Knife Sharpening Angle Guide for 1 x 30 Belt Sander

Fast delivery and just what I needed!

I’m a Knifemaker and I modify this angle guide to use for sharpening knives on a 1 x 30 belt grinder. I had one of these several years ago and hated it because I didn’t know how to properly set it up. There are several very good YouTube videos on sharpening knives with a 1x30 belt grinder that show how to set the angle guide up to work properly. Ignore the angle degree marks. Install the angle guide on the platen and set your desired angle with another method. A digital angle guide is best. When you get your desired angle dialed in, (I use 17 degrees for sharpening kitchen knives) mark your setting on the guide where it actually goes. Watch the videos for more modifications, but this angle guide is the only game in town, and it can be made to work very well.

If you’re debating whether to buy this, go for it! It’s been a total game-changer in our kitchen. We could never get our knives sharp enough until we got this. In just 3 to 5 minutes, my husband sharpened one of our knives, and I was blown away by how sharp it turned out. My only regret is not getting it sooner!

I had to return the 1 x 30 in. belt sander. If I were to do it again I would get a slow speed sander. It chewed up my knife. Quick. I could take the time and learn to use it on the fast speed 3600 rpm machine , or get a slower speed sander like I did.

It works well but it takes a little time and practice to learn to use it well.

1. Angles not correct2. Corner of guide plate hits bolster, preventing grinding of entire edge. The corner needs to be partially removed (see pic).3. Guide plate leaves a large gap between it and the belt which disallows smaller width blades. I'm hoping this can be remedied by expanding the slots for the pins to allow the guide plate to touch the belt. Not there yet.4. The plate doesn't achieve a small enough angle for knife sharpening. Expanding the slots may remedy this. We'll see.I suggest watching this YT video: "How to get more precision sharpening from you 1x30".I'm in the process of attempting to modify the guide for my use case. I'll update this review when I'm finished.

Some pros and some cons. By its very design their has to be a gap between the leading edge and the sanding belt. At high angles this gap is minimized but gets greater at lower angles. This means that the knive blade has to be wider at the lower angles to keep the back edge from falling into the gap. It would be nice if they could add a plate to the surface that could be slid in and out to close the gap at any angle setting. As a workaround I used double sided carpet tape to hold a small piece of 1/16 inch acrylic that I sawed down to 1 inch wide by 3 inches long. I set the angle at a25 degrees and taped the plastic in place so that the gap was minimized. This helps with narrower knife blades that I want to grind at 20 or 25 degree angles. If I want to use lower or higher angles I will simply pull this plastic off and reposition it.Being only one inch wide it takes some practice to use this. I start with the blade edge slid down away from the belt, then slowly slide it up until it just makes contact with the belt, and then draw it across the length of the blade. It removes metal fast to the blade needs to be slid along fairly quickly. Practice on a junk knife.

when it has to be right this is a must haveHighly recommend