Good belt sander for knife maling???

[varmint]

Been doing all my sanding by hand for awhile now and it's very time consuming.Looking to get a belt sander for shaping scales,ect.anyone have any recommendations for a decently priced belt sander that works well and will make the scale/handle shaping a little less time consuming without breaking the bank???

[kbaknife]

You may not have expected this as a response!
I'm a professional knife maker and have been making knives for almost 10 years. I have two high dollar knife grinders that cost upwards of 2 grand.
But, when it comes time to shape handle material, I use files.
Attach the handles to the knife, stick the blade in a vise, and shape with FILES!
One little "Oops!" on the grinder, and a whole lot of work its ruined.
Files do EXACTLY the work you want them to, remove EXACTLY the amount of material you want, and helps you to keep opposite sites equal.
You also don't run the risk of over-heating your handle material.
Give it a try - you might like it!
 

 

[Lin Rhea]

Varmint,
        Karl's right about the files. Sure are some purty knives.

   If you dont want to break the bank, a 1 X 30 Delta will work pretty good till you decide to get a bigger machine. You still cant substitute good ol hand finishing when it's time for it. Knowing when to get off the machine and hand finish is something you will have to learn on your own and is partly determined by your available machinery/tools.

                                     Lin

[varmint]

Kinda like roughing out a stave.Guess that should have been pretty obvious.Thanks!

[kbaknife]

You can actually take it a little farther that "roughing out"! I start with what is called a Cabinet Maker's Rasp. Nicholson makes them and are used by gun makers to shape gun stocks. They remove material SO FAST you can get ahead of yourself. There are two grades - coarse and fine.
Then I switch to a bastard file, then second cut. By the time you're done, there is very little hand work left! And the quality of your job is fantastic.
I recommend it often to a LOT of knifemakers, and they just don't seem to get it. Always trying to use that grinder - and struggling with symmetry.
Those files I mentioned above are not cheap, they're about 50 bucks each. Worth every penny.
 http://www.sculpt.com/catalog_98/files-rasps/NICHOLSON.htm

[dave hiltz]

I just got a belt sander, it is from sears 2"x42" and it seems to work great, but like LIn and Karl said you need to know when to stop and hand finish.  Files work great!  Good luck, Dave

[Doug Campbell]

Like has been said, for me it seems the "nice" comes by hand. They all vary but I'd guess for my carbon steel knives it runs 15% hot work forging), 15% rough grinding (machine) and 70% hand work.

While I've got a quite a few and really like my "toys"    I figured out long ago you can waste alot of time trying to find an easier way when you're better off just applying a little elbow grease and gettin her done.