at the lathe by Jon Siegel

The Belt Sharpening Revolution!

Grinding wheels played a big part in the manufacture of cutlery even before the Industrial Revolution, as depicted in the
Diderot Encyclopedia. Note the position of the workers at the grinding wheels.

he start of the 21st century 1 Give up grinding wheels coarse grit, when a large amount of metal
has brought with it the 2 Give up hand honing needs to be removed such as when a chisel
leading edge of a revolution that will 3 Give up hollow grinding has been dropped on a concrete floor, or
overturn the 1,200 year reign of grinding 4 Give up the “two tiered” system when the angle or shape needs changing.
wheels and replace them with abrasive But for routine maintenance of the edge,
belts for sharpening woodworking tools. These four points are discussed in belts are better. Of course grinding wheels
There is more to this than simply detail below. will always be employed in machine shops
substituting belts for wheels. The ideology for surfacing, forming and sharpening
of the revolution is that sharpening should #1 Grinding Wheels machine cutters, but this has little to do
be fast and easy and therefore entirely Grinding wheels were invented in the with how woodworkers maintain their
mechanized. 9th century. To overturn 1,200 years of chisels.
tradition is, to say the least, a challenge.
How to Join the Revolution To state that grinding wheels are now #2 Hand Honing
obsolete for the purpose of sharpening Hand honing is not accurate because
To become part of the belt sharpening woodworking tools is nothing less than it is done by hand. It requires feel, skill,
revolution, you will have to give up certain revolutionary, but over the last 100 years, and visual observation, and thus it is
sharpening procedures you have used in abrasive belts have steadily improved time-consuming. By comparison, the
the past, and change to a new method. to the point where their performance belt and buff routine is mechanized, can
Change is always hard, but I assure you and versatility make them superior for be done by rote, resulting in a better job
that for each of the following things I am sharpening. done faster. I compare this to sharpening
asking you go give up, I am offering an After the revolution, grinding wheels a pencil with a pocket-knife instead of a
alternative that you will like more than will still have plenty of work to do—for pencil sharpener.
what you had. example, when rough grinding with a After the revolution, hand hones in the

Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers 1

 Eight Reasons Why Belts are Better Than Wheels
Wheels Belts
1 The typical grinding wheel runs at 4,000
to 6,000 surface feet per minute (about
The ideal belt machine running at 1,000 surface
feet per minute is much more controlled and
60 mph), making the process very runs cooler than a wheel.
aggressive, intimidating to beginners,
and causes overheating of the edge.

2 Grinding wheels can jam the tool and

cause extremely serious accidents. (See
Belts cannot jam the tool because the belt
moves UP, away from the edge. [Fig. 1]
December, 2009 American Woodturner
magazine)

3 When you need coarser or finer grit, it is

very time-consuming to change grinding
Belts can be changed in a few seconds. Grits are
available from 40 to 400, and are low cost.
wheels.

4 Grinding wheels get smaller with time,

so the jig needs to be readjusted to
Belts do not get smaller so the jigs remain
consistent.
compensate.

5 Skew chisels must be jigged from two

different positions because of the
Both sides of the skew can be ground on a belt
from a single position of the jig, because the
curvature of the wheel. platen is flat.

6 Grinding wheels must be dressed

periodically, creating harmful abrasive
Belts never need to be dressed, because they
can’t get out of shape, out of round or out of
dust and wearing down the wheel. balance.

7 After dressing the wheel, the grains are

dull and may overheat the tool, because
Belts run cooler than wheels because the
abrasive grains are sharper and of higher quality.
they do not cut effectively until the outer The abrasive grains are electrostatically applied
layer breaks away. to the belt so the sharpest edges point up.

8 It is difficult to set up and measure the

angle of the chisel to the curved surface
It is easy and intuitive to set the angle of the
chisel to the vertical flat platen. [Fig. 2]
of the wheel.

form of round edge slip stones will still there is no need for hand honing of the #4 The Two Tiered System
have a function for refining the inside of bevel after the revolution. The traditional sharpening method
the flute of a gouge. [Fig 3] Belt grinding can be a rough process used by woodworkers involves roughing
when called upon for that purpose, but on the grinder (the first tier), and finishing
#3 Hollow Grinding the belt and buff method, when used for by hand honing (the second tier).
The purpose of hollow grinding is to routine maintenance, is a finishing process, In this old system, when the chisel
facilitate hand honing. Therefore hollow and as such it replaces honing or can be becomes dull, it must be honed again.
grinding is no longer necessary, because seen as a type of mechanized honing. After a certain number of hand honings,

2 Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers

(about three) you have to go back to the grinding wheel. [Fig 4]
The flaw in this two tiered system is that the process of repeated
honing is not sustainable because it adversely affects the geometry
of the edge. Eventually you find that two things are happening to
the edge that cannot be repaired by further honing without going
back to the first tier—the rough grinding. First, the hollowness
is being diminished each time you hone, so the surface area that
must be honed keeps increasing. Thus the time it takes to restore
the edge increases dramatically. Second, the shape of the bevel
becomes convex. This is inevitable because no hand process can
be accurate. As this happens the angle and the feel of the bevel
change, and thus the edge is not consistent. This deteriorating
condition is something you must keep track of, and at some point
you must decide that it is time to go back and grind again, or deal
with the consequences of procrastination.
For cabinet chisels and plane irons, honing involves placing the
stone on the bench and rubbing the chisel against it. Woodturners
however, due to the long length of the tools, generally hold the
stone in one hand, and the chisel in the other. Over time, we have
seen the transition from natural stones to synthetic, water stones,
abrasive paper, and finally to diamond hones. Each of these
improvements allow honing with less pressure, but essentially
this process has not changed for thousands of years. It is time for
something faster and better.

