I agree entirely. I've had mine for 10 yrs now. Recently, I put a small rare earth magnet on the bottom plate - it attracts all the metal dust and stops it drifting around the shed. Brian
Great overview of belt sharpening in general and the pro edge in particular, thank you. Your video is actually more helpful and informative than the official Sorby promo videos, I'll be buying one after watching this. I suggest they send you a nice Christmas present!
Just bought a pro edge and set it up on a solid base. I started with roughing gouges and skew chesels, reshaped and sharpened them and I'm very happy with it. A little bit more practice and I'll be twice as fast. One tip ... enrave the angle you used on the handle - eliminating doubt and saving more time.
Belt cleaning bars are an essential accessory for any belt grinder. They're basically bars of crepe rubber that pulls all the crap out of the belt and gives it a new life.
Turning as a retirement hobby for the past 6 months, sharpening on a grinder was NOT my finest moment. This system was a game-changer, now my gouges are razor-sharp and my finish off the tool are excellent making turning even more enjoyable. Brian, love the tip about the magnet, will give that a go thank you. NOT using the safety guard, your choice, Robert, As an ex Paramedic saw lots of drivers that didn't bother with a seat belt. Good Luck. Thank you for a good overview.
Excellent vid, excellent machine for stock removal and repeatability of angles for first class results, life is too short to wait for a Tormek! ( I run a sharpening biz ;))
Just bought thr Pro Edge I'v not used it much yet but if anybody wants a redundant wheel grinder I'v got one for sale, I'v used it for planes and chisels and turning tools got mine from Machinery4Wood in Cornwall ,Yandels were out of stock.
Well Done THAT man ... I recently discovered the modern version of the belt "grinder" used in modern metal production work. I guess I was as amazed as you seem to be, but they make sense really. Other than sharpening freehand and on whetstones we still need a way to grind some metal now and again. As long as it doesn't scorch everything then it cannot be all bad?! Thanks for posting these videos - highly entertaining and educational also.
Hello! I am going to be building an acoustic ukulele just to give me something to do, however I still want to sound nice. What kind of wood should I use for the bracing (as well as the bracing that attaches the soundboard to the sides) (I want to put binding on mine) and how thick/thin should it be?? Thanks! Later, great video!
Hi Ben what do you think of the trend fast track sharpening system a fellow joiner had one on site recently and I'd love to know your opinion Many thanks
I actually use some sand paper ( 200(somethimes)-400-600-800-1200) attached with double tape on a piece of mdf. with good sand paper and a bit of water you obtain good results! after the 1200 grit I also use come compound product on a leather coat as you also did on your latest video. CHEERS BEN! thanks for all these vids!
***** i use the same tecnique, some sand paper and a flat mdf block, mostly becouse i find it really easy and affordable, and most important it get the job done
***** You can put a piece of sandpaper(any grit you need) on a piece of 3mm glass, and use the method to stick it on with painters tape and superglue as Ben described it in one of his previous video's. Glass will keep a perfect flat surface and the only thing you have to replace is the sanding paper. A long time ago I used this method to level frets, but since I got the Crimson leveling file and rubbers it's been much less of a hassle . ;-) So much for the commercial break, back over to you, Ben… ;-)
This is a great series. I had not known of this device before, but I would guess it is fairly essential for people who enjoy restoring old tools! Thanks again!
I have a sharpening service and this system saves me time and I use it in conjunction with my Tormek waterstone system both great machines. Great videos by the way.
+Michelle k Well eventually it will stop shining. Thats more sand paper belt you have to use, more time invested, especially when you have a multitude of chisels etc. If you are in a professional business and time is of the essence, and resources, theres no point spending all that time and effort making something shiny that servers no purpose. If you got the time etc and want a pretty tool, sure.
i would also like to point out that surface rust preserves the structural integrity of the metal. you only remove rust from places that you work with or that are going to get primed and painted.
Excellent series, looking forward to the others. A very tempting machine, I went for water based systems cause of the sparks and fine dust from those trizact belts and didn't want to run an extractor when sharpening also a firebox would have added extra cost as well. Will you be covering power honing?
Looks like a great bit of kit. I bet loosening/tighting those knobs for the belt change gets old fast though? .. I think that could be improved. Perhaps some kind of cam lock or other quicker locking device
Recently purchased this Sorby pro edge and its great for plane irons and larger firmer chisels. However I've found its not great on smaller or bevel edge chisels. The guide doesn't move smoothly along the tool rest. I've cleaned and now given it a once over with high grit sandpaper which has helped but still struggle to get a square edge on bevel edged chisels. Would still give a solid 8/9 out of 10. Loved your review, made my mind up to get on after watching it. so much better than the Axminster ultimate edge machine that is designed for the same purpose.
Hi, I've just recently bought the Pro edge sharpened My first beveled edge chisel and it is really as good as you say it is. The only problem I have is on your video you say you can do the flat side of the chisel because the safety plate runs true to the working place on mine. It doesn't. I've tried to slacken off the two bolts that holds the working plate on and moving the plate back but it doesn't go back enough. I've contemplated on making the holes bigger so I can move it back but I don't want to ruin the working place. Are you using the stock plate or did you purchase a different one?
Forgot to say, I bought a set of the diamond plates, something like this:- www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Tech-Professional-Diamond-Sharpening-Pieces/dp/B002EP7LII/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1469065298&sr=8-22&keywords=diamond+sharpening+stone and I am extremely happy with them. At somewhere around £10 - £15 for the set of three, you can't really go wrong.
...Great tool...I'd love one but I couldn't justify the expense and the majority of my sharpening would be knives, so I transfer what I'm used to onto everything else, from chisels to gardening tools...I tend to use diamond files, then 1200 grit wet and dry then a final polish with Solvol Autosol...one of the finest inventions of the 20th century...next to WD40 of course...
