I use the Ken Onion Mk2 with Blade Grinder Attachment. There may be cheaper and larger options but I’m really pleased with my experience of the Worksharp.

I have the Ken onion and the vevor. Both have their positives and negatives. I didn’t like the Ken onion without the knife grinder attachment. Anything with a bevel was hard to get the whole edge sharp. I got the vevor about 2 weeks ago and I really like it but it does take some work to get set up well. If you want to use an angle guide the platen is not magnetic so you need to find a way to attach the guide. I made a new platen and used magnets. You can just sharpen on the slack parts of the belt which will give you a convex edge and you can use it out of the box. The belts that come with it are not great. I have tried two belt companies and cliff curry’s belts are way better than the other company. I got some combat abrasives belts and on the higher grits the tape at the seam was about 15-20 thousandths thicker than the belt so the seam was hitting the edge hard and dulling it. They are fine belts for other tasks but the 600 and 800 were not good for sharpening. The vevor is nice because of the variable speed and direction. I do wish the direction could be changed by a switch or button but you have to go into the menu and change it. Not a big deal once you know how to do it but would be nice on a switch. Hope this helps.

The Bucktool Low Speed 1x30 grinder is hard to beat for the price, and Cliff Curry has one in his shop.

The Vevor 1x30 is receiving lots of praise. Even by Cliff Curry.
I'm strongly considering justifying the purchase myself.

I love my Ken onion also, but look at a Vevor 1x30 in the same price bracket. It’s more full featured and belts are widely available. Remember your budget needs to include abrasives, and they can get expensive quickly.

I just started with a 1x30 from harbor freight. I know it's not ideal, but it's working pretty well for me so far.

It ain't perfect but you ain't getting much for that price. What I'm using to get started.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Palmgren-Belt-bench-finishing-machine/dp/B0006577HI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

It's not the best, but I got by with the 4x36 from harbor freight. Use a 20% off coupon and it's affordable. I used it for a couple months before building my own 2x72

You could make one. There’s quite a few good videos on YouTube.

That will depend quite a bit on how tight the budget is and where you live.

I order all my belts for all my sanders from Amazon or combatabrasives.com. I have not tried 3m cubitron yet but I’ve heard a lot of people like them. I really like ceramic belts they tend to last way longer than traditional aluminum oxide or zirconia belts especially when sanding any type of metal but they do cost a little more up front.

Best? Then consider these.

https://www.klingspor.com/

https://www.mirka.com/en-us/

SIA Abrasives- siawood

They’ve been helpful for me too. That’s why I choose them over other companies. I’m still waiting to hear back from Wicked Edge about a missing piece. I sent them an email about two years ago…

Stick with Work Sharp. They’re good people.

Festools are great; note that that Rotex is a BEAST. It's amazing for what it is, but it might be more sander than you really want - go test it at a Festool dealer or somewhere. Perhaps ETS 150/5 EQ-Plus which is a moderately aggressive one.

I also really like the Mirka sanders, I find them more ergonomic for me.

Apparently the new bosh GET series is pretty good. It’s getting comparisons to the Festool Rotex. 

Paper makes the real difference imo. 3m cubitron is the popular option. Arguably the best on the market. I recently invested in this Diablo mesh stuff from Home Depot. It’s pretty good. It’s supposed to compare to the 3m stuff. It lasts 10 times longer than your average sand paper, and because it’s a mesh, it evacuates dust way better too. It’s a night and day difference. In fact I guarantee my harbor freight sander will out perform any top end sander if I have the good paper and that have standard.

Here for the answer. I’ve been looking at the Surfprep sanding kits but not sure if they are any good.

The Bosch GET75-6N is the most sander for the least money.

Bought the older version of the Bosch new in 2015 and was blown away. I still tell people about how the turbo mode shot a six foot walnut slab across my bench because I didn’t think I needed it clamped down.

Had the opportunity to pick up a lightly used rotex 6” less than a year later so I did. Sold the Rotex a year or so later because I preferred the Bosch.