Belt, Buff, Turn

When you join the revolution, you will mechanize this whole
process to make it fast, accurate, easy and repeatable. Go from
belt-to-buff-to-wood with a single routine, and There Is No Fig 1—There is some argument over the best direction
“Second Tier.” You do exactly the same thing every time you of belt travel for sharpening machines, but the
sharpen, so there is nothing to decide, nothing to procrastinate,
consensus for belts is that it should go up. This is the
and the edge is perfectly consistent. [Fig 5]
precedent set by the Woodcraft machine, and in this
way the belt acts like a grinder and also like a strop. It
completely eliminates any possibility of jamming the
tool, even at very flat angles.

Fig 2—It is simple and intuitive to set the angle Fig 3—Often the surface of the flute needs to be refined. No wheel or belt can
of the bevel with the flat vertical plane using do this job easily, so round edge slip stones are used. Abrasive paper wrapped
either a bevel square or a protractor as shown. on a wooden dowel can also be used.

Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers 3

The Sharpening Pyramid and The Golden Rule of Metal. In the new sharpening world, we need to study the
variety of jigs available, how they work, why they work, and
the geometry they produce on the edge of the chisel. It is very
The Golden Rule important to understand how changes in the geometry affect the
“Remove the Minimum Amount of Metal” way the chisel behaves when used at the lathe.
Convenience is the antidote to sharpening procrastination. The
principal factor contributing to convenience is speed. Typically a
Convenience Accuracy sharpening operation involves three steps: (1) set up, (2) grinding
and (3) deburring. On a belt/buff machine the Total combined
time for all three steps is Ten Seconds. [Fig 6]
The Golden Rule of Sharpening—Remove the Minimum Amount Other factors affecting convenience are: difficulty, skill or
of Metal. There are six benefits to following the Golden Rule: focus required by the sharpening process that interrupts the
rhythm of work.
1 Saves time—Speed is the main factor contributing to Accuracy is achieved through repeatability. Jigs precisely bring
convenience. This is one of the foundations of the “Sharpening the surface of the bevel against the belt, and 0.001˝ can be
Pyramid”, because convenience is the antidote to sharpening removed from the entire surface of the bevel in a few seconds.
procrastination. Saving time increases productivity and This method restores the edge without altering the geometry.
enjoyment, because turning is more fun and more profitable [Fig 7, 8, 9]
than sharpening.
2 Reduces the possibility of overheating—The removal of 0.001˝ of Grits
metal only takes a few seconds. Can you overheat your chisel in a
few seconds? Of course not! Overheating is a non-issue. Anyone who has sanded wood—on a lathe or otherwise—
3 Conserves the tool—The chisel can be sharpened 1000 times knows that the success of an abrasive process depends on using
before one inch of blade has been consumed. So an average the correct grit for the job at hand, and/or progressing through a
chisel can be sharpened five thousand times! sequence of grits from coarse to fine. Unfortunately, when we use
4 Conserves grinding media—Grinding more than necessary a grinding wheel, we cannot apply this principle because of the
wears out (consumes) the grinding media and is wasteful. inconvenience of changing wheels. We tend to use one wheel for
5 Reduces dust—Grinding more than necessary produces excess every job. The most transformative feature of the belt sharpening
amounts of harmful abrasive dust. revolution is the Five Second Belt Change. Combined with
6 Reduces the burr left on the edge—Whether you remove the the low cost of belts, this means you will always have the right grit
burr or ignore it, having a smaller burr on a cutting tool always for the job or sequence desired.
leads to a sharper edge.
Buffing
To completely revolutionize the sharpening process, we need
to do more than just change from wheels to belts, but also accept Buffing has the same effect as stropping, except it takes two
that only a jig can be accurate or repeatable enough to satisfy seconds instead of two minutes. Buffing has a bad reputation
The Golden Rule of Sharpening—Remove the Minimum Amount in some circles, because many people buff too much, causing a

Ideal First Honing

10 Seconds to Sharpen a Chisel
Subsequent Honings
ine
ine
ck
Blo

ch
ch

Fig 4—The Old Way. This drawing shows the deteriorating

rr
l

Ma
Ma

ise

Bu
ee

condition of the bevel caused by repeated hand honing of a

Ch
pV

Off
ve
On

mo
ind

hollow ground bevel using the old “two tiered” system.

tU

rn

rn
Re
Tu

Tu
Se

Gr

First Belt Grind

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sec
Subsequent Belt Grinds

Fig 6—This chart shows the elapsed time for each of the steps in the
Fig 5—The New Way. The belt grinds the bevel straight. The “belt & buff” process. The total time is 10 seconds. The two second
geometry is identical every time, because there is no “second tier”. setup refers to the incremental vee-block—other jigs take longer.

