Kurt Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Well, my handheld belt sander has a seized bearing, which is in the process of being replaced. But when borrowing my Opa's belt sander to use temporarily, he also snuck in $200 and a little note, something along the lines of "A small contribution towards blacksmithing". Now, my first thought was "this is way too much money". After a good night's rest, I realized that instead of building a belt sander, I can now buy one, or buy a proper drill press. Those are two vital pieces of equipment I seriously lack. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions? Locally, not including specialty stores that I need to reserach further, I have the following probably-overpriced, "best value" options: Belt Sanders: (I'm open to other options as well) http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/...tk=P_PartNumber http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/To...sc%2BSander.jsp http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/To...sc%2BSander.jsp Drill Presses: http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/To...ill%2BPress.jsp http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/To...ith%2BLaser.jsp http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/...tk=P_PartNumber http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/...tk=P_PartNumber So above and beyond I imagine, drawn beyond the lines of reason. Push the envelope, watch it bend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacklionforge Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 while a grinder/sander is an awesome thing to have in your shop... a good drillpress will find many ,many more uses in your shop... just my 2cents... All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Keyes Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 A drill press is a nice tool to have in your shop. A fairly nice variable speed one can be had for not too much money (from $50 to $250 used or for $300 to $500 new). It's probably worth your time to check garage sales, Craigslist, and pawnshops and the like. You do want variable speed (my old Jet has 12) and I prefer a floor stander to a benchtop. A belt grinder is whole different proposition. None of the little sanders you listed will do the job. They don't have the hp, they are not rigid enough, and they just aren't set up to do the job. I have a nice, 1 hp 6 x 48 with a 12 inch disk that lives under the bench because it just won't do the job. My suggestion would be this. Rather than spend money on a tool that simply won't work the way you want, first, learn to file. You can do a lot of fine work with files. A friend of mine hand fitted all of the parts for a 6 hp steam engine with a selection of files, in fact it used to be part of a machinists and blacksmiths training to hand file parts. Whilst you are learning to work that way, save your pennies toward one of these machines. In no particular order: Coote Bader Burr-King HardCore Wilton KMG I've worked with most of these, at one time or another, they will all do the job. I own a HardCore and I plan to get a KMG. The KMG, IMHO is the Cadillac of the available grinders. 2 x 72 is pretty much the industry standard. BTW, I took the links off of the Trugrit site not because I think you should buy from them, though their prices aren't too bad, but because the pages were convenient to get to. Geoff "The worst day smithing is better than the best day working for someone else." I said that. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. - - -G. K. Chesterton So, just for the record: the fact that it does work still should not be taken as definitive proof that you are not crazy. Grant Sarver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Posted June 26, 2009 Author Share Posted June 26, 2009 The thing is I thoroughly enjoy stock removal. For me, the furnace is used to heat treat, to melt things for fun, and to hammer things to the ideal thickness for stock removal. I guess I'll make one. I'm stumped on what to use as the rollers though. I'm going to cast the drive wheel, but the other three wheels that hold the belt and spin nicely I have no idea what to use. So above and beyond I imagine, drawn beyond the lines of reason. Push the envelope, watch it bend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Erwin Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 For the other wheels you can actually buy them individually from Beaumont metal works which is the maker of the KMG. I run a craftsman 6 x 48 with I think a 3/4 hp motor. It's not ideal but I make it work and I've been making a lot of knives with it. I use it for grinding my blades and squaring up handle blocks. I've also got a 2x42 craftsman which I use for handle work and it's an okay machine, just wish it had a speed control, then it'd be a heck of a lot better. My next big purchase is planned to be a KMG though. I may try to use it for blades, but I'm mainly wanting it for handle work. Watching demos by both Fuad Accawi and recently Tim Hancock has really helped me step up my grinding. Click the link up above that Geoff posted for the KMG and it's got a selection of the rollers on it. Beau Erwin www.ErwinKnives.com Custom knives Bcarta Composites Stabilized Woods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwilliams Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 If you have neither a drill press or a sander, I would suggest buying some good files and a good drill press, hell even a cheap drill press can be made to work for knifemaking. But you do not want to regret a bad sander decision, build one is my suggestion. Take your time doing it and you will