Quick & easy knife sharpening - J. Neilson

n'what not!

It's Stone Cold Steve Austin with hair.

Great video. I'm just curious about only using such a coarse belt. Considering most sharpening instructions go with 2 or 3 different stones, from coarse to fine. Is there much of a difference not doing another pass with a finer belt?

If you prefer a more polished edge, you can step down to finer grit belts with the same process. I like to have a "toothier" edge for cutting rope, wood, flesh/hide, etc. (For many of the knives I commonly make) A more polished edge will tend to push material away more than cut into it.

@ToxicityAssured " If the steel is heat treated then you are hurting your knife! The heat from friction is taking away the temper." You have not a single clue what your talking about. First of all, you would have to get the main body of the blade up over 450 degree's to affect the temper of the steel.. the blade acts a heat sink to absorb heat generated at the edge.. Most professional sharpeners use this method.. How do you think factory convex edges are ground?... Mouse pads ? LMAO.

@rainmechanic Why are you such a jerk? Google "ruin temper belt sander" and see what you get. You need not heat the entire knife to ruin the temper, just the thin edge that does all the work. A belt generates a lot of friction, more so as you get finer grits. It could be as fast as seconds. Makers use grinders for stock removal, not usually sharpening. Someone could see this video and mess up an expensive knife. Just saying to use some caution here, not everyone is as smart as you.

Hey Jeff, glad to help out. I'm a big fan of simple and straight-forward. Never tried the timber trick, gonna have to give that a try. If I've got a few small, stray flakes I (happens on certain stainless steels at times) usually just do the Capt. Morgan's stand and give it a last quick strop of my jeans. Usually takes care of thiings.J.

Great video! Sorry if this has been said over and over, i didn't bother looking all over the posts for it. The "wire edge" you're referring too is called a "burr". Loved the vid, well done mate :)

Reality for a change no arty farty bullshit about twenty different grits etc,the wire edge you speak of is a Burr,and removing it on a leather is stropping, with stainless steels the best way believe it or not is by hand on a fine India stone stroking from the sharp edge towards the back edge of the knife on alternate sides.Using a belt sander is O.K, as long as you keep the blade cool.

Hello sir, I'm 14 and I have recently found a passion for custom knives. I saw your review and link to this video on USA Knifemakers. My question is this, If i were to get this machine (my first) sharpening/ light re profiling and handle work, could it be mounted to a sturdy wall via the feet that are made to bolt it to a bench with?

Yes, there are fins with bolt holes on the bottom of the machine that allow it to be bolted to a bench, pedestal, whatever.

You make it look easy my friend. That's the sign of a true professional.

Amazing voice!!!

Thanks for the informative vid. Good presentation, concise and to the point. Cheers, John.

Wow, finally a machine used to sharpen knives....years ago I worked with a carpenter from Argentina, he sharpened all his tools including wood plane knives with his portable belt sander with medium paper. The result was he always had blades razor sharp, no need for a utlity knife ! He fit Crown mouldings by trimming way before we had the "chop saw", thanks for posting.

won't this weaken the heat treatment on high end knives

Nope. You keep the blade cool by making one pass and then dunking the blade in water. I've been making knives full-time for 10 years and this sharpening method has never caused any problem with over-heating of or damage to a blades performance. Just move the blade smoothly along and keep it cool and you'll have no problems.

I started this methos with that little harbor freight 3-wheeler and as long as you don't let the blade get too hot (with that grinder or any other) you'll be just fine.

Thanks for the vid. I bought some sanding and leather belts and polishing compound from Pop's Knife Supplies (awesome service) and tried your method on my belt sander. Incredible fast results for knife edges. Thanks again!!

The Kalamazoo is a terrific grinder for sharpening. The Baldor motor is almost worth the cost of the machine. I bought mine at Enco for well under $200 shipped. I do have to remove the little yellow box; it gets in the way and does nothing useful. Great video! It helped a lot when I first bought a grinder a few years ago.

Good video, thanks

What belt sander is that?

A Kalamazoo 1" x 42"

I remember when I first went on You Tube, you'rs was the very first video I looked at and subscribe to. I wish you'd do another just for the heck of it. If not, I still watch your video from time to time just to brush up on my sharpening. I took your recommendations and ordered some supplies from Georgia. Great guys there, thanks a million.

Thanks very much. I actually have a few new videos in mind, it's just a matter of finding the time to shoot them. Even though I sharpen the same way as in this video, I'd add some more info in a new one as well as do some new things like my antique finish and such. Also, you'd see me with much sharter hair. ; )

good video man. now I know what to get

dude i always thought a polished edge was better until i saw ur video and tried it and i agree i used a 320 grit belt and then just took the burr off by hand on some sand paper and then stropped a few times and ive never gotten a knife that sharp before i def agree that the toothier edge bits better. but i dont know how u grind edge down i cant do that i have to grind edge up or i mess the blade up.

Glad to hear you like the method. grind my blades ege up but, sharpen edge down. Especially the leather belt, if the edge catches on that belt while stropping it could spin the knife in you hand and possibly hurt you. I know I've got enough cuts on my hands. ; )

Sorry for the delayed response. 320 will work as well, when I want a finer edge I'll use 400 grit belts. I also don;t vary the speed and there's no need to slow the belt unless your having trouble keeping the blade cool. Remember to dip the entire edge into cool water after each pass to keep the blade cool and not overheat the edge and loose your edge's hardness.

I'm planning on re-posting a newer version of this video but, I'm still doing it the same way for the last 7 years. Just won't see the ponytail anymore. I also did make the correction on the Kalamazoo/Baldor thing way back.

nice call on the water dunking.. i was about to forget that part

I really like how quick you sharpened that blade and the water dunk and leather polish probably made the difference instead of a stack of wet stones. My guess is it took less than 10 minutes to complete the process and produced a well balanced blade.

I prefer a "toothy" blade and this sharpening took me about 2 min.

Just curious. Are you the guy from mountain hollow?

Yep, hat's me, minus the crazy hair now though.

How much use do you get out of say a 9 micron belt ? I was having a hard time all of a sudden getting a sharpen and switched most of my belts and WHOA , what a difference.. I noticed though a new 9 micron has some bite to it, after a couple of uses it seems to be gone ! .. Ideas ?

Actually, I'm not familiar with micron belts. I use 220 most of the time and 600 when a finer, less toothy edge is needed.

Can you adjust the belt speed (SFPM) from very slow to much faster?  If not, do you know of anyone who supplies bench top belt sander that DOES allow variable belt speed?

where do you get the actual belt holder and wheels ?

Ten years later and glad the vid is still up.

Oh my god... you are so attractive. ...even still. ♡

Holy HAIR!

Bring back the hair J!!! This vid has saved me so much time. Cheers.

FORG IN FIRE KING

I was just like I thinking I feel like I've heard the name J Neilson before and I was like holy shit that's the guy from forged in fire

Drunk it in water so you will have a good rusty knife when you are done.

Forged in fire

Found a 1*42 baldor for 75 bucks, love it

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I’m just starting out blacksmithing. I’m having a lot of trouble finding supplies things like block brushes. where would you recommend on the Internet to find these things thanks for your help