Tips/Techniques belt grinder grit

[Susquatch]

After they see what it takes, they no longer worried about the tool being softened while grinding!

It's always been very difficult for me to avoid arguing with those who insist that hss be sharpened very slowly and with water to avoid changing the temper. I've just learned to ignore them and shake my head.

My hss must be different than everyone elses cuz it seems to work just fine no matter what I do to it......

 

[trevj]

It's always been very difficult for me to avoid arguing with those who insist that hss be sharpened very slowly and with water to avoid changing the temper. I've just learned to ignore them and shake my head.

My hss must be different than everyone elses cuz it seems to work just fine no matter what I do to it......

Mine came out of the same bin that the apprentices got theirs from. The major difference was that it took me about three minutes to make what they tried to take an hour to get done!

It got to be, that the "High Speed Grinding Demo" became pretty much a standard part of the process, as the Apprentice tradesmen and women got routed through the machine shop I worked in.

We had a Hybco Tool and Cutter grinder in the shop, that was equipped with an Optical Comparator, so we were able to have a real close up view of the angles, the edge straightness and the tip geometry of the threading tools, among other things. Pretty damn handy, really!

 

[Downwindtracker2]

This is the woodworking part of me speaking, I use a my 1"x42" in reverse to shape chisels and plane irons. I use a jig. They are such a mess from sad attempts at sharpening, that's why they are at the fleamarket. I very quickly found the ordinary belts didn't last and switched to the blue zirconium . I think it may be 80 or 120 grit. The little Veil belt sanders are very very jig friendly. I run the motor CW, opposite normal rotation. The motor is a 1/4hp reversible.Then work my way by hand to 8000 grit Japanese ceramic stone. Finishing with Lee Valley's green crayon and a power strop. Hunting knives don't need this level of sharp, 1000grit is more than enough. . Everyone will have their magic method, but heck it's only abrading steel.

When I worked in a machine shop, we did a lot of machining on a 6"x48" belt sander. I use mine to true up plane bottoms, they made planes quickly out of green cast iron. You know how that ended. Again I switched to the blue zirconium belts, 80grit. Otherwise the belts edge wouldn't last. The dulled.

 

[curmudgeon]

I run the motor CW, opposite normal rotation.

CW, meaning that the belt moves away from the tool rest?

 

[Downwindtracker2]

Yes, it moves up instead. It removes the bulk of the metal before touching the fine, easily overheated edge. I got my electrician son to wire in a small PA drum switch, I haven't clue how he did it.