For a newer knife maker - what would be the belts that you learned are just.... must haves?

[Diomedes Industries]

I am making Kiridashi's as tools for my leather customers. I am using 1/8" stock and primarily 15N20 as the steel. I do my own heat treat and am learning a lot.

I have had good advice on belts so far and would love your opinions on what belts (maker, material, backing, and the like) you would like a young maker like me to try out.

Thanks again,

Dio

 

[JV Knives]

I would start with 36, 60, 120, 220 grit belts and use them in that order. Ceramic belts tend to hold up better than aluminum oxide for the money, in my opinion. They also have the firm cloth backs you want for bevel grinding. Lots of good American makers but I tend to roll with red label abrasives. Good luck!

 

[Linus Knives]

I've gone with the ceramic belts from amazon (not sure who makes them) but they work fine for me. They come in a 6 pack of different grits for a pretty affordable price.

 

[Jeffinn]

I would start with 36, 60, 120, 220 grit belts and use them in that order. Ceramic belts tend to hold up better than aluminum oxide for the money, in my opinion. They also have the firm cloth backs you want for bevel grinding. Lots of good American makers but I tend to roll with red label abrasives. Good luck!

Same here but I don't use many 36 grit belts. Ceramics are the way to go and I also buy mine from Red Label Abrasives.

 

[Lorien]

if I only had two belts I could use, they'd probably be 50 grit ceramic and AO 120 grit J weight

 

[Taz]

Are you doing chisel grinds? 50, 120, (I use VSM 880 or 885's) 220 ceramic (Hermes and Merit I believe have these? There is a blue one and a green one) and then scotchbrite/non woven abrasives would probably work pretty well for you! What you can also do to is use leather or hard felt on the platen to soften up the grind a bit (it will convex it) and you can go up much higher in belt grits to polish pretty easily. With 15N20, AO belts will work well for finishing!

Or you can use the VSM Compact Grain belts, which are AO belts that have the grains clumped together and a thicker backer/abrasive, so there isn't any real belt splice bump, even going up to 1200 grit. They look like a 60 grit belt coarseness of the grain wise, but finish really nicely, especially on lower alloyed steels!

 

[D Bloch]

Not sure if it applies here but in my experience for low pressure wet grinding (pretty much all I do) it's not worth it to buy the Cubitron 784F, they don't last nearly twice as long as the half-cubitron-price VSM or Klingspor ceramics

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

For a kiridashi, you don't need fancy belts. VSM or any other good brand will work.

50-80 grit rough-grinding belt. Ceramic if you want, but Zirconia would be just as good on such a small edge.
120 grit Zirconia for clean up.
320-400 grit for final edge. You could even skip this grade belt and quit at 120 grit.

Finish on diamond plates to desired finish level. (600-1000 would be perfect for a kiridashi)
Strop on a charged leather strop to remove burr.

 

[aareeyesee]

I'm a newer maker (less than 2 years) and I personally don't use 36 for anything but profiling. Mistakes happen too fast and it annoys me endlessly to get the scratches out of bevels. I do all bevels with 80. Then 120 then go to structured abrasives. They seem to cut much slower. I'm not a pro and do this for fun so it getting done 30 min quicker means nothing to me.

 

[Horsewright]

Are you using the knife for skiving too or just cut off and marking? For leather knives I use 50 grit ceramic, 120 grit ceramic, 220, 400 and 600 A/O J weights. Then buff the cutting edge with fast cut, medium cut and green scratch remover. Then they fall through the leather. Just made myself a new roundknife. It was time the one on the left is ready to retire:

I expect one pass on thick saddle leather 8/10 oz and 10/12 oz and get it.

.040 AEB-L stock at 62-63 RC.

 

[SBuzek]

Lots and lots and lots of them
Only 6 kind of belts in my shop
40 grit vsm ceramic for profiling and thinning handle material.
80 grit for bevels
120 and 400 and 30 micron and 15 micron.
Try different brands to see which belts works best for you.

 

[Andersonbushcraft]

I normally use 80 shredder ceramics for profiling and rough grinding stock, then switch to 120 shredders for fine turning before heat treating. After heat treat I'll clean up with a 120 ceramic and then use a 220 grit trizac. Finish on red scotchbrite. Gives a decent user finish that works great for my uses. I don't oil my 1095 and 8670 knives much, and use them year round. I rarely have rust form on the 220 grit finish when i keep them dry. I have a couple that I only did a worn 120 then scotchbrite, and it rusts alot more readily than the 220 trizac finish, mainly in the grit scratches.

I use to buy direct from combat abrasives back when I made alot of knives in college, but I rarely make one these days and pops carries the same ceramic belts.

For handle shaping, whatever brand is pops cheapest 80 aluminum oxides for rough profiling, and pops recommended x-weight 120s for rounding and "polishing". I like the grippy nature of micarta with a 120 grit finish, but I'm a bushcrafter, and I build myself users. If your expecting sweaty hands, 120 micarta will be super grippy, but the tangs tarnish easy. Hope this helps!

 

[blgoode]

for smaller knives I have recently been primarily using 80, 120, 220 and 400

The 80’s are flatter to me than the 60’s. So I’m gettting cleaner control not using the 60 grit.

But this is for 3/32” stock and thinner.

I’ve also been using some 180 and 240 to offset the grits to get a cleaner 400 grit finish. These are before the acrid etch.

 

[bike4fun919 OpbunchKnives]

60 grit, 120 grit, couple gator belts and a couple of scotch brite conditioning belts.