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Sander for making knife scales recommendations

I'd like to get a power sander mainly for thinning a scale blank and keeping it flat. To do this now I use sandpaper on a flat glass surface. This can take a lot of time depending on the thickness and type material I'm working with. The first question I need to answer is I don't want to spend a lot of money. $100 max is my goal. Right now I don't have room for a sander with table nor do I want to spend what the ones I've looked at cost. A few years ago I remember looking at a sander that had two sanding surfaces. One was a belt sander. The belt was vertical (possibly adjustable angle). The other was a disk sander (vertical) with a small table to rest the work piece on. This was a small unit that sits on a table. Easily carried from place to place. I don't remember the cost but if I was considering it I'm thinking it was $200 or less. My goal is $100 but that isn't written in stone. In fact I may be dreaming. I won't buy something because it meets my price goal. It also will need to work well for my needs. If I can't find anything that won't work WELL I won't get anything right now.

I have Dremel stuff that I use for knife scales. I have the following and any tips on how to use these items is helpful also. I use these things but any tips that aren't in the book would be great. Here is a list of what I have.

Rotary tools: Dremel 4000 (corded) and 8200 (battery) and a B&D tool.

Dremel attachments I use for knife scales:

Workstation (mini-drill press) I don't use it as a drill press but I use it mainly to hold the Dremel in place freeing up both hands.

Moto-saw (small coping saw) You can use this hand held or with the small work table it mounts in.

Table router: This works well with the sanding drums for shaping around the edge of scales. But if I had a sanding drum that is longer (1.5"-2") I think I could thin a scale blank by feeding it between the drum and fence. I have tried (only once) to feed a piece through 2 or 3 times either turning the piece over and/or adjusting the height of the sanding drum. This may work but I'll need a little practice.

These tools are excellent for shaping and polishing knive scales but what I'm lacking is a larger, flat sanding area. So any power sanders or advice in using what I have would be great.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

1 member likes this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by James Cole on October 14, 2014 at 19:40

Harbor Freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/#

Permalink Reply by Jack Haskins, Jr. on October 14, 2014 at 19:55

WOW! That's all I can say. I'll even spell it backwards. WOW!

The one I was looking at a while back is sitting right there on the monitor when I opened the site you posted. It has a sanding belt and disk both in one unit. $79.99 but there looks to be a coupon at checkout for a $20 discount. It has a lot of versatility in a small package. And a small package is what I WANT, not what I would have to live with. This is great. If you ever see me in a restaurant I'll buy you a sandwich. LOL

Here's the link if you want to see what I am looking at. The link you posted has lots of stuff but what I wanted is among everything else.

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-x-36-inch-belt-6-inch-disc-sand...

Just read 4 or 5 reviews and all praised the unit. THANKS AGAIN! Love to see other recommendations but unless something really surprising pops up this is what I'll have under the tree. Actually, the wife is what is going to require I wait. She loves Christmas presents. I knew I was going to have to compromise when I got married but if I knew I was going to have to wait to use this sander I may have run from the alter. :)

James Cole said:

Harbor Freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/#

Permalink Reply by James Cole on October 15, 2014 at 6:49

Jack,

Happy to be of some assistance. Enjoy your new toy, and post pictures of your work.

Jim

Permalink Reply by Jack Haskins, Jr. on October 15, 2014 at 7:56

Two pictures I already have on photobucket of a couple of more recent jobs.

Straight razor with kirinite (bengal tiger pattern)

Spyderco Manbug (3rd knife down). This had grey G-10 scales and now it has blue mother-of-pearl kirinite scales. I've made several sets of scales for this knife. Little knives are cool because sometimes there's enough material left over after making a set of "normal" size scales.

Permalink Reply by James Cole on October 15, 2014 at 8:39

Nice work. They look very professionally done. I have two Remingtons that I will be re-handling sometime soon. Both were nearly destroyed by outgassing celluloid.

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by John McCain on October 15, 2014 at 18:30

Jack, that Harbor Freight sander looks great-- I used a Sears Craftsman table top belt/disc sander combo very similar to that on all my customs-- I think I paid $89.99 for mine, but that was 10 or 12 years ago-(inflation) Anyhow, your proposed combo will do anything you need it to do. I have flattened and shaped wood, bone,recon stone handles with mine and also shaped and finished nickel silver and brass bolsters, pins ,etc--.(handy tip)- Buy a OVE Glove if sanding/shaping small small metal pieces---You can keep the control of the piece without frying your fingers-- Available at Walgreens or any place that sells ASOTV items or housewares (especially around Christmas)- around $9.99. Otherwise, piece will get too hot to hold in about 30 sec.- I use a Dremel tool extensively with my customs-- My number one purchase suggestion would be the flexible shaft extension-- Allows you to hold any bit, sanding wheel, etc. in your hand like a pen--- Far greater control for precision work-- Not that expensive, either.

Permalink Reply by Jack Haskins, Jr. on October 15, 2014 at 21:55

John, thanks for the encouragement. I did find a Porter Cable sander very similar but it runs about $180. It's at lowes right down the street. Local assistance if there are problems is great and Lowe's is great IMO. If I had problems with the Harbor Freight sander and had to ship it somewhere I'm sure I'd have to pay shipping and be without it for no telling how long. At Lowe's I could take it to the store and get another one right then. Gotta love Lowe's. It has two tables also. I think the Harbor Freight model has one and you need to switch it depending on which sander you are using. I think that's true. The Porter Cable sander also has a dust bag. That's nice. A vacuum attachment is nice too. We'll see.

I have two Dremels and I'd say 80% of the attachments including the flex cable. You're right about that thing. Even my dog loves the flex cable. I "Dremel" her claws and I can leave the Dremel 3 feet away. She likes that better. :) Not as noisy.

Permalink Reply by Jack Haskins, Jr. on October 16, 2014 at 11:52

After reading a couple pages of reviews I think I'll be going with this Porter Cable sander.

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=91036-46069-PCB420SA...

It seems to have the little extra power and capability you appreciate in a tool long after the pain of additional expense has been forgotten. The first review I read seemed like it was written just for me. He mentioned the $70-$80 sanders, the $120 sanders and this one for $179. Then, for additional capability the price jumps up to $300- $1000 or more. While the others would probably be fine just for knife scales I have had times a sander like this would have helped on larger jobs. Maybe I'd be better off with this in the long run. Plus, they carry it in my local Lowe's. That alone is worth a little extra to me.

Permalink Reply by Jack Haskins, Jr. on May 10, 2015 at 9:15

Brief update on using the sander I bought. It has become a tool that gets quite a bit of use. It has saved time but it also has been responsible for a couple of mess ups regarding knife scale making. One time I was thinning a wood scale and I had the table for the belt sander a little too far from the belt and the scale slid between the belt and the table which snapped it in half. Another time I was thinning the scales after the knife was reassembled and removed material faster than I anticipated and flattened the screw heads a little. Thankfully, the torx hole in the heads were still usable. So the knife now looks like it has flat head screws instead of rounded ones. Actually this little blunder resulted in me seeing that I could do this on purpose if I wanted to.

I was brousing through the threads here and found this one I started a while back. In addition to the mistakes I've made with it I've absolutely loved having this belt/disk sander. The only thing I don't care for is the sandpaper disks use a glue backing to stay on the tool. I can change the grit of the belt sander at will but after removing the disks I don't know if I could reattach them or not. Even if the adhesive were capable of holding the disk on the sander it means storing it while not using that disk could be a problem. Keeping the adhesive side free from dirt or sticking to other things. I've only changed it once so far and it was because I wanted a coarser grit. There was quite a bit of life left in the disk I removed. But the adhesive wasn't very adhesive any more so I threw it away. Later I realized I should have kept it. I might have been able to cut it to size and stick pieces of it to a piece of scrap wood to use for hand sanding. Does anyone have any solutions to easily swapping the adhesive disks so they can be used later? Maybe a type of adhesive I could reapply that holds well and also allows the disk to be removed relatively easily?

Jack

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 10, 2015 at 9:59

Jack,

I am glad to hear your enjoying it! Donnie used the one from Harbor freight for a few years, still has it set up in the shop. He just told me he still uses it all the time for handle material

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