I needed a belt grinder/linisher for knife-making. A large range of tasks is involved in knife-making, and most of the affordable, commercially made machines are unsuitable. They would be good for only one task; if I were to buy, I would probably have to buy two or three of them.
I decided I would make my own, with changeable tooling heads, that would allow me to make additional heads to fit it later.
I wanted to use different-sized belts on it, one being 50x2745mm. This is easy to get and has a good range of grits available. It is a long belt, so it is cooler when it grinds and I get more knives per belt.
I also wanted to use the 50x1870mm (2-inch by 72-inch imperial) hybrid belt designed for knife-making – not so popular here in New Zealand.
The online selection is huge and specific to knife-making with leather strops, Scotch-Brite belts, etc. As I get a few supplies from the US, I wanted the option to use these as well.
Typical knife-making machines are a three-wheeled design: drive wheel, tracking wheel, and contact wheel. By adding a lower jockey wheel on one of the legs, I figured I could do one to take the longer belts.
