Too cheap and easy?

[Scott Semmel]

I hone using basswood strops; I have a felt wheel and use it occasionally, so this is more of a curiosity than my intended practice. I was changing belts on my one inch belt sander and had what I thought, at the time, was a minor epiphany.
 If I put the belt on inside out, put honing compound on the fabric it should work as a power strop not unlike my felt wheel but with no radius to make things difficult. I tried it on a patch knife and a straight chisel and it sure seemed to work. Something tells me there must be something bad about this idea but at the moment I can’t think of what it might be.

[TPH]

Shouldn't be Scott as long as you use a light touch and don't try to hold it on there for too long. Quick work done slowly, so to speak.

[Acer Saccharum]

 I am going to try this myself. However, I will avoid digging the point into the belt.


I have several different brands of belts. My preferred belts have a feathered and glued joint, while others have a piece of tape joining the ends, which will be like a lumpity ride in a car with no shocks.

[caliber45]

Scott -- My only concern would be possible excess wear on your sander spindles. Do you see any wear? Of course, you'd use it so infrequently, probably, that that wouldn't be a problem. -- paulallen, tucson az

[Jim Kibler]

It seems I've seen a leather belt advertised for this purpose somewhere as well.

[RwBeV]

I have a leather belt made up for my belt sander, it works good.  You just have to lace it like you would any old time leather belt, so that all the lace's are parallel and do not cross on the inside part that touches the wheels.  I recess the out side so it doesn't create a big bump on the out side.  You have to use fairly thick leather

Bob

[Chuck Burrows]

Both the leather belt and the inside out belt work fine - as noted just be careful not to dig the edge or point into the belt. I've used the inside out belt "trick" for over 30 years both for polishing/honing metals of all types and with beeswax to power smooth the edges on leather work..

[bluenoser]

You can get leather belts from Lee Valley Tools.  They are made up with a scarf joint and run smoothly.  Now that I have seen how they are made, I think I should be able to make the next one myself.

Lee Valley also sells a good selection of belts.  I think the finest one I have purchased from them is 9 microns.  BTW, I reversed the pulleys on my belt sander (drive to driven & vice versa) so it would run slower.  It is now quite a bit easier to control the cut and heat buildup.

Laurie

[Scott Semmel]

Chuck- "I've used the inside out belt "trick" for over 30 years" Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. It seemed so simple, and I never heard anyone do it, that I was sure there was some reason it wasn't done. I knew about the leather belt but never tried one. I used a well used belt I can't imagine it doing the saw any harm.

[Gaeckle]

That sounds like a great idea for us cheapies who want to squeaze every last cent of value from the stuff we have...........

Gonna try this myself

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Belt sanders rock..and belt strops are OK too.....now if I could just figure out how to get one to strop the inside of my .5mm veiner!!

[Paddlefoot]

For the veiner glue a heavy piece of shoulder carving leather onto a paint stirring stick and use a razor blade or razor sharp knife to slice the overhanging leather off square at the edge, no chamfer or bevel. If the tool is really pretty funky use some diamond honing paste on the leather or you can use tripoli or even 3M polishing compound or semichrome. You won't have to strop it too much to get it bright and shiny. You can also take a piece of soft wood(that stirring stick again) and shape the edge to match the inside of the tool and just charge the wood up with the abrasive and that will work too. Get black and slick from the polishing action real fast.