4 Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers

 rounding of the edge. In the belt and buff system, the purpose of
buffing is simply to wipe away the burr left by grinding. If you
grind carefully—observing the Golden Rule—there will be very
little burr, and it only takes a few seconds to remove it by buffing,
or for many applications you can just ignore the burr. [Fig 10]
With a new gouge, it may be necessary to refine the surface
finish of the flute. This can be done with a round edge slip stone,
then buffed to a high finish. After this degree of buffing, it is
then necessary to grind a significant amount (about 0.01˝) to
remove the rounding of the edge. Over time, the light buffing
that occurs with each sharpening will have the accumulated effect
of polishing the flute.

Fig 7—The jig brings the bevel into contact

with the belt in precise alignment.

Fig 9—It is only necessary to remove 0.001˝ of

Fig 8—Rounding of the edge begins metal to restore the edge. If you grind more

immediately and progresses until the width of than that you are violating the Golden Rule of

the edge grows to a size that causes you to feel Sharpening: Remove the Minimum Amount of Metal.

it is dull—about 0.001˝.

Fig. 11—The Woodcraft Mark II

was the first belt & buff machine
made for woodworkers, and this
started the revolution 35 years
ago.

Fig. 12—The incremental Vee-

block is a big improvement
over the sliding type of pocket
jig (or handle jig), because it
gives repeatable precision and
two second setup time.

Fig 10—Buffing does the same thing as stropping—except it does it in two seconds
instead of two minutes. In this photo the buffing wheel fits into the flute of a gouge
where a strop could not reach.

Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers 5

How the Revolution Started

In 1977 I worked in a shop where they used a belt and

buff machine made by Woodcraft Supply called the Mark II
Sharpening System. [Fig 11] Although I had seen belts used in
metal shops for deburring and surfacing, I had never heard of
using belts for sharpening. The literature from Woodcraft claimed
that the belt was less likely to overheat the tool than a grinding
wheel. I found that was true, but the thing I really liked about
the belt system was the ability to change the belt in a few seconds
to utilize the fineness of grit that was best for the job, or in some
cases a sequence of grits. The Woodcraft machine was only made
for a few years.
The belt on the Woodcraft machine moved Up, away from the
edge, and this established an important feature for belt machines
to follow. By moving up, the belt works as a grinder, but also
like a strop—and this makes it impossible for the tool to jam
against the belt, even at very flat angles. In spite of these apparent
advantages, people have successfully used belts for sharpening in
both directions.
Another thing about the Woodcraft machine that opened my
eyes was the sliding pocket jig, or handle jig. This evolved into
the Wolverine and similar jigs so popular today. The Woodcraft
machine had no platform jig, which suited me just fine because I
had been quite frustrated trying to sharpen gouges and skews on
a platform jig. After 45 years of sharpening woodworking tools, I
have concluded that platform jigs are only good for scrapers.
The final thing I learned from using the Woodcraft system
is the convenience of having the belt and the buff on the same
machine. The system embodies a two-step routine contained in a
single machine.
The Woodcraft machine brought into the woodworking world
a whole new way to sharpen—belts instead of wheels, easy change
of grit, and a belt and buff sequence that Eliminated Hand In 1996 my wife, Patrice Martin, and I started
Honing. When I got back to my shop, I began to think about Big Tree Tools to manufacture my patented spur center
how I could devise a belt & buff machine for my own purposes;
one that was specially configured for woodturning chisels. Over and other wood lathe accessories. About the same
time I made the following changes: time, I was helping other woodturners convert 4 x 36
sanders into sharpening machines like the ones you
1 A much slower speed (about 5 times slower)
2 An extremely common belt size (4 x 36) that is available from see in the photographs that accompany this article.
literally hundreds of sources. Soon we were producing complete machines for
3 A flat platen instead of a contact wheel.
sale, and to date we have sold nearly 300 machines.
4 An incremental vee-block instead of the sliding bar.
5 Compact and portable (40 pounds, 18 kilo) Currently (October 2010), we have suspended
6 Additional jigs for cabinet chisels, carving chisels, plane irons and production and are reorganizing.
a round bar to receive the Tormek type of jigs.

The Incremental Vee-Block (aka pocket jig or handle jig) In fact this fuss usually took longer than the sharpening process
itself. So when I built my machine, I invented the incremental
When I was using the Woodcraft machine with the sliding vee-block. [Fig 12] This has discrete positions so it is quick and
bar pocket jig, I started putting marks on the bar to facilitate easy (about two seconds) to replace the jig in exactly the same
replacing the jig to exactly the same place later when I wanted position as it was before with no trial and error adjusting. After
to sharpen the same chisel again. To some degree it was possible many sharpenings (about 1,000), the chisel becomes shorter, and
to achieve repeatability this way, and I was trying to eliminate needs to be moved up one position. The incremental vee-block
the trial and error and fine adjusting that I found so frustrating. is a critical feature that makes the machine fast and convenient.

6 Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers