How To Sharpen A Knife On A Belt Grinder

[@DouglasPayne-yo2ib]

Tried so many ways that didn't work - very sharp very quickly - Thank you!

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Glad it helped!

[@ChristopherSalisburySalz]

I agree about sharpening angles. I sharpen most of my fixed blade knives for hunting at 17°. You just get better performance out of the blade and the edge holds up just fine. Especially nowadays when you see all these designers steels that hold an edge longer and have finer carbides.

[@BeenThrDunThat]

Thanks for the vid 😊 I am so glad I stumbled onto your services though even if it is a bit of a drive for me. You have a customer for life now. The knives I have dropped off, even our cheap ones, are just amazingly sharp. Will keep them coming for sure. It was great to see your setup. Keep up the great work!

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks!

[@antonthorn4471]

Hi! I Would Love a konvex grind sharpening video on wetstone 😄 your videos are great and very educational 👍

[@ALCOLOMARKETING]

Can you make a video of all the gear that you use to sharpen the knives? Like the belt sander or sharpening wheels etc

[@jordanjohnson7266]

I’d love to see this also!

[@ChristopherSalisburySalz]

I do almost all kitchen knives at 15° with clevers being one of the exceptions. Alot of the high end japanese knives reccomend between 11° and 13°.

[@GlennInLaguna]

Great tutorial Matt. 😎

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks!

[@DaleElder11]

Great video, thank you.

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Glad you liked it!

[@jukio02]

I use the ken onion edition work sharp. I took the guides off and twisted it so that the belt is horizontal where the belt is spinning away from me. I just use an off brand 120 grit belt, and it works perfectly fine. I used a 400 grit, but it wasn't sharpening that well(it was okay), so I just use 120 and that's it. I used a diamond sharpener before this, and it was awesome, but it just took too long, now I sharpen my knives fast and effortlessly.

[@WardogOutdoors]

Nice sharpening video, are you using the 24" radius platen or the 36" radius platen?

[@benmalone2605]

How do you make or where do you purchase a soft platin for a 2 inch belt sander?

[@pikeandtrout]

Exactly what I needed. Thanks for the video. Can I ask. in general how many knives can be sharpened with a trizact belt?

[@Phil.D333]

Actually, I see that you have the name of the machine the grinder on your list about thank you. also, further on into the spiral buffing wheel, I love the way you vertically attached to machines upper and lower space saver that’s for sure isn’t it. But I guess with some machines variable speed anyway where the controls are on the bottom it’s hard to tuck your hand in there very ingenious

[@ilikewaffles3689]

Not using an angle guide is crazy to me. I guess if you do this a lot, you get the feel for it. I can free hand on stones, cuz I have the time to match the angle. But my belt sander will ruin my edge in a single pass. On a stone, I can tilt the blade until I feel a flat spot or when the lubrication fluid moves. Neither of these can be used on a belt sander. How can you figure out the angle? Do you roughly eyeball the angle and just try to maintain it for all passes? I assume a slightly different angle is ground each sharpening in this case. Thanks!

[@garycullen1241]

Great video! I sharpen my blades at about a 17 degree angle, right behind the top of the 10" wheel I use. It's where the belt is very stiff. I also run the belt towards me. All the old timers did it that way. You kids are afraid of the belt running towards you! LOL You always make sure your belt doesn't have any nicks and it works fine. You are barely touching the belt like you said anyway, so it's not going to dig into the belt as long as your belt is good. I grind the primary hollow grinds with the edge up and the belt running towards me, (Belt running down) using my 10" wheel as well. I forget why the old guys said to do it that way. I think it's so you get a crisp line for the hollow grind. I do buff with the cutting edge down because my wheel is not stiff enough and you don't want the buffer to grab the blade! I do have a leather belt that I just remembered. I will try your method. I'm not stubborn enough to keep an open mind. I still learn something new every day, after 55 years of being a self taught machinist, that has run a very successful manufacturing business for 43 years. I see your T shirt says Peru, IN. I'm near Chicago Il., in New Lenox, IL. Your 150 miles from me. Do you ever come this way on I-80? I'd love for you to stop over. See if you can find me on Facebook. I'd like to show you my knives. My name is Gary Cullen. My Instagram is; garycullen116

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Usually knives were ground edge leading to make it easier to see if the edge was centered, especially on knives with a ricasso. It was also done because there is less heat at the entrance of the grind that the exit of the grind. That being said, I sharpen knives edge trailing because it’s been proven with electron microscopes (see The Science of Sharp blog), that edge trailing produces a thinner apex than edge leading does.

