[Woodcarver] a dull sharpening question

[Lloyd Smith]

Lee Valley has both size belts; 30" and 42"; also I think Chipping away 
also has them.

At 12:46 PM 21/05/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>  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.

Lloyd Smith
Dundas, Ontario, Canada