# Lee Valley stip sander sharpening



## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

I bought one of the Lee Valley 1" strip sanders. I had a motor already so I just bought the sander. The tool rest came with it but it was hard to adjust. I took the bolt out that came with it and added a longer carriage bolt, a spacer and a plastic handle to tighten it. This made adjusting it much easier and it now locks in place. 
The I added a wooden base and built a notch to hold a 3/4" bar. I welded an angle on it and put a cup to hold the Oneway Wolverine jig ( or Ellsworh or others that use this kind of bowl grind). On really steep tools it just barely misses the frame on the left side but on bowl gouges it works much better. My Thompson detail gouge is in the jig in this photo and it's ground very sharp so it just clears the frame when you swing the wolverine jig.
Then I built a swinging arm to use for tools that would normally be sharpened in the Oneway V arm. This works extremely well. You could probably build it out of wood but I'm trying to learn machinist skills so I built mine out of aluminum and steel.
It has a 120 grit Blue zirconia belt which is designed to cut steel. I have other belts up to 800 grit that I'm going to try. I haven't found a leather strop of it yet so I may have to build one of those.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Interesting, thanks for posting.

Lee Valley also sells the belts and leather honing strap.
Rather buried on the page with the sander, had to click on the "Acc" items under the sander.

Scroll down to "E" at bottom of the page.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=48040&cat=1,43072


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## fboyles (Nov 7, 2012)

Which direction are you sanding/grinding? Towards to too or away from? It also seems like you really need to be careful not to put too much pressure while grinding as the belt can deflect and roll the grind over?


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

fboyles said:


> Which direction are you sanding/grinding? Towards to too or away from? It also seems like you really need to be careful not to put too much pressure while grinding as the belt can deflect and roll the grind over?


Since this comes without motor, I think you just need to get a motor which runs clockwise, or can be wired to run clockwise.

I would prefer to have the belt running from bottom to top.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

I have the belt running up. I've played with both ways and for lathe tools and carving tools running away from the edge is better. 
There is a platten behind the belt so it won't flex and roll the edge.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

JL: Correct me if I'm wrong but is it not so that after turning with gouges and whatnot, you will be sanding to finish your project?
I ask as honing the gouges would be unnecessary. Most of the time, I like to leave smooth but visible tool marks on my wood carvings. Then honing to "carving sharp" is a real issue.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

Not sure what your asking. My goal is to reduce the amount of sanding that I do. The higher grit you start with the more crisp you can keep all the details. It also reduce the lumpiness you get from oversanding on woods that have a hard/ soft summer winter wood, or sanding past a knot. Also if you have to start with 120 grit it's awful hard to not leave a sanding mark that you don't see until you get to 400 grit. If you can start at 220 then it's just a lot easier. 
The goal of building this sander sharpener is to compare the various sharpening methods, white wheel, vs CBN, vs Tormek grinder, Vs sandpaper. I think we know that the finer grit will make a sharper edge. What I'm trying to determine is, will it be worth it and which one is the most convenient to use along with either the expense of the effort needed to set up the machine.


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Robson Valley said:


> I ask as honing the gouges would be unnecessary.


Gouges, maybe.

Skews are a different story: sharper = better


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