# Lathe chisel belt sander jig.



## Firefyter-emt (May 13, 2006)

I made this yesterday basicly for free. I call it the "Thomashawk" LOL! (last name is Thomas, btw..)I got the metal stock at no cost and I own a mig welder. I have been debating using a belt sander for my tools and saw a design just like I had in mind. The company that was selling it had a wood jig that the sander bolted to. I like this one a lot more. My bench grinder is used wat too often in tool refurbs so I hate to dedicate it to sharpening duty. I already own a nice big 6" x 48" belt sander. Well I was looking at it the other day I noticed a 3/4" hole for the disk table to fit into. That is when the light came on in my head thinking back to the one I had seen eairler...

So I started fitting the rod, I did have to chuck it in my lathe and file it as it would not fit into my metal lathe.






Then a little mock up to check for fit..





The max. length I can sharpen is about 24" (I think that will work)
the dowel is not a good turning too I have found.





Here is a bad closeup, but I am too lazy to go do it again.. 
I painted the very end to keep the rust away. 





The next step is to design a skew outrigger that will probably bolt to the back plate of this one. Not surehow it will be designed yet. Does anyone know if the V-block needs to rotate with diffrent length skews? Or can the position stay the same?

Right now I have a 80 grit belt in it which worked great to bring the bevel back on 2 gouges I picked up the other day. I will be swapping my 150 grit belt onto it for normal use.  

Any input or comments?? Shoot away, I am new to turning but not to sharpening.. My hand planes normaly make .001 shavings


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## Rifleman1776 (May 14, 2006)

You've invented the Wolverine jig. [:0][]


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## KingBubbaTruck (May 14, 2006)

That looks very nice.

With my skew outrigger, I haven't found the need to adjust the 'outrigged' distance for different skews yet.

Can't wait to see the fingernail jig you come up with []


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## Firefyter-emt (May 14, 2006)

Oh yea, I stole the design 100 %.. (was the Wolverine the one based on the belt sander??) It is not as so much the gouge jig itself, but the fact that this is a direct fit into existing holes on my sander. I have not checked out other sanders to see if they have a way to swap the sander table to the belt or not, but it is a nice working jig with little to no effort put into it. I used that gouge in the photo last night and it cut the wood like butter. Next is a good pen vice for my drill press. Still a little pissed my Craftsman only has a 2" depth.. Oh well, what can ya do?

BTW, I looked up that jig, and yes, that was the design I stole for mine. I think I could buy their fingernail grind jig to use in mine easy enough.. I also saw their skew attachment, Basicly what I thought about doing, I like the way they keep it straight, I may use that as well


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## DCBluesman (May 14, 2006)

The only concern I have with this setup is it appears that you are sharpening "into" the edge.  If there's a catch, there could be a problem with the tool kicking back.  For those who are esperienced, this will work, but if you are like me, (<b>terrible with tools</b>) you really want to sharpen with the edge...the belt going away from the edge.  Here are some links to photos (used with Phil Esposito's permission) of an easy way to set this up. Tool sander 1

Tool Sander 2

Tool sander 3 

Grinder


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## Firefyter-emt (May 14, 2006)

I am torn on that to be honest. There is very little preasure on it and after doing 6 diffrent tools of varrious sizes I think it works good in this direction. If you reverse the belt direction, you are also shooting the sparks up in the air, not sure if I like that to be honest. I think a light touch and you will never have an issue with it. I will always be wearing a full face shield all the same!


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## bill-e (May 15, 2006)

Hi folks.

I was contacted to get permission to use my pics so I thought I'd register and comment.

I like the tool rest design but the belt should always be traveling away from the tool.  Yes, if you're always very careful you _<b>might_</b> get away with having the belt traveling towards the edge but one misque and either the tool will go flying or the belt will drive the point of the tool into the platen.

Also, you will get a better bur with the belt moving up instead of down.

Anyone else copying this design should assure the belt travels away from the edge.


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## Firefyter-emt (May 15, 2006)

Bill, how bad is the spark issue going up into the air? I am not a big fan of a shower of sparks flying over my head. Also, with a bench grinder, the wheel is in the same direction as this belt, what is the diffrence in the two? While I agree, it does look scary, while the chisle is on the belt it does not appear that there is any way the chisle could be "caught" and pulled down just based on the angle. Now if you do something stupid putting it in place, well ya.. and you could do that on the lathe approaching it too. Not saying I am not wrong, just curious here. I can reverse my sander by rewiring it, but I am more concerned about shooting sparks into the ceiling and into my face shield than the chance that that chisel will catch.


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## bill-e (May 15, 2006)

The sparks just ride up the belt....not a big deal and I've never even actually noticed them while sharpening so I cant believe they're all that bad.

Not being an expert on this I'd say the difference between a belt and a stone is just that, it's a belt.  You'll find that any of your softer sharpening or honing methods (ie.  not a stone) have the wheel or belt traveling away from the edge so you cant dig into it and catch.

As to your analogy to the lathe, of course that is true but the difference is that on the lathe you dont have a choice, you cant turn a piece of wood with the piece rotating away from the chisel.


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## Woodnknots (May 15, 2006)

I was always told by my dad not to use a belt sander for sharpening, because the belt is not always a flat surface (it's flexible).  I know that it's probably okay for turning tools, but it's a bit of advice I can't get out of my head enough to do it.  Although, if you look at what comes off a grinder sometimes, it's not that regular of an edge, either.  Maybe the belt will be fine?  I would turn it around, though.  I'm with the rest of the guys on that point.


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## Firefyter-emt (May 15, 2006)

Hmmm.. I can't wait to see how well the sparks ride the belt, that gives me a little hope. That was my biggest concern about the reverse direction. I will say, though,  that they gouges I have sharpened are cutting like butter. Heck I may even give that damn angle cut cocobolo a try again.. (I will turn that damn stuff without blowing a blank apart one of these times!!)


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