Inspired by Mr. Ken, I am wondering if has anyone put a speed controller on a Kalamazoo 1SM?  If so, what did you use?  I suffer a total lack of understanding concerning AC motor speed controllers. 

I have read several posts where members experienced difficulties with leather honing belts stretching and no longer being usable. Here is my proposed solution:

Do not try to alter  the belt; make the belt path longer. I am only familiar with the Viel, and admittedly, I have not yet tried this. That said, The top wheel is mounted in a yoke which slides into a square shaft. A spring creates tension to tighten the belt. Placing a shim between the bottom of the yoke and the spring will increase the tension on the belt. I suggest drilling and tapping a hole in the bottom of the yoke. Square pieces of metal can be made up and drilled with a center hole. A machine screw, or, even nicer, a screw with a head for an Allen wrench would hold the metal piece in place. The pressure of the spring will help hold the square piece in place; no great threading strength is required.

Having a variety of metal thicknesses makes tensioning easy.

Ken

Gentlemen, 

I know why your hones aren't working as they should. There probably wasn't much diamond grit left on your hones by the time they got to you.

Since I've never done anything like this before, I didn't realize how loosely the grit stays on the surface of the leather before you use the hone. It takes some use to embed the grit into the leather. 

The way I figured this out is twofold. First, I couldn't believe y'all weren't enthralled with the hones. I know exactly how well 16u poly diamond works. The difference between the compound and bare leather is night and day. Everyone should have noticed immediately, and that didn't happen.

Since I used up so much of my 16u compound on the hones, I ordered another bottle. As I was discussing things with Mr. Ken Schwartz, I learned of a new type of synthetic diamond that comes in much larger grit. I got a bottle of 30u and a bottle of 80u and immediately loaded a couple of the same hones that I sent out. I got a big surprise.   

Now I know that the emulsion carrier will not reliably keep larger grit particles stuck to the leather before the grit is manually embedded into the surface. The larger the grit, the harder it is to get it to stay on the leather. It was very noticeable at 30u, but at 80u, None of the grit stuck at all. It was apparent that the emulsion actually sealed the surface of the leather, leaving the grit completely free to fall off. 

I do a fair amount of leather work, so I have a few kinds of professional grade leather conditioner and sealer. Skidmore's Leather Cream and Conditioner and Fiebing's Aussie Leather Conditioner both worked well for keeping the grit on the leather.

The reason this is news to me is simply because 16u grit stays on a hone if you apply it, then use it right away, which is all I've ever done. When I tried loading a hone with two solid coats of compound, then let it dry without using it, sure enough, much of the grit can be brushed off. 

A major factor is the amount of compound I put on the leather. I used about 5X too much. That's why the carrier effectively sealed the surface of the leather beneath the unembedded grit. 

Building up thin coats of compound, and embedding the compound into the leather between coats makes all the difference in the world.  

I think the solution will involve unsealing the leather surface and applying compound normally. I can send little syringes of compound so there won't be a chance of losing any in transport ever again.

Sorry boys, I fouled it up, but I'm looking forward to having valuable experience to share in 3-4 weeks.

Simple question:  Can a blade sharpened with a 20° bevel angle be as sharp as the same blade sharpened to a 15° bevel angle?
 
Seems like a silly question, but what is your experience?

In Europe dandelion is considered to be a vigorous weed despite the fact that it has some culinary and herbal medicine usage. Today I was sharpening our homemade dandelion extractor. I have found a half-round file to be suitable to sharpen its tip.

       

P.S.: The name dandelion comes from the French dent de lion = lion's tooth, in reference to the  jagged-edged leaves.

A priority mail box awaited me in my mailbox. It was a strop from Mark Reich. 

Wow! Nice job, Mark. 

Ken

Recently I have read an interesting article about handmade regional French pocket knives.
For your inspiration the link is here:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170425...fe-capital



Corkscrew is a regional must.

The picture above may also be a reminder to May Day celebrations and rites which include maypole dancing and May Queen crowing. Bonfires, popular in Germany, is a pagan origin celebration during Walpurgis Night held on 30 April.  In this country it is called Witches’ Night.

       

My Viel conversion hit a snag; my refrigerator died. This did not cancel the project, but did slow progress. While waiting, I continued doing research. I found references to two speed motors (1725/1140 rpm or 1725/830). 

My only reservation with the Viel, or dry grinding in general, is the heat generated. Max's variable speed modification, as shown in his scissors sharpening video, seems just the ticket. In my case, as a home sharpener, speed is not a consideration. I believe having just a slower speed might solve my problem, although I have no direct experience to support that belief.

Pros and cons: If I can locate a slower speed motor which fits 115 volt, NEMA 48 frame, half inch shaft, and reversible; Replacement would be just a direct fit, except for the reversing switch. (The Penn State Industries variable speed motor requires modifying the mounting bracket and either boring out the pulley shaft or turning the motor shaft down to half inch in addition to wiring the switch.) I see three speed ranges listed, and am curious to know what the direct drive range would be.

I would have to have a machinist bore out the pulley. Could I do the bracket modification in my home shop?

Comments welcome.

Ken

I was just replying to another thread, when a fresh thought struck me. I've had time to think it through.

I have absolutely everything to make Perfect leather hones, and I have way more compounds than I need.

I could deliver Pre-Loaded hones very reasonably. Popular sizes would be 2x6" or 3x8". I would mount skived cowhide on 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood with Barge cement. All surfaces finish sanded. I always apply 2-3 full coats of compound to new hones.

I'm only going to offer this here, to BESSEX members.

Has anyone heard of anything like this? 

Is anyone interested? Please leave your thoughts!

Thought this might be a fun topic to play with, I'm sure most of us have done a "SftT" project at some point or another.  

Here's one that amused me from this afternoon, took me an hour or so to do, all told.  Picked up this pair of *LEFT HANDED!* scissors at a local fire sale.  Sadly, was the fire sale for my favourite hobby shop... shit happens.  Anyway, I spotted these on the table of general stuff they were dumping, and offered them a buck for 'em, which they jumped at.  They were planning to trash that whole table.  



So, out with the scotchbrite and Simple Green to get rid of the soot and gunk, then out to the shop.  Shot of PBBlaster to loosen up the screw and let me separate the blades and some careful screwdriver work got them apart.  Big buff in the drill press loaded with Flitz for the chromed surfaces, and some 800-grit wet-or-dry on a walnut backer block, run wet to flat-sand the corrosion off of the inner faces of the blades.  Over to the TAS for a new grind (thank you for all the help learning to use that thing right, Rupert) and back together.  A bit of magic paddle work to get the burrs brought in just right, then a quick adjustment for tension and back into service.  A lot of the weird surface you're seeing in the second photo is fingerprints, but there were a few portions of the chrome plating that were attacked enough that the Flitz didn't quite get them mirror bright again.  Not worried about it.




They cut superbly!  Toilet paper, newsprint both with and across grain, cotton cloth, all are cut cleaning, with no slipping and no pressure on the handles required.  

I love being able to recover something from the edge of the trash bin!