Mainly felt better in my hands and less fatigue after using it for long periods of time. They are both amazing sanders though and either one is a good choice.

I purchased the newer version of the Bosch in 2023 and it’s even more comfortable. Locked the old one is a bench top stand and still use it regularly as well, ten years old this year, doesn’t feel like it’s lost any power.

I will say my personal preference lies a lot in the fact that I’ve never been as impressed with a festool tool for the amount of money I’ve dished out for them. Great tools, I’m a value guy though and Bosch has them beat there.

They are some definite disadvantages sharpening with a belt sander. Affecting heat treat etc. Knife steel nerds has a interesting write up about that: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/04/08/does-sharpening-with-a-grinder-ruin-your-edge/ Plus of course the type of edge you're going for..... It takes some practice , skill to get proficient with belt sanders....... Just like stones. Especially using a smaller 1x30 model. It doesn't take me very long at all to sharpen dull knives with stones, So I've not really explored using my belt sander much... I've done some repairs with it.... I mostly use it for making handles currently.... A lot of people will do repair , removal of a lot of material from a knife with a belt sander and finish up with stones. (Being careful to manage heat as best they can)

I have one of those inexpensive harbor freight type of 1x30 belt sander, for the price it's pretty nice. They are some modifications you can explore for them, like being able to change out the motor so you get a slower belt speed. I removed the plastic cover on the side, making changing belts a lot easier.

As far as belts go I was little disappointed with the super inexpensive different Amazon options. It's not as if they're bad but I definitely had some finishing issues, scratches on some handles I was making at the time. I did order some belts , produced in Japan , from maker material supply https://www.makermaterialsupply.com/ It's been far too cold out to use my workshop, So I've not used it them yet.

EDIT If you wanted something powered, that's fast that does an amazing job check out the Tormek T4 or T8. With a large variety of attachments, the T8 version has some aftermarket wheels you can get as well.

If you're coming from a guided sharpening system, I think you're better off with that than a cheap belt grinder. The transition from whetstone sharpening to belt grinding is far easier than from guided sharpening. With whetstones, an operator will have some practice holding the knife at the right angle on the whetstone, which is a critical skill to have when you've essentially got a moving whetstone that removes materials 10x faster on a belt grinder. There's very little time to react before you overheat the steel or round the tip, especially if the grinder does not have variable speed.

I have never used a 1 x 30, but I can't imagine wanting to use one after having used a 2" belt since starting on a grinder. Main issue is that I think it would be much harder to put a clean profile on a knife with a 1" belt. I get a lot of knives from customers with recurved edges due to using a pull-through sharpener for maintenance. I'm using the platen and holding the knife diagonally on it to get as much flat surface as possible when correcting the profile.

My setup is pretty economical and works really well for my current production volume. I'm using a Delta variable speed grinder from Lowes with a Multi-tool 2 x 36 grinder attachment. I believe retail on the two combined is under $450 before tax. I pretty much always use the lowest speed except for when I'm using a 36 grit belt to pull material off a really bad chip/tip repair or a really dull axe. I am using a garden sprayer with a long wand that locks open the spray to add water cooling when I need it. Belts are about $5-8 each, but that's a pretty negligible cost relative to how long they last. I've been very happily using Red Label ceramic belts in 36, 80, 180, and 400, followed by a Trizact A16 and leather polishing belt. Result is a mirror polish edge. Start to finish across a batch of knives, my production rate is usually about 2 inches a minute. My production volume is getting to the point where I just upgraded to a Jet 1 hp variable speed bench grinder to use with the Multi-tool attachment. The Delta works fine, but the motor gets pretty hot after about a half-hour. Not an issue right now in the winter, but definitely had to take breaks when we had the heat wave this last summer.

