Course Grit Belt of Choice

M

me2

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Oct 11, 2003
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I make a knife or 2 here and there, mostly in the 2-4 inch blade range. I need some more course grit belts. I've been using the 40 grit zirconia belts, but found a place to get Norton ceramics. Which one is better for roughing out profiles and such? I mostly do flat grinds, a couple of convex for appearance and variety.
 
I like 36 grit Kingspor for roughing it. There's lots of different good belts, it all depends on what you are working with and how you use it.

Roughing out 16" X 3" X 1/2" 5160 with a 2X72 belt on a 10" wheel at high speeds with very heavy pressure applied is different than roughing out 5" X 1" X 1/16" 440C... you get the point.
 
I, too, use a 36 grit Klingspor belt. CS411 I think, I'll look tomorrow. They are great for roughing out handles,too.
Stacy
 
Thanks guys. I'm generally roughing in blades 1/8" or thinner, and 1" wide or less and about 4" long max. Where can I get the belts you are talking about?
Maybe I should give the ZrO another try. The ones I have are old, and were used to rough a knife from an unsoftened file.
 
I just went to the Norton Blaze and was amazed at how much they could cut. They really pay for themselves. I get mine at trugrit 800 532-3336, they ship very quickly.
 
I too have used the Blaze belts. For me, having belts shipped from the US to the UK, having premium, long lasting belts, is an advantage as it saves on the postage. Most places here require a minimum order of 10 of any one grit.

I used my first 36 grit Blaze to profile something like 20 O-1 blades and do primary grinds and tang tapers on 15 or so of them.
 
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