[@David-gld]

​@@TheSharpeningGuy Agree with you 100 percent

[@leadingedgeknifeandtoolsha4128]

GREAT VIDEO!!! ULINE CATALOG FOR THE WIN!!

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks! Those catalogs do come in handy for that.

[@margiakeel9860]

Great video. I enjoy learning from you. Where do you get your Norton belts?

[@Phil.D333]

Actually, I see that you have the name of the machine the grinder on your list about thank you

[@kenmalesky351]

What do you find is best for deburring as there are so many options these days? Can you explain why ceramic belts vs others? Thanks, great video.

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks! I personally prefer quarter inch spiral sewn buffing wheels with green compound. That being said, hard felt wheels, paper wheels, cardboard wheels, felt belts, leather belts, etc. can also work well. I prefer ceramic belt’s because they last a long time, cut with very little heat, and leave a nice consistent scratch pattern.

[@kenmalesky351]

@@TheSharpeningGuy where do you get your wheels if I may ask

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Perfect Edge Cutlery

[@joef1551]

Hi, just a question. What grit is an A30 belt?

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

@@joef1551600 grit

[@keithbarnold2]

Great video Matt. It would be nice if the camera was set to show a close up view. Your hands are in the way.

[@natewarner359]

Yes

Ty for the tutorial. Some (unsolicited) advice: - position the camera south west from the current frame, so it actually catches what you do with the blade on the belt, possibly over the entire frame, instead of capturing the whole room and just your right hand outer side next to the belt - stop the grinder before talking, couldnt understand anything you said while it was on

[@Ratlins9]

Nice video but one suggestion. Set your camera higher, closer and angled downward to obtain a better view. Your arms were level with the knife so it completely obscured the knife sharpening process. Your narration and tips were excellent.

[@bas4241]

You said you are putting a convex edge on the knife, but it looks to me like you are putting a slightly concave edge on it…your platen is bowed out like a wheel. To get a convex edge you would need a slightly slack belt. Am I missing something?

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

If I said that (I did not rewatch the video), then I misspoke. I was probably trying to say I was using a convex platen, not that it would produce a convex edge.

[@bas4241]

That sounds right…Thanks!

[@jordanjohnson7266]

Hi Matt, why do you prefer horizontal grinding? Also, why do you prefer a radius, platen or large wheel?

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

The horizontal part is really just personal preference. I personally like it better ergonomically and I’m also more used to it, but as you’ve seen I can use both and both work well. As far as the radius platen or wheel goes, I think it gives you a cleaner and crisper edge than a belt sliding over a flat platen does.

[@l26wang]

@@TheSharpeningGuy Would the radius platten give a slight hollow or concave to the bevel? i.e. if you brought it to a flat stone, not the entire bevel would be ground until the hollow is removed?

[@markmerz8594]

I have a kmg. What is on your platen?

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

I have a radius platen on it. You can either make your own like I did, or there are various ones for sale.

[@Phil.D333]

Great video, sir. As mentioned by others about wanting to know the names of your machinery, etc… if I could suggest there are other knife sharpeners that have a KZbin channel and they also incorporate a list that’s tagged onto their page of the machinery they use because youve read from asking more information about the machinery used. Thank you, sir.

[@David-gld]

I've been watching your videos for a couple days now and I have to say your work is A+, your knives look near perfect. Your videos are terrible. Please zoom in on your grinder when you're working. All we get to see is you standing in a room grinding. Need a new camera too.

[@georgemoomaw9437]

The way you waved that knife around, t was sure you were going to loose a couple of fingers. That didn’t happen. Congratulations.