Loving them tatts and your professionalism, beautiful combo. Seriously thinking about buying the robert sorby sharpening system, great video series, thank you!
Sounds like love! The quality, simplicity and efficacy is appealing. :) I currently use one of 3 vintage wet grinding wheels, ranging from 2"-18" diameter for the occasional bigger sharpening job. I sharpen free-hand without guides. It is quite quick. As you show, using power at the start of the process can drastically reduce sharpening times. I would use the Sorby like (/instead of) my wet wheels, just for bigger jobs and first, coarse grind to establish the sharp edge and flat bevel, then switch to sharpening stones or diamond plates to refine/"polish" the already sharp edge and then finish with stropping (or power stropping), as shown. I cn't see myself changing belts very often. BTW Do you ever use it to sand wood?
An excellent video. All the Sorby planes I have seen were made by I Sorby or I&H not Robert Sorby. Yandles have events during the year with rock bottom prices and guitar blanks
I'm a very lazy sharpener - meaning my tools tend to get less sharpening attention than they need. I splashed out on a Pro Edge last week so last night I sharpened my block plane. Today I put up a wooden garage for my mum. Needing to trim some end grain it was lovely to use my block plane and get the most beautiful end grain shavings. The pro edge is expensive but it was almost worth the price for that one moment of delightful perfect shavings. It's doing a cracking job of my turning tools too :-)
Not so much a sharpening technique but I was watching a kitchen knife sharpening video and the way they tested their knife sharpness was by folding a piece of paper in half, balancing it on the new L shape and chopping downward onto the paper while it was completely unsupported (the flimsier the paper the better)
I do use a belt grinder for making knives, and I use them for bringing old tools back to life, but I always finish them with stones. Most knife makers use them after the belt grinder to put a final edge on their blades. You could also do this on a belt sander with glass grinding belts. If using a regular belt sander make sure the platen is flat and I would recommend clamping it in a vise so you can use both hands. If you can freehand sharpen you can grind a nice bevel on a chisel or plane blade with a belt sander and finish with stones. The idea is to get you close so you don't spend half a day to get an edge. Always dip blades in water frequently and go slow.
Impressive. One would think that the very edge would burn even if the rest of the tool is not getting hot, but obviously not. What a lovely chisel too. Weren't the really old ones I. Sorby?
you have so sold me from the very first video you did un-boxing it and now I am ordering my first one for working with Knifes after doing my belt work thank you :)
I wound up ordering a set of KING brand wetstones based on your usage of them. I was using the glass and sandpaper trick for a while, and it produced ok results. Chisels were sharp but it took forever, and I was wasting money on sandpaper. I now have a tri block setup for rough honing (rough, medium, and arkansas stone), then got the KING 1000/3000 block and a KING 6000 block. They will arrive this week and Im super excited! Gonna set some 20 degree chisels this week :)
I used them for over a decade and only the shapton ceramic stones have been able to tempt me away for general use, and that is only because they need less flattening in between uses and use less water.. Going from scary sharp to good water stones is like moving from a golf cart to an Aston Martin imo.. Have fun!
tip from a amateur knifemaker here, get yourself a bigger pool of water because that little bit will heat up quite fast. and we (me and 2 friends of mine) built our beltgrinder from scratch with a secondhand 75HP electrical engine. all of it together it cost us about 400 EUR.
Probably the most enjoyable review of a tool I have seen on you tube and really helpful in deciding whether to purchase one. The information and delivery is quality, second to none in my opinion. There is a lot of reviews on tools out there that are simply annoying and painful to watch or a total waste of time to extract anything useful from them. Others that try to look professional will have loud music and other gimmicky stuff. You give your excellent life knowledge of your trade/craft with a great practical demonstration of real world application. I first found/heard about this tool on Yandles before searching out for a video about it. Keep up the good work
Where did you get the sliding plate on top of the Pro Edge shelf? My Pro Edge doesn't have that, and leaves the tools to move on the Pro Edge shelf itself. The plate you are using looks a lot easier to use.
Peter Miller Best system I have come across. The slope gives the angle, just as the Sorby. No measuring projections and the abrasive runs away from the edge, so no digging in. Fast repeatable and quiet.
i don’t know if it’s been mentioned here (still watching the vid), but there’s an easy trick for ensuring you don’t overheat the blade while grinding - keep a bowl/cup of water handy for cooling between grinds, but more importantly, keep the blade a little wet on its surface when you go to grind. when it’s getting too hot, the water will evaporate and retreat from the hot blade, at which point it’s time to water cool. keep the blade wet and quench as soon as evaporation starts and you should be in the good!
@@LassetUnsSpielen ah! oops, you're right, i don't know how i missed that! i agree, keeping a hand on the work surface to monitor temp is a good way to go, although i've had an issue with the vibration of grinding making my hands slightly numb and not as quick to notice a rapid temp change, which is usually how it happens in my experience. also, how fast the heat can spread to where you are touching will factor in, and how hot the actual blade edge gets before you feel it heat up where you're touching. keeping the blade wet is just an extra measure to ensure it stays in a safe range. i don't have a lot of experience re-doing the process of heating and rapid quenching necessary to renew the hardening of the blade, so i try to keep it in a modest range. from my limited understanding (correct me if i'm wrong), once the blade hits the right temp, and isn't quenched fast enough, the hardening effect goes away quick, just like hitting the curie temp in a magnet causes the permanent field to collapse.
@@liquidstar9 what kind of machine are you using? vibrating, rotating devices can be dangerous, especially if you use them to make razorsharp tools. just asking, because i've bought the cheapest grinder i could find and haven't experienced that much of vibration. i turned it off after ~90 minutes after the motor started smelling funky :D