There was a time when all I used the belt grinder for was doing the primary bevel grind with an 80 grit and then finishing on stones. I had been using DMT X Coarse diamond stones before that and would usually wear them out after about 6 months of use. Then I started playing with higher grit belts and just ditched the stones altogether. I regularly check my work with a microscope and a clinometer and can very consistently deliver mirror polished edges to within a degree of the desire bevel angle that I am aiming for by feel without any angle guides. I have never overheated a blade to the point where I can see any discoloration, even under a microscope. I added the water cooling mostly so that I could do chisels when it helps to be able to just hold the large bevel on the platen to get it nice and flat. During the heat wave, I also used it as a precaution to avoid overheating knife steel.

I wouldn't worry too much about that knife steel nerds article. I've read it and it doesn't square with my experience. There are WAY too may variables to say that belt grinders will likely overheat your steel. Yes...it definitely can. Just buy some cheap knives at the thrift shop and hold it down on there for awhile and you'll see that it can happen quite quickly, even at low speeds. The condition of the belt, length of the belt, and most importantly, technique of the operator will determine if you actually do overheat the steel. It's all light touch, good flowing technique, and finesse on a belt grinder, which is again why I think it's a better transition from whetstone than guided sharpening. That said, it is quite fun. Just go buy some garbage knives from the thrift shop, practice for a bit, and you'll get the hang of it.

Pro Cliff Curry sells quality belts and recommends Rikon 1x30" variable speed belt sander with an angle guide. He has many sharpening YT vids. I occasionally grind on HF 1x30 with 120 SiC belt before stone or ceramic.

Join and search this group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/251233948371661 Knife Sharpening and Restoration (Learning the finer details)

I recently switched to Red Label Abrasives and find I get significantly more life out of each belt. I've been super happy with them.

Red label is a good mix between quality and price. Not the best, but for the money it’s a solid choice. I use a lot of their stuff.

Full disclosure: I haven’t tried a lot of brands and I mainly do sharpening and new edges.

I use:

VSM Ceramic Plus 36 grit, 80 grit, 120 grit

VSM Ilumeron 240 grit, 400 grit, 800 grit, 1200 grit (mostly for sharpening)

Klingspor LS312 J Flex in 120 grit, 240 grit

I'll occasionally use Norton Blaze if there's a sale or my VSM Ceramic Plus aren't in stock

I've been very happy with Combat Abrasives ceramic 4x36 belts.

VSM ceramics are the go-to and what you are buying when you buy from most distributors. (Preferred, Red Label, Etc)

Preferred Abrasives has the best costs for smaller sized orders and fast flate rate shipping.

I've tried a few. I definitely think ceramics are best. Norton blaze are really good for blogging material. If only go to 120 grit on those. Also trying out the combat abrasives and they seem pretty on par.

I've tried some others as well. There's a green Norton ceramic which I can't remember the name but they did not match the blaze.

They are a good bit more proxy than say aluminum oxide belts but last 10x longer and save you so much time over cheaper alternatives they are not even close to worth it.

For higher grits I like the trizac "gator" belts. I think I got a 240, 400, and 600

belt sanders can take material off very quickly. buy some chinesium blades to practice on.

I do all my sharpening on a modified harbor freight 1x30.

I can get some pretty insane edges off of it in about 15 min start to finish. I have some nice water stones but honestly I don’t use them for much anymore because of just how effective a belt grinder is.

That being said, it definitely takes practice and it’s very easy to ruin a knife on if you apply too much pressure or use bad technique.

A skilled operator can get incredible edges off belts.

People here are biased towards stones, fyi.

Although it's subject to some debate, there have been concerns about power sharpening and the high temperatures generated at the very edge by the abrasion process. Check out this thread and others like it: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/measuring-the-maximum-temperature-of-an-edge-during-belt-sanding-initial-results.1357231/

For me when it comes to knives using stones is a hobby. If I was going to sharpen as a profession I would use a setup like the edgepro to get consistent results every time. If I just needed something to put a quick edge on before each use then I would use a good pull through or electric. Simply faster and easier. If it’s an expensive knife that I have an investment in then I’m partial to taking my time and using stones but at the end of the day knives are tools so I treat them as such.

Straight Razors I only use stones personally but since it’s actually touching my face then feel and comfort is way more important than how sharp it is