grinder belt recommendations

jspake

Well-Known Member
hi guys,

i hate that this is my first posting here on the forum and i am already mooching... to be fair, i've been lurking for quite some time already, and have just been waiting until i feel like i've got some work that's worth showing before i jump in. unfortunately that has not happened yet, so instead i'm looking for some specific info on sanding belts.

i've got a KMG grinder on the way, that i will be pairing up with a motor and VFD that i got from wayne coe. i'm sitting here thinking that i'll be all set to do some grinding pretty soon and then i came to the obvious realization that i neither have any belts, nor do i have ANY inkling of what belts to buy.

i have logged some hours on a bader grinder at a local guy's house, so i am sort of familiar with what the setup there was like, but i was hoping to get some advise on specific belt progressions that people are using. i have been to the sites that people usually recommend, so i know WHERE to get stuff, i just really don't know WHAT. silicone carbide? aluminum oxide? ceramic? etc... i swear... i thought researching which GRINDER to get was confusing.

any help would be tremendously appreciated. i promise i will try to contribute and share here, and not be a complete leech!

thanks

-jeremy
 
It took me 8 years to realize that cheap belts are the most expensive thing that you can buy.
I use Blaze but unfortunately they don't go finer than 12 grit so then I switch to Nordax.
I use the 80 & 120 Blaze then the equilivent of 220 & 400 grit nordax.
I get them from www.USAKnifemaker.com.
Some other users like even more aggressive grits and go finer.
 
For the heavy grits nothing beats the Norton "Blaze" belts. For budget substitute try Klingspoor CS-411 (blue zirconium) in 50 or 60 grit.

Personally my belt range goes as follows:
Norton Blaze in 50 girt
Norton Norax in 150 (belt U936)
Klingspoor J-weight 220 (LS309)
Norton Norax X30 (400 grit)
Norton Norax X22 (800 grit)

I also have various other belts around for specific uses.

Now, having said all that, it's going to take each individual a bit of time and experimenting to find the belts you like the best. Each person grinds a little differently, with different materials. Take suggestions from as many individuals as possible, see what crosses over, then order a couple of each recommended belt at a time....and try them.
In most shops belts are the highest cost consumable.....in my shop belts alone will generally consume $200-$400 every other month.

Pay attention to what Wayne said about cheap belts....the price looks good in the beginning, but all they will do is frustrate you. Generally speaking, the premium belts will do 3-6X the work of one el-cheapo belt, and do it cleaner and better.
 
Norton Blaze or 3m 967's are the best for heavy grinding. The Blaze are very good but I have actually found that the 967's give me more consitent performance over their service life and am using them more and more these days.
 
A couple of years ago I asked a similar question on another forum. Unfortunately, the members there weren't as nice as our brothers here on KD. In fact, several were fairly rude. Just as you, I had just pulled the trigger on a KMG and was excited to get it going. After several not so kind responses, the fellow named Tracy chimed in and referred me to a link on his supply website that was just full of great info.

http://www.usaknifemaker.com/abrasive-belt-basics-what-kind-should-i-buy-p-1393.html

Soon after receiving this message, Knife Dogs was open for business. I joined soon after and have been bugging the daylights out of Boss ever since. I hope the information at this link helps you as much as it did me. Buying belts can be confusing in the begining.
 
Jeremy,

That is a very good link that Murph provided; lots of useful information.

The others have pretty much said all there is to it. Cheap belts are actually expensive.

IME, ceramic belts seem to be best for heavy grinding, followed by the zirc belts.

Silicone carbide does well on metal, but wears so fast that it becomes expensive. That material is best reserved for finishing operations using the finer grits, not stock removal. Still, I believe one is better served in this area using the structured abrasives- not only do they last for what seems like forever, but they are also more consistent.

Aluminum oxide belts in progressive grits are great for shaping everything else (handle materials, etc.), and those are the only belts where I "go cheap".
 
Don't worry that your first post was a question. That's what we're here for!

I too share the sentiments that a cheap belt will typically cost you more in the long run, as they do tend to wear out (or wear unevenly) faster than higher quality belts such as Blaze ceramics, or other belts in the 5 to 10 dollar/piece range.

That being said, don't be afraid to throw out (or demote) that expensive Blaze belt once it starts wearing down, as that will cause you more trouble than it's worth too.

