# sander for sharpening



## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

Hi. i took the support bar off from my belt sanders table. I want to attach a small table to this bar so I can sharpen my carving tools with it. Can you suggest a way to make a small adjustable table for sharpening thanks Mike


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

Have you thought about just using the bar as a rest? Personally, if I'm freehand sharpening I prefer to have a bar like that I can rest the tool on instead of a table. Especially for something like gouges.


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

This would only be for preliminary shaping, right? I don't think that the grits go high enough for much more than that.


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## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

For now its is preliminary shaping, I have seen high grit belts but I would have to order them. I could use just the bar but if I have a table I can set and lock I can have a more consistent angle on all tools. I could be over thinking it


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

I have a jig I use for sharpening gouges using the bar on my Work Sharp that is just a piece of wood with a hole drilled for the tool to fit through then I drilled and tapped a hole down from the top so I can tighten a screw to clamp it on the tool shaft. Then I butt that piece of wood against the bar and it keeps my angle consistent. But I can still roll it back and forth on the bar to shape the gouge.









It works for chisels and v-tools as well. The only thing it doesn't work well for is skews.


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## Phil32 (Aug 31, 2018)

My 6×48 belt sander (Delta) has an adjustable table, but I would never use it for shaping gouges. It runs in the wrong direction and is much too coarse. I do not even use a "slow speed" bench grinder - much too aggressive.


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## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

thats what I need, a work sharp but alsa i am a poor boy . Alex Grobovietskyi has a tormeck jig like that he uses with his work sharp. I was wondering if one could be user made


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## Phil32 (Aug 31, 2018)

Mike (Karda) - Considering that #7-10 gouge you have, I cannot imagine how I would reshape it. The thickness of my Pfeil #7-10mm is about 2.5mm thick across the entire width, and extending more than 50mm from the edge. I say "about" because I'm not using a micrometer. I do not believe it was ground to this shape, although the original forging may have been cleaned up by grinding.


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

> This would only be for preliminary shaping, right? I don t think that the grits go high enough for much more than that.
> - Dark_Lightning


120 grit works just fine for sharpening. As for the table, I would never use the table on my 6×48 directly for sharpening… instead, it's used to hold/support various homemade sharpening jigs. It might be useful for skews, but for those, I have another homemade angle jig that spans across the belt for the tool to rest on when sharpening.

Cheers,
Brad


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## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

I used 120 ceramic belt for sharpening my turning tools and it did great could I use that belt for carving tools or should I go higher say to 180 or 220 then to hand. 
could somebody send me some picture of the side of their tools so I have some kind of idea of what kind of say I have to shape to. The catalogs are no go because they only show the tool from the front thanks


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

I'll be glad to take some pictures tonight and post them for you. But for gouges, you just want a consistent bevel angle all the way around. On most tools this will mean you'll end up with a shorter bevel at the edges because the material gets thinner there so you don't have to remove as much. I shoot for somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees on most of my gouges. That makes it comfortable for me to grip and push them through the wood. Steeper bevels will be more durable, shallower will be easier to cut with. You just have to find what works best for you.

I'll take some side-on pics tonight and post them.


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

Ah - please ignore my previous comment - I was thinking sharpening wood turning tools, not carving tools. Not enough coffee I guess 

Cheers,
Brad


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

You might want to stick with 120 on your belt sander. Any finer on a sander running that fast, you run the risk of clogging the belt and burning the tool.


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## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

ok thanks Ken, I might not use the sander, I am making a MDF wheel for my lathe. I am putting sand paper on the front and honing past on the edge


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

I just looked and don't have any good pics of any gouges side on but, this is one I found of a larger gouge in the middle of the sweep range. Probably 6 or 7. I got a little over-zealous on the edges and you can see I rounded the corners off. But on a gouge this large, that's not really an issue for me. It's not side-on but hopefully it will give you some idea of how the bevel should look?


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## mpounders (Jun 22, 2010)

If the belt on your sander is moving from the free end down towards the bar and you are wanting to attach a table to present the edge of a tool up toward the belt? That is pretty dangerous to do with a carving tool edge, as most sharpening is done with the belts moving away from the edge. I have used belt sanders to roughly shape new tools, to reduce angles and change profiles but not for sharpening. I realize that turning chisels are sharpened with the edge going into the wheel/stone/belt but I don't think it is a good idea with carving tools. Not something I have seen any carvers do.


