[Hector A.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dndjr3YXsLA

What are your thoughts on this?

Is it a good method, safe or not, is the achieve results satisfactory?

How sharp in grit terminology where historical swords, 240?

The 40 degree angle, really optimal for all swords without exception?

Also what was that under 40 degree business he was on about, something about first 30 degree then 40, im confused.

[Daniel Wallace]

everyone's got their own method . . .

he should have some how attached the guide to the sander so that the blade would never leave the guide and maintain the angle he's only using his skill to maintain the angle. if I tried that it would slip and gouge the blade somewhere or the blade would catch and snap against the machine (done it before). personal opinion. 240 - 400 - 800 . . . . . I'd probably start and leave with 600 unless I was putting an edge on for the first time or there was very VERY heavy use on the blade.

when it comes to sharpening I always say leave the power tools at home. use a stone (or sand paper of choice it is cheaper). a wet stone will tell you what angle the original bevel was on the blade. unless you know it has that 'apple seed edge' you got to learn a rolling technique for that one.

now I do use a belt sander to begin an apple see edge. but all I use it for is beveling that edge, the actual honing is done by stone. sharpness, it comes to personal preference, but my finest stone is 1000, I don't think I've ever used it on a knife. I wouldn't use it on a sword unless I was really meticulous about it.

[M. Livermore]

This is a good method if you proceed with care. I would wear gloves, a leather apron and face protection. The main concern is not allowing the lower grit belts to linger on any one spot or you will get perceptible wave to your edge. Things can also overheat. I like to go back and blend the edge by hand to avoid an obvious visual polish line. If I have the time I do the whole thing by hand using essentially the same idea and I usually like that a bit more. You can mess up just as badly with a file but usually over less of the blade and not as quickly. I would not try either for the first time on a really nice sword.

As for the 40 degree bevel, yes, it is a good general bevel. Keep in mind that this is a total angle of 40 degrees. Not 40 on each side. This is also the angle I use on kitchen knives that will see some contact with bones and such. It is robust but still plenty sharp enough to bite. His talk of an initial bevel of 30 degrees followed by forty would produce a faceted edge but don't worry about it unless you have an unusually bad edge to deal with.

I hope someone else can tell you more about historical grits but I suspect that there are few swords with a pristine enough edge to tell. As with many things it probably varied with who was doing the sharpening, what tools they had on hand, and what their goal was. People certainly did have the means to get a much finer edge than a 240 grit equivalent.

Have fun! Sharpening swords can be a great time.

[Christopher B Lellis]

[Hector A.]

Ok so i got the same belt sander at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004D96ZCG/r...&psc=1

and i got myself 5 of each belt that he recommended the trizact 3m's from here: http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=...at=1,43072

Grits i took are 240, 400 and 800.

I'm not sure if i got all i needed, i will be sharpening an Albion Alexandria and a knightly sword with this rig.

Right now i'm using the Spiderco Sharpmaker, at a 40 degree angle with the medium grit stone that seems to be close to 800 grit.
The Spiderco did a really nice job, but its to freaking slow, like 1 hour per sword slow to get it to paper cutting sharpness, i didn't even bother with the fine stones(those are 1400 grit i believe). I can get 3 sessions of cutting ten 10cm thick rolled and soaked newspapers with the sharpmaker medium grit edge, i do this once a week, by the 3rd session the sword has gone noticeably blunt, and only powerful cuts will make it threw completely and cleanly, this is why i decided to find something better.

Do u think i got the right tools for the job, the 3 grits and the belt sander? Or should i have gone for 80 grit and 2000 grit also? The reason i didn't take them is that 2000 grit if i am not mistaken will dull the sword faster, despite cutting better, and with the medium stone from spiderco im getting only 3 sessions before it goes blunt and that's supposedly 800 grit, so what will 2000 get me? 1 Session, i cant take the hassle of sharpening all the bloody time for 1 hour .

Anyway your opinions have been taken into account and appreciated, and hope you can answer my last few questions. Thank you all

ps: also did i fuck anything up by sharpening my Alexandria with the medium Sharpmaker stone at 40 degree angle? And if so, will this method correct it?

[Christopher B Lellis]

Personally I think 240 grit is a little too low to work with for a beginner on an expensive sword. There is less room for error on low grit belts, you risk taking too much metal off too quickly somewhere.

I wouldn't go lower than 400 grit, I don't even think you need to on an Albion, I haven't anyway. The edges are already in place, you are just fine tuning them.

I usually start with 800 grit "sometimes 600, if it's a thick type of sword", I hit each side 8 times, then move to 1000 grit, hit each side 8 times, then I move to 3000 grit and do each side 8 times again. At last, I use the leather strop about 6 times each side although I don't think the strop it's too picky, remember to use jewelers rouge on the leather, it will work much better.

I do not have a 2000 grit belt but would like one.

When I resharpen I usually stick with 1000 or 3000 and just touch it up a couple of times, that's all it takes for me to put back a very sharp edge.

If you use 400 or lower, be gentle with the pressure you apply to it, don't press the sword up against the belt hard or it will quickly take too much metal off. I would recommend practicing a bit on some worthless wall hanger type sword so you at least have a sense of what you are doing and what the belt is doing to the metal.