Best Belts for Handle Shaping

I prefer the klingspor j flex belts. They are very flexible belts and pretty cheap at pops.
 
One of the nicest you can find is a one inch scalloped belt. You can roll you knife handle every direction and they won't cut into them.
 
The j flex belts are aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide belts are what most makers use to shape handle material. Ceramics aren't going to cut any longer on handle material because they get clogged up just as fast as AO belts.
 
I use whatever AO 60 grit belts are cheap at Pop's for shaping. I then refine shape and blend with 220 Klingspor 312 j-flex belts (my favorites) and pre-polish with 400 j-flex of the same type.

Having compressed air by the grinder to blow dust out of the belts helps them last, as does a sanding belt eraser on j-flexes.
 
I use the 100 grit AO belts that supergrit sells ten to a box. Cost comes out to 1.90 a belt. Depending on the handle material, how fast it clogs, if it burns, how thick it was to start with, etc. it takes one or two belts to get a handle shaped.
 
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You can use pinking shears to split 2" belts and get the same effect as a scalloped belt..... I use cheap ao's because I've found handle material clogs and ruins my good belts.
 
Will Leavitt said:
You can use pinking shears to split 2" belts and get the same effect as a scalloped belt.
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This is a really cool idea Will. The way you describe it, don't you end up with two 1" belts with one scalloped edge and one hard edge on each?

I mainly go with the 1" scalloped j-flex belts from Pops.
 
I use the Klingspor j-Flex as well. You can't beat the flexibility and durability. I'd also advise getting the j-Flex shop rolls as well - for hand sanding they are great.

TedP
 
Erin Burke said:
This is a really cool idea Will. The way you describe it, don't you end up with two 1" belts with one scalloped edge and one hard edge on each?

I mainly go with the 1" scalloped j-flex belts from Pops.
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Erin, well you'll wind up with 2 1" belts with a scalloped and a straight edge. Just run the shears down the straight edges and you'll have 2 scalloped belts. Faye Brown, a local maker that just passed, taught me that trick eons ago. One warning, don't let your wife catch you using her shears!
 
+1 on scalloped j-flex yellow belts from Pops/Klingspor....... they are the champs on handles.
 
I really wish Klingspor made the scalloped j-flex yellow belts in lengths other than 72"...

TedP
 
Call them up and tell them what you want. As far as I know, they will make any belt in any size.
 
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