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

> I have a jig I use for sharpening gouges using the bar on my Work Sharp that is just a piece of wood with a hole drilled for the tool to fit through then I drilled and tapped a hole down from the top so I can tighten a screw to clamp it on the tool shaft. Then I butt that piece of wood against the bar and it keeps my angle consistent. But I can still roll it back and forth on the bar to shape the gouge.
> 
> It works for chisels and v-tools as well. The only thing it doesn t work well for is skews.
> 
> - HokieKen


Nice Ken. That will work for me and my Work Sharp. Design plagiarized!

*What do you use for skews?*


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

double post


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

> ...
> 
> Nice Ken. That will work for me and my Work Sharp. Design plagiarized!
> 
> ...


Plagiarize away Andy. I'm sure I borrowed the basic idea from someone else ;-) I only use that for larger gouges these days, I bought a Tormek small tool jig because the wood one didn't hold small tools squarely.









For skews, I have a Veritas Mk1 honing guide that I use with the wide blade table. I need to remedy that though because it takes too long to get the tool set by eyeballing the existing bevel and skew angles. I've been contemplating the Tormek SVS-50 jig but it's a little out of my "just to see if it works" price range…


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## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

thanks Ken that gives me a good idea


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## ClaudeF (Sep 22, 2013)

I agree with Mike. I have a 1×30 sander from Harbor Freight, with several different grit belts up to 400, plus a leather belt with stropping compound on it. I mounted it upside down so the belt turns away from me, but it turns WAY TOO FAST!!! I can only hold to tool on it to a count of 3, then I have to dunk it in water to cool it down. I lost about 5 mm off the end of my Pfiel 5/12 because I was careless and burned it (turned blue). I only use this when I need to reshape a tool to a different bevel, or grind back because of a chip in the edge. My knife strop (cardboard with compound on it) does just fine for stropping the gouge - only takes a few passes. There are excellent systems such as the one Mike uses (can't remember the name), but they are all slow speed so the tools don't burn.

Claude


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

> I agree with Mike. I have a 1×30 sander from Harbor Freight, with several different grit belts up to 400, plus a leather belt with stropping compound on it. I mounted it upside down so the belt turns away from me, but it turns WAY TOO FAST!!! I can only hold to tool on it to a count of 3, then I have to dunk it in water to cool it down. I lost about 5 mm off the end of my Pfiel 5/12 because I was careless and burned it (turned blue). I only use this when I need to reshape a tool to a different bevel, or grind back because of a chip in the edge. My knife strop (cardboard with compound on it) does just fine for stropping the gouge - only takes a few passes. There are excellent systems such as the one Mike uses (can t remember the name), but they are all slow speed so the tools don t burn.
> 
> Claude
> 
> - ClaudeF


As long as you're in HF, would one of their cheap speed controllers work??


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## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

I want to keep it simple, The sander is for mass removal to take it down to where I will do hand work Iam making a wheel for my lathe, that is 750 RPM much less than my sander


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## ClaudeF (Sep 22, 2013)

> As long as you re in HF, would one of their cheap speed controllers work??
> 
> - Andybb


I doubt it. My lowering the voltage going into the motor, it will slow down a bit, but with Alternating Current, it also will lower the torque and at the extreme, say 300 RPM, it will bog down with a slight pressure on the belt. Also hard on the motor. DC motors, on the other hand, have all their torque at low RPM. If you got rid of the AC motor and replaced it with a DC motor, a controller would give you quite a speed range and no loss of torque. The way AC motor systems reduce speed without losing torque is through pulleys. Look inside a drill press and you'll see several different pulley sizes - lathes do the same thing.

Claude


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## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

if I were going to mess around like that I would spring for a used work sharp. There was a guy in the turning forum several years ago forgot his name but he altered a HF sander for turning tools, one thing he did was put a turn in the motor belt that made the belt turn in reverse


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

> As long as you re in HF, would one of their cheap speed controllers work??
> 
> - Andybb
> 
> ...


If you feel really ambitious you could do like I did for my HF mini lathe and install a DC treadmill motor on it.


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## Karda (Nov 19, 2016)

I thought you meant the speed controller was for the sander


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

> I thought you meant the speed controller was for the sander
> 
> - Karda


I did.

Confused, but no matter.


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