have a tool you will be proud of for many years. PS When I built my KMG clone I purchased all my wheels from Beaumont metal works. Chris Chris Williams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Posted June 26, 2009 Author Share Posted June 26, 2009 A drill press it is then. Any idea on what to look for in a good drill press? Variable speed and what else? What makes a good press? What makes a bad one? As far as building a sander: $50 for one idler wheel? I think I'll try my luck casting free scrap aluminum and fitting $3 bearings instead. The balance issue is nothing that can't be cured by rounding it as a drive wheel before fitting the bearings. So above and beyond I imagine, drawn beyond the lines of reason. Push the envelope, watch it bend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Bower Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 As far as building a sander: $50 for one idler wheel? I think I'll try my luck casting free scrap aluminum and fitting $3 bearings instead. The balance issue is nothing that can't be cured by rounding it as a drive wheel before fitting the bearings. I've seen skateboard wheels and caster wheels used as idlers, apparently with great success. I've also seen drive wheels made of wood. In fact I made one myself by laminating blanks of 1/2" plywood, sawn as close as possible to round, then truing up the whole thing using the motor shaft as a makeshift lathe. (My drill press came in very handy for drilling the holes truly perpendicular to the faces of the blanks.) I haven't yet finished the grinder that it's destined for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Lester Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 I started out with a wood working belt sander and I have to admit that it was a waste of money. The $100 I spent for it was just about enough to buy the used 2hp single phase motor that now runs my Coote. Geoff's advice was right on. You can do stock removal with files and polish with stones and sand paper, it just takes longer. Learn to draw file, if you don't know how already, and you'll find that it's not much slower than the wood working belt sanders. Save up your money to get a good belt sander designed for metal work. Doug Lester HELP...I'm a twenty year old trapped in the body of an old man!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Stephens Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 Kurt, Buy a copy of the $50 Knife Shop by Wayne Goddard. There are some very good belt grinder plans in there that can be built with very little $. That $50 at a junk yard can get you the motor, metal brackets, etc. you need to build a pretty good knife making grinder. There are lots of other tools to build in that book too. --Dave -----------------------------------------------"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly." -- Theodore Roosevelthttp://stephensforge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Ruslander Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 (edited) This is my workhorse available from Wilton or Sears. I like it so much, that I replaced my old Craftsman after many years of hard work. It won't hollow grind but it's strong, dependable and somewhat versatile: http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Belt-Sander-M...e/dp/B00101V1P6 It's also available from Sears, Wilton, Tool Zone etc. Edited June 26, 2009 by Mike R. Mike R. http://www.ruslanderknives.com https://plus.google.com/photos/110306175154054435692/albums/5576891702960826241 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Norris Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 A drill press it is then. Any idea on what to look for in a good drill press? Variable speed and what else? What makes a good press? What makes a bad one? Most drill presses are setup for woodworkers, i.e. the speeds that they run at are too fast for drilling holes in metal, especially tool steels. The following drill press is the one I recommend, unles you have thousands to spend on a nice industrial one. Notice the slowest setting is at 140 RPM. This will help you out greatly when drilling into metal. Check out garage sales, etc. and look for older presses, they are usually much sturdier and more accurate than the new ones. Just be carefull to find out what speeds any used press is running before you buy. Grizzly ~Bruce~ “All work is empty save when there is love, for work is love made visible.” Kahlil Gibran "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." - Alfred Adler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Kelley Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Buy the best variable speed drill press you can afford, then build yourslef a KMG clone or the no-weld grinder. You'll be way out ahead of the curve going this route. Just my nickel's worth.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=230354610383 "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." — Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kvistads Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 I just built a no weld grinder and put a good deal of money in it. IMHO, I think it would be hard to go wrong with the Grizzly 2" X 72" knife grinder. You're not going to beat the price anyway you look at it. http://www.grizzly.com/products/Knife-Belt...er-Buffer/G1015 Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Erwin Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 I'm gonna save and buy/build a KMG.... mmm rotary platen. Beau Erwin www.ErwinKnives.com Custom knives Bcarta Composites Stabilized Woods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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