As for grits, I typically profile my blanks with a 36 grit Blaze for speed, then clean up the burrs and profile my bevels with a 60 grit, and then a 120 grit before heat treat.

After heat treat, I'll clean the scale off with a 120 and depending on the finish I'm looking for, I might leave it there, or move to a 220 and so on.

For getting a mirror polish, I've had great success using Tracy's suggested combination of Norax belts... IIRC, it's something like 100x, 65x, 45x, 16x, and 5x, or something like that....
 
i'd like to thank all of you for the advise and thoughtful suggestions. i'm probably just going to order a whole bunch of stuff from the various lists and just try to see what works for me as i try to get everything figured out. all of this input definitely gives me a really good basis to start from, so thanks again. the only thing i've got in my shop right now is a crappy 1x42 sander from (don't laugh) harbor freight, so i've been done most of the work by hand, starting at 120 going up to about 800 or 1000 with regular wet/dry stuff from the hardware store.

i made my first knife completely from scratch back in august as a birthday gift to my girlfriend. all stock removal 01 steel with a questionable heat treat. at that time my only resource was the tim mccreight knife making book, so its essentially the "paring knife" project, but with a wooden sheath. i just wanted to make her a pretty knife. since then i've mostly been making scandi style knives with Lauri blades and just trying to learn more about how to put a knife together and do good leather work. i feel like i've proven to myself by now that i don;t just have a passing interest in doing knives, so i'm trying to step up my game and start learning how to make a good blade. i took a one day blade smithing class from nick marcelja (red troll forge), who lives near me. it was a good introduction to forging, and i've been back once since for informal shop use. the second visit i got 3 blades that i thought were decent enough to bother finishing. i hope to have one of them handled in the next week or two. anyway, that's a little bit about me. thanks again for the belt info. i look forward to sharing my results with all of you!

-jeremy
 

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Your heat treat may be 'questionable' but the rest of it is jamb up. I see a lot of good things going on in that knife and sheath.

Carey
 
Blaze 50x or 60x
Blaze 120x
3M Trizact CF (also known as GATOR belts) in the following grits
A65 (approx 280 grit)
A45 (approx 360 grit)
A30 (approx 600 grit(

The gator belts seem to last forever. If they seem to dull turn them around. If they get a groove in them press a piece of steel a bit wider than the belt and shear off abrasive until its flat again (this will make it cut better too). They will keep cutting until all the abrasive is gone. But DO NOT get them wet, if you do the abrasive will just soften and fall off.

If I want to go higher than that I hand sand.

As said before, there are as many belt use combinations as there are makers. This is just what works for me. Experiment with 2-3 belts of each type/kind until you find what you like. Hope this helps.

Darrin
 
carey: thanks for the compliment! the sheath is rosewood with silver. the knife is O1 with camel bone and mastodon ivory.

darrin: i was wondering about those gator belts. i've used those before and didn't know what they were called, and since i didn't see them on the usaknifemaker site i didn't look into them any further. i will definitely try those out in the future. thanks for the info!

dudes: i now have all my components (thanks wayne, rob) for the grinder, and i hope to be able to set it up this weekend. unfortunately my belts won't arrive until mid week next week. at least i'll have the grinder set up and waiting by then. fyi, after going through all of the advise here and elsewhere, this is what i put together to test drive on my first round of belt tryouts:
(metal)
2 x Blaze Ceramic 36Y grit
3 x Blaze Ceramic 60Y grit
2 x Zirc 80x grit
4 x Zirc 120x grit
2 x Norax 100x
2 x Norax 65x
2 x Norax 45x
(handle, etc)
5 x AO Premium Metalite Norton X weight 36 grit
5 x AO Premium Metalite Norton X weight 60 grit
3 x jflex 80 grit
3 x jflex 120 grit

additional work will be done by hand. i can't wait to see how i do with this stuff.
 
I'm sure you will find out real quick but be careful attacking handle material with those 36 grit belts or you'll end up with really skinny handles in a hurry.

Carey
 
I think for the heavy grit the 3m yellow belts (I think they are 977) outlast the Norton blaze belts. Both are very good though.

I use 3m all the way now days. The gator belts last forever.
 
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