It can be! I do all of my grinding post HT, so I try to minimize heat and get deep scratches out at the lower grits. I use a 36 grit to rough in the bevel quickly and do quick bulk removal. I have also used 40, 50 or 60 grit belts instead of the 36, especially with thinner steel, like 1/16" petty or fillet knives. I sometimes add in a step between the 36 and 80, depending on the steel and how thick it is and deep the 36 grit scratches are (fresher belts tend to leave deeper scratches). I try to get pretty thin with the 80, and get the bevel nice and flat then refine with 120. I go up to 220, 320, 400 with various belts on the flat grind and try to get any deep scratches out at this stage. Then I go back down to 80 grit on the soft platen and work my way back up to 400 and go up from there. If it feels too fat behind the edge, I may drop down to a 50 or 60 on the soft platen before the 80 instead of spending a ton of time on the 80. I have a variable speed belt sander, so I can slow it way down and use very fine Norax belts or SunMax belts on the soft platen and get a really nice belt finish. I like to keep the blade and belt wet, too to help control the heat added to the blade, especially when I get really thin and up in the grit range. Other people may stop at 120 or 220 and hand sand from there. It's all personal preference!
How To Kitchen knife grinds and how to grind them?
- Thread starter Diego_B
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Richard , I guess from 220 to 600 grit they are AO belts ? If I am right how they work on high carbide steel ? I can t imagine to use AO belts on steel like on M2 ?
Both cork and scotchbrite work well on a convex grind. They have some give to them as well already, so even using them on a full flat grind may give some slight convexing, or if using a lot of pressure, may change the convexing you have done already so keep that in mind! When going from the flat to convex stage, I try to get fully to a convex and not leave a flat left, so it's basically completely regrinding the blade.
I use Norax, Trizact Gators, AO and SunMax belts on the finer grits. Hermes has some nice J Flex ceramics in 120 and 220. I think Red Label is supposed to have some flexible ceramics up to 400 or 600 grit IIRC? Most finer grit belts are AO and work decently on high carbide steels. Some high carbide steels won't take an extremely fine finish anyway, so you need to know where to stop.
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yes scotchbrite work great.
Richard338
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I like the Red Label 400 ceramic grit I picked up recently. I usually hand sand with Rhynowet red for high grit.
You can hone a convex with EDM stones also.
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Personally I don't find ceramic over 60-80 useful they just glaze and produce too much heat. After 60 grit I move to trizact or AO or other structured belt
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That's what I was thinking too. Since your not using much pressure with anything above 80G I thought the belts might glaze over and I think AO would be the better option so you can just let the abrasive do the work.
I wet the ceramic belts for the higher grits and they work pretty well for me? The 120 and 220 ceramic are more of a prep to check for deep left over scratches before going to Trizact usually and the flexible ones help refine the plunge cut. I run them medium speed though. Trizact Gators glaze over really quickly for me, but can be dressed to bring them back.