Elegant Entry Divider - Wood Tools

BEIT SANDE
Sharpening a chisel or plane iron
with a belt sander may seem a little
unnerving. But prgect designer Kent
'Welsh swears by this technique as
the fastest way to get a sharp edge.
Before letting the sparks fly,
though, there are a few things to be
aware of. First, sparks can cause a fire
if they land in a pile ofdust and chips,
so remove the dust bag and set the
sander on a clean suface like a concrete
floor.And second, set the sander
on its side so the belt is on the /cf and
running away from you.This way, the
chisel won
tear the
Start w
belt sander
Then, "find" the
just as before, and
asainst the belt.This is i
as the sander sharpens so
only have one chance to get
Now keep the chisel (or plane
locked tightly against the sanding
and give the trigger a puLL (Fig. 1).A
few seconds is usually all it takes.
Then, remove the burr (Fig.2,below).
NOTE: Uae
al2O-grlt
eandlngbelt
Eovel"loaked'
agalnet
aandlngbelt
?ull baak along
belt, to remove burr
Hold the bevel flot ogoinsthe sonding To remove the burr, turn off the sonder.
belt, get o firm grip, ond pull the trigger. Then set the bock of the chisel flot ogoinsf
A few secondshould do the trick. the belt ond pull it ocross ot on onole.
When speed is of the essence, these fr,vo
tips will give you a sharp edge in
just a few seconds.
Micro-Bevel - A microbevel
is simply a steeper
angle ground onto the
tip of the bevel
where it meets
the back of the
chisel ( eft ). Less material
is being removed, so
the sharpening goes much
more quickly (Photo,near right).
Drill Bit - Another technique
is to use the shank ofa high-speed steel
rwist bit like a burnishing rod to "crisp
up" the cutting edge of the chisel, as
shown in the far right Photo.
.1-n4..-,-.r -.---- m,tu-s.;,;a'n|ir*'rr#
\
To creote o micro-bevel, first
find the bevel os shown in Fig. 2
on poge 35. Then, roise the
chisel iust o hoir, ond moke o
few quick posses over the stone.
The shonk of o twist bit con put
o quick edge on o dull chisel. Rub
the shonk firmly ogoinst the cutting
edge, sliding it ocross both
the bevel ond bock of the chisel.
38
\yoRKBENCH tr FEBRUARy 2005