Big honking timber slick

[Jeff Heath]

It's just a 2" X 72" belt grinder. I use it for initial bevel grinds on molding plane irons, knife making, regrinding vintage chisels/irons, sanding plane wedges (wooden) as well as a lot of other things. It has the flat platten shown, but I also have a 10" wheel, and small diameter grinding wheels from 1/2" up to 1.5" diameter. Great for inside curves. I use it for roughing out wood parts as well, with belts ranging from 36 grit up to 800 grit, and several different scotchbrite belts for polishing metal parts, too. 2 hp 3 phase motor, run with a VFD, for infinite speed control.

[Noah Magnuson]

Just don't get to carried away trying to flatten more than the last bit of the back if it is curved tip to tail. There is often an intentional belly in a timber slick that among other things offsets the handle from the blade and give some control paring large surfaces.

It is not a requirement and some timber framers prefer flat, but it will take a lot of work and steel to remove an intentional belly if it is there already. Some even have intentional camber side to side.