Are Shop Rolls Useful?

redsquid2

redsquid2

Красивы Поросенок
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Aug 31, 2011
Messages
3,069
I've never used shop rolls. However, lately I have been thinking they would make handle shaping easier. I tend to create complicated contours in my handles, but I do it with sanding drum, woodcarving knife, and/or hand-held sandpaper. It seems to take forever to get the shape I want, while maintaining left-right symmetry.

Here's some of my stuff:

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Would shop rolls make it easier to achieve symmetry?
Would shop rolls speed up my work?

Thanks,

Squiddy
 
I haven't used them personally, but they seem like they might be a good idea.

By the way, those knives in the pictures- Nice!!
 
I use shop rolls all the time. 80, 120 and 220.

My sanding bench, complete with shop rolls...
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I also use them but only 100 and 220 and even then not too often the 100. I find it a little rough and prefer to use files and then jump to 220. Strips of regular sandpaper will let you do the same shoeshine motion as the rolls do and you have more choice of paper that way, especially the light paper made for wood that is a must with lighter woods. Just not as strong a backing but by then I am at 220 or higher grit so no need to put the strip under a whole lot of tension.
 
I have some 1x42" belts that I use for that, but only because I haven't run out yet.. I'm going to get some shop rolls when I do. Definitely handy for handle shaping, but I'd use a rasp/file first to start the rough hogging of the shaping, if you're not going to do it on the grinder.
 
My grinder takes shop roll belts. So I use them all the time in grits from 40 up to 500. It really kinda sucks tho as I have never been able to find shop roll in anything other than AO. Needless to say I go thru alot in the making of a knife. I'm almost tempted to buy some long ceramic or even zirc belts and cut them up....
 
I love them-I use 100 200 320-for hand sanding and "shoe shine" sanding handle material.
 
I use them, and I like curvy handles as well..... However, I don't use them very much. Most of my roughing is done with the belt grinders and files, then some clean-up with J-flex (really flexible belts) on the grinder, and then mostly hard block backed paper after that.

I occasionally will use them for a certain curve here and there. I think many guys OVER use them... just going to town with the shoe-shine method. If you go crazy with this type of non-backed sanding/shaping, the hard parts of the handle like the guard, pins, and tang (on a full-tang of course) will stand proud of the wood/ivory/stag.

I OWN quality, Norton shop rolls, but more often than not, I just use my sheet paper cut into narrow strips and put a strip of tape on it. Like Patrice mentioned. Quality brand shop rolls aren't cheap.

Edited to add: I ALWAYS cut the strips narrower than the 1" shop rolls. You can tear shop rolls along their length, but it usually results in frayed edges. On some areas that doesn't matter. Some areas it will allow the frayed doo-dads to reach out and sand areas that you don't want to sand.... SO... I cut it to width with a ruler, cutting board, and cheap Chinese knife.... er, I mean a Wheeler knife. ;) :D
 
I don't use them very much, but I picked a couple up at a sale recently: It's not like they go bad or anything.


The_cutting_edge, what kind of grinder do you have that takes shop rolls?
 
Tait said:
The_cutting_edge, what kind of grinder do you have that takes shop rolls?
Click to expand...

My grinder is a 2" x 10" cone-loc drum sander. it takes shop roll belts
here's some pix
it opens pac man style and there are small spikes to hold the shop roll.

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as you can see in this picture once the wheel is closed there is a cone shaped protrusion in the centre and a hub with a matching inverted cone. when the hub is tightened it squeezes the wheel closed and keeps the belt tight.
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heres an action shot.
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since these pics were taken I have ditched the makeshift work rest. it got in the way for changing belts.
 
Tait said:
It's not like they go bad or anything.
Click to expand...

A lot of folks don't know this, but the adhesives used in abrasives do have a shelf life. It's much more noticable in cheap products like cut-off wheels from Harbor Freight (which I highly recommend you NEVER use BTW).

I heard about the shelf life thing a long time ago, and thought it sounded possible, but was probably a myth... But I heard it again recently from a guy that used to be a rep for FlexOvit. He told me it isn't just a sales tactic. ;)
 
Nick, how long was the shelf life supposed to be? Other than one roll of 120 that I just picked up from supergrit, all my rolls were purchased in the early 80's before the guy who gave me all his knife making stuff quit making. They then sat in an open topped box in his garage for almost 30 years before I got them.
 
The_cutting_edge said:
Nick, how long was the shelf life supposed to be? Other than one roll of 120 that I just picked up from supergrit, all my rolls were purchased in the early 80's before the guy who gave me all his knife making stuff quit making. They then sat in an open topped box in his garage for almost 30 years before I got them.
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just spent a few hours in the shop. I did some grinding on a new piece of 440c with the old 120 grit and then switched to a fresh piece and the new 120 grit for the same number of passes using as close to the same pressure as I could. I couldnt tell any difference. How long was the proported shelf life supposed to be?
 
I use them for lots of things. I find the fabric backed rolls do a better job of getting inside the grooves of carved pieces. When cleaning up carving through metal, sandpaper is almost useless, but the cloth backed rolls are much more durable. I cut the strips to length, then cut them as thin as needed to get through the holes. This is how I made the caduceus knife and the raven knife blades. I like having several grits. I keep the 4-grit packs from Harbor Freight around, and the much larger rolls too.
 
Squiddy,

I think the short answer is yes, pick one up and try it out. In my experience, the emory cloth available at Lowes/Home Depot doesn't seem to last as long as nicer shop rolls (e.g. Norton) from abrasive suppliers.

As for aging:

OK, maybe I should have said "It's not like they're going to go bad before I use them up".

In my limited experience, paper seems to be more sensitive to aging.

I did buy some belts on e-bay (who knows how old) which broke apart at the seam when I went to use them. It's not worth buying potentially old belts on eBay to save a couple dollars.

The_cutting_edge, thanks for that, I had remembered seeing a picture years ago, but not how it worked. Any trouble with the stuff getting caught in the gap as it spins by? (I'm guessing not).
 
Tait said:
The_cutting_edge, thanks for that, I had remembered seeing a picture years ago, but not how it worked. Any trouble with the stuff getting caught in the gap as it spins by? (I'm guessing not).
Click to expand...

no. the thing spins at twice the speed of light so you dont even feel the small bump as it goes by about 150,000 times a second lol
 
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