Belt Sanders

[sqeezplay]

i'm in the market for a knife making belt sander, i want a good one, but i don't want to spend my retirement fund. i mainly do short swords and daggers. any help would be great.

[Woody]

I have the Grizzly 2 X 72 knifemaker, it works well for me and the price is reasonable.

Woody

[Rich Hale]

I also have a Grizzley and it is a true value for the money. It also has two big drawbacks for grinding knives,The you work with the handle of the knife on the motor side of the belt the motor is in the way. The more expensive grinders for knifemaking are not direct drive from the motor to the wheel. I got by with this for quite a while. The second draw back is the single speed. for most of my grinding the belt speed is too fast. You can get along with this , just keep a slack bucket real handy. Now for two strong points, Number one is the price,,nothing new comes close. And it uses 2"x72" belts. They have enough length, which means a lot of abrasive surface. That tends to let the belt cool before it comes back around to cut more and also there is a huge selection of belts for this size grinder from a lot of different sources. Many places sell belts in a whole range of grits and brands. That of course means you can find what works for you in your shop and shop around for price if you wish. I use belts from 36 grit to ones finer than 2000.

[Nolano]

If you're up for some work and scrounging, you can try building one of these:

http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints...d/BP0215.shtml

[plain ol Bill]

I think most knife makers would agee the cadillac of the grinders available are made by Rob Frink. His KMG grinders can be seen at www.beaumontmetalworks.com I have a couple of them, and a homemade also. Grizzly makes a good entry level machine, lots of knives get made on them.

[Ellen]

I have a Grizzly, and if you are just doing a few knives it is fine, in my opinion. Can't beat it for the price unless you're you're able to build one yourself. If I were in the business I'd probably have 3 or 4 different ones for different purposes, etc. If you've seen the VHS tapes on Pattern Welding by Jim Hrisoulis you will see an interesting variety of grinders and different quick changes to the set up.

[Rich Waugh]

I just finished building myself a grinder. No reason you couldn't do the same. Mine is made from stock structural steel shapes and salvaged parts, though you could buy contact wheels, drive wheels, etc. and still save some money over buying a high-dollar machine. The Grizzly is a good machine; I recommended it to Ellen as she didn't want to build one.

[julian]

squeeze, if all else fails with getting a grizzly, you can use an available/smaller belt grinder (i use 4"X36") to get to about 120-200 grit, then do fine sanding by hand. That is what i do, and it works okay, just takes more work. I just can't find finer grits for a 4"X36" grinder. But if you don't already have a small belt grinder, I would bite the bullet and save for the Grizzly.

[FredlyFX]

I am almost done building my own 2x72. I just have to finish up the stock rest on the left side wheel.

It really isn't that hard if you have basic welding skills.

Here's a couple of pics of it. I also have a lot of pictures on my web site of it being built step by step.

[Nolano]

Once I get a welder, I will be putting together my own belt sander. The hardest part will probably be finding the contact and drive wheels.