Cork belts ?

bikermikearchery

bikermikearchery

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Jan 18, 2007
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After many years of doing things the hard way I finally started adding real power tools to my shop. The new Grizzly really moves metal fast and I'm happy with it so far. I only got belts from 36 to 100 grit, so I need to get finer grit belts.
I keep looking at the Cork belts And I see them from 150 to 800 grit. What can anyone tell me about the cork belts ?
 
I use a 400x cork belt loaded with green buffing compound as part of my finishing process. They're lumpy, lots of stuff fly off of them as you break them in :D I'd get some 120, 220, 400 grit belts (not cork), you'll need some j-flex belts to do your plunges.
 
Hi Mike - the cork belts aren't particularly good for stock removal imo, but they work well for intermediate polishing. S.R. Johnson uses a 60 grit belt for his hollow grinds, followed directly by a 400 grit belt and then uses cork belts with green chrome rouge to polish his knives before buffing. The way I understand it, he uses a 400 grit cork, buffs and then goes to a 600 or 800 grit cork and buffs again.

I've been expirimenting with mine and this is the best order for me: 60, 400, 15 micron, 9 micron (basically 600, 800) then to a 600 grit cork belt with green chrome. You can buff out the remaining scratches and then hand sand or mirror polish as desired.

The belts need to be broken in, I took a scrap of A-2 and pressed hard into the belt with each corner of it until it was rounded off on all sides. I think you need to spend a minimum of about 10 minutes breaking in the belt with scrap before you start using it or you'll end up with scratchs from the grit in it.

The cork belts are not agressive at all, so even when you slip off it's very hard to mess something up, they just polish it. Also, they work better on a wheel then on the platen in my opinion.

Hope it helps.
 
Acrid, I clean up with a 60, new 120 then straight to 400x cork loaded with green. After that I start hand sanding with 600x. The broken in 400x loaded with green probably is finer than 600 cause I never see any 400x scratches when finishing.
 
There is a big learning curve with the cork belts. Break in is not an option....it is a requirement. Break them in by polishing a hardened piece of steel for 10-15 minutes. Don't scrimp on the break-in time. IMHO the coarser cork belts are not of a great advantage ( regular belts do fine here), and the super fine ones are not needed. The 400 and 600 corks are superb for bringing up a bright polish.They will last a long time if broken in right and used loaded with polish.I have used a 220 cork belt, loaded with black compound to remove a bad scratch missed in earlier sanding.
Stacy
 
I think breaking in cork belts is kinda fun the first minute of stuff flying all around :D then it's just hot and dirty. :(
 
I have had a cork belt that I ordered in 600 grit for some time now but haven't used it yet. If you are using the green compound loaded into it are you still supposed to wet it?
 
Err wet it? lol I dunno, I've had the same belt for like 4 years now :D I just broke it in for 15 minutes then load it with green and use it... probably blow up if I wet it :D
 
Power strop, made from a power treadmill, variable speedleather belt, Man it gets it on!! or off, Yep.
 
Ray - I've never used mine wet. Just loaded with rouge.

Will - most of the scratches that I see after the cork belt are just highlighted from the 400 grit or micron belts. Doesn't matter how hight I take it, I get a polished scratch of X grit. That's why I buff afterwards. On a stiff buff I buff in every direction with green rouge and then move to a buff with white rouge. If I went straight to hand sanding it wouldn't take very long to get out the scratches left after cork, but if I buff first I can just do a couple of pulls at whatever grit I prefer to finish in. Just enough to make sure I have an even scratch pattern in whatever final grit I go to. 600 tends to look a little coarse to me, I like 800+ after the buffer.

For what it's worth, none of this is original material. I stole methods from my teacher, Alan Folts, Andrew McLurkin who has talked with me at length about how he finishes, S.R. Johnson from the forums and his video and Mike Fitzgerald, who first gave me the idea to take my blades to a mirror before hand sanding. Man, that was a big help.

The more time I spend around the knife makers I know, the more time I want to spend making my blade finish perfect. It's not there yet, but I'm nearly happy with my results ;)
 
Will Leavitt said:
Err wet it? lol I dunno, I've had the same belt for like 4 years now :D I just broke it in for 15 minutes then load it with green and use it... probably blow up if I wet it :D
Click to expand...

Yeah when I ordered it from Jantz it said that it's supposed to be used wet, but I've never done it so I was wondering what others did.
 
I have a wet grinder and a dry grinder and run cork belts on both.

The finish with a wet 400 is the same as the dry finish of a 400 with compound. Both the water and the compound act as coolants and grit modifiers hence the same finish.

There is no difference between the 400, 600, and 800 cork belts if you are using the green compound on a broken in belt....The effect of the green compound over rides the grit factor.
 
OK 120, 220, 400 not cork.
Cork belt with Green chrome, I give that a try.
Maybe a J-flex to experiment with.
See what happens when you add one power tool. First I said to my self "wow I can make knives and it doesn't have to hurt, Then I stuck my thumb on the moving 36 grit belt. Reality check"
Thanks for the replies everyone This is really helpfully.
 
I'd almost bet cork belts will come apart if wet. I've used Hermes and sell Klingspor cork belts. (btw, klingspor is going to discontinue cork belts so that source will be disappearing soon) 'Normally' if there such a thing in knifemaking, you would use green chrome dry on a cork belt to the point where most of the contact the belt makes is with the green chrome. The buff compound builds up in little patches all over the belt and never achieves full coverage so part of the cork abrasive also touches the knife. The buff compound also flies all over the place so you have to keep the speed down when using this technique. You look like a green martian when you are done after a long session. It will absolutely give you a nice mirror when done.

This really does a good job of smearing metal. If you have some pin rings visible in a bolster you might try a cork belt with green stuff to see if you can cover up the rings.
 
bikermikearchery said:
OK 120, 220, 400 not cork.
Cork belt with Green chrome, I give that a try.
Maybe a J-flex to experiment with.
See what happens when you add one power tool. First I said to my self "wow I can make knives and it doesn't have to hurt, Then I stuck my thumb on the moving 36 grit belt. Reality check"
Thanks for the replies everyone This is really helpfully.
Click to expand...

Have you run a finger into the edge of a mylar micron belt yet :barf: :eek:
 
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