Belt progression

Aikenn

Aikenn

Well-Known Member
Looking for inspiration. If we all wood share. What is the order in which each of us uses our 2x72" belts we use to finish a knife. I use
50 or 36
120, 180, 220, 280, 360, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and then i buff.
So what do you all use??????????
Also WHEN is a belt too worn out to use??????
 
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Personally. I use 60, 120, 240, 400, then hand sand for a satin finish. Most of my knives are hunters, bowies, etc. Not a big fan of high polish unless I do the occasional kitchen knife.
A belt is too worn out when it starts generating too much heat with too little material removal. I guess it is kind of subjective.
 
36-80 depending on size of knife, 180, 320, 600 then hand sand 600G to get the scratch pattern i like. Unless I'm making Damascus then up to 800. Rougher stuff I Forge 180-240 and then Surface conditioning belt. PS I do a lot of my sanding on a disk grinder to help flatten grind.
 
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I do all my grinding post HT.
I wet grind with 36 or 50, then 120 ceramics.
After that dry with Trizact 337 in A65, the A45, then hand sand.
If I am doing damascus I'll use a Trizact A30 after that.
 
I usually do my initial grinds with 60, 120 and 220. At 220 I send out for heat treat or heat treat in my forge.
After that I'll usually start with 320 then 400 and 800. Sometimes I'll stop at 400 and hand sand from there.

I usually keep belts longer than I should. But once they start to glaze or won't cut at all I'll put them in a pile to be rid of.
 
I set the edge with a used 36g, then start bevels and do 60, 120, 220, HT, then back to 120, 220, A100, A65, A45 and finish with A30 if I'm leaving a machine finish. Hand sanding will depend on if I'm shooting for hamon or not.
 
For me either pre or post heat treat its
80, 100, 120 then sometimes it’s 220 but mostly it’s hand sanding after 120.
 
Just to clarify, I use 60 and 120 ceramic plus 220 pre heat treat, then 220 and 400 AO post HT. Hand sand or surface conditioning belt after.
 
I do a minimal grind pre-HT with a 36 grit ceramic.

After HT I use an 80 grit ceramic to get 95% of the edge/bevel where I want it. Then, a good quality new 120 ceramic to finish the edge geometry to pretty much 99%. After that I run with the Trizact A65, A45 for that last bit to smooth out those last 120 grit marks. From that point I can move onto hand-sanding if there is a hamon or A30 if its a satin 'off-the-grinder' finish.
 
On stock removal knives I start at 80 grit unless it’s ~1/8” or less then it’s 100grit. On forged blades I do initial grinding with 60 grit.
 
I start with a 50 grit then 120 then 400 grit pre heat treat on 154cm. AEB-L post heat treat I do 50,120, Trizact A65 then A45 and hand sand. Damascus I do A 30 pre etch. On 154cm after heat treat I do 120, trizact progression again.
 
I prefer heat treating my steel first, then grind at 50 grit, refine with 120, then 200, then hand sand from there.
 
mike miller said:
I start with a 50 grit then 120 then 400 grit pre heat treat on 154cm. AEB-L post heat treat I do 50,120, Trizact A65 then A45 and hand sand. Damascus I do A 30 pre etch. On 154cm after heat treat I do 120, trizact progression again.
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Interesting thread to see the differences and similarities in grit selection. I see you vary the grit progression based on the steel alloy. What determines your need for differing belt grits on various steels?
 
Belt changes whether it has been heat treated or not. I feel the tracts run cooler when grinding hard steel and doesn’t affect temper.
 
I'm making slipjoints, grinding by hand. more and more, I stop at 220 then go to EDM stones (Gesswein edm) then sand paper. I find the longer I am at the grinder with higher and higher grits the more chance there is to screw up the grind. I've also gone to 400grit, then 400 cork, then to stones. With the small size of the folder, the time to go to stones then sand paper is acceptable. If it was bigger fixed blade this approach might be too much time/ physical effort.
 
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