D2 and Belts

J

jimbowie7

Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Messages
90
Hi,

Moving from O1 to D2.

Any recommendations on grinding belts? Should I go with ceramic belts or will the ol' zirconium ones still work well?

Thanks! ;)
 
Moving from O1 to D2:confused:
personally I'd stay with O1 and offer 154CM or ATS34 to the ones that want
S/S and air hardening properties.
if you are going towards Stainless anyway with D2 you'd be almost there..
the two have so much to offer at their usability..to just drop O1.
if I misunderstood you
are you just wanting to start using the other also?

but to answer your question , I use AO on D2 went I grind it..:)
 
I use two different grits of zirc belts, 50 and 120 for D2. I use three scotch brite belts for finishing. Coarse, medium and fine.
Scott
 
Thanks.

P.S> Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon O1 -just like to try something else out -hopefully with better edge retention.
 
I use the regalloy belts and Norax belts for dang near everything. I use D2 quite a lot. Hoggers to rough it, Norax to finish. :thumbup:
 
I am now using 3M Cubitron "Gold" 967F 50grit and 80grit for the main stock removal for EVERYTHING, including S30V. For finer grinding, 3M Regaloy Polycut ceramic in J-weight belts in 120 and 240 grit. Trizact A100 gives a nice fine satin finish if thats what you want to finish. up. With belts, you kinda get what you pay for. 3M and Norton seem to make the best in the hi-po belts. Jason.
 
Trizact CF "Gator" structured abrasive belts. I find the A-300 (~80 grit) to be as good for hogging as the 60 grit ceramics, lasts longer and it is cheaper. Then A-160, A100 and then regular Trizact or Norax in A-45 and A-30. Then Scotch-brite fine.

D2 eats AlO and SiC belts.
 
Raymond Richard said:
Now that you got all the answers where to start?
Click to expand...

haha :) get one of each and try them all:confused: ....:D
.
.
.
.little man in my brain says
How would I have the best unless I've tried all the rest..:confused:
the question now is,,, what have I not tried :confused: :)
it's a question for all materials and supplies..
 
jimbowie7 said:
Hi,

Moving from O1 to D2.

Any recommendations on grinding belts? Should I go with ceramic belts or will the ol' zirconium ones still work well?

Thanks! ;)
Click to expand...

I use A/O, But what ever kind you buy, buy more than you normally do. I use about 1.5x more belts grinding D2. In every steel catalog I have seen it lists Grindability as poor. It stands to reason, it's a wear resistant steel.
 
Forgot to mention, also , whatever you do, do as much as you can before HT. I like doing a lot of my grinding after HT on my forged blades and O1 carbon steel knives, but I find most stainless and high-alloys to be a pain to grind. If you have access to a professional HT-er who uses vacuum ovens / chambers and inert gas quenching, there will be minimal surface change on your blades and you can generally take your blades all the way to its final finish before HT. You'll need to buff or lightly sand off the surface oxidation when you get the blade back, but thats about it. Jason.
 
I use the same belts as Jason Cutter suggests. I think they are about the best you can buy.

That said, I also don't see much use to switch to D2 from O1. If you want a harder steel to grind, then jump on over to S90V. :jerkit:
 
ask Kit what he uses,:confused: , he grinds after the h/t
so he can work up a few dull belts..:)
 
Dan Gray said:
ask Kit what he uses,:confused: , he grinds after the h/t
so he can work up a few dull belts..:)
Click to expand...

Yup, I asked around and found one of my local knifemakers who is very selective about his belts and only uses them once or twice, then chucks 'em. I got a heap of 120 and 240grit J-flex zirconia and ceramic belts. I got about 40 once-used belts from him 1 year ago and am still using some of the first 5 belts...

I gotta say, unless you have a special liking for D2, or a customer requests it, why not jump to S30V ? I find S30V as easy (or hard) to grind as D2. Most stainless and high-alloys are wear resistant and "gummy" when grinding anyway, so why not go for the best ? The prices are about the same too.

Dang, I've never posted 3 times in one thread before... :D Jason.
 
I find that S30V takes about half again as many belts as D2. I have been getting D2 lately from K&G for about half of what S30V costs from Crucible.

K&G is also about 25% cheaper for D2 than the places selling precision ground bars like <flatground.com> and <toolanddie.com>.
 
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