire knife blade on the belt, often resulting in deep "scores" on the  
blade when not placed on the belt exactly flat . It is good for gouges with  a 
homemade tool rest that keep the gouge at the same consistent angle. And it is  
good with a leather belt (mine is 42 inch)
 
I have never seen a 30 inch leather belt. There are several sources for 42  
inch belts but I don't know how to successfully shorten them.  If you  do find 
a source for 30 inch belts please let us all know.
 
Jim O'Dea
 
 
 
 
Friends,

I have a 1" x 30" belt sander that I wish to use to sharpen  carving tools.

1.  where can I find a leather belt for it to be used  as a strop?

2.  a friend uses this tool to sharpen his knives using  sanding belts 
with compound on them.  The belt rotates downward and he  holds the knife 
sharp side upwards.  Is this the correct knife  orientation?

3.  just a word of caution:  he cautioned me to  first clean out all 
sawdust from the belt sander before using it to sharpen  tools because 
there is a danger of sparks starting a fire.

Thanks for  listening.

Dave


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