Can you make knives with a 1x30" belt sander?
Matt L-S recently posted a photo of a blade he was making on his 1x30" belt sander and wanted to share this with the group. A bigger article might come later with more details but here at least is a quick look;
A common question we see on the Australian Beginner Knifemaking Group on Facebook, is:
What equipment is required to start making knives?
The answer is "not a lot" and most of us start out with just hand files and possibly a belt sander for the handle.
While a 1 x 30" sander/grinder is generally not seen as powerful enough to make knife blades, it can be done.
By going slow and -to Matt's point - with the right belts, you can make some very nice blades still with one of these.
The above photo is a model that on ebay.com.au is about $105 as of today (October 2019);Now, this is a low-powered belt sander more suited for handle work than blade making. So by going this route rather than going for a "proper" knife grinder like a Shopmate or FireAnt, it will have a low-powered motor and the belts will wear out quicker.
But as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Check out this blade Matt posted, and you can see that it clearly works:
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