Belt wear and cost?

Define "worn out."
A new belt pretty quickly becomes a little uneven, and unsuitable for freehand grinding.
At that point, ruining a grind on a beautiful knife in order to economize on belts isn't cost effective at all, get out a new one.

At the same time, we're kind of talking about two different things at the same time- structured ceramic belts were developed for speed and pressure, way more speed and pressure than a knife guy applies, and there's a ton of grit left when we throw em away. If you do fab work, you can use em till they're flat and smooth, use em on the belt surface grinder, give em to a blacksmith, etc.
 
I order mine in by the 10 pack. Some are still original 10 packs and some have been replaced several times. In my shop the finer belts go quicker and the course belts give me the most life becuse I use them for my blacksmith work and other "rough" work.
Very dependant on the type of work you do and the material you use. Thrying to get the last ounce of life out of a belt is not a good idea. More frustration and disapointment that the savings could ever be.
 
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