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Sharpe5097

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Mar 2, 2017
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Can i get some belt recommendations for grinding in my bevels. I have to order belts and i wanna know what working best in 2017. Grit and brand. Please. Yes, i know about the stickies.
 
Whichever brandy you choose(everyone has their favorite), it must be a ceramic belt! Personally, I like the Norton Blaze Plus. Been using them for the last few years. Have also used 3m and Klingspor. All have worked very well. Just seem to like Blaze Plus R980p the best. But I've been looking to try the new Norton R999p. Trouble finding them though.
 
For the r999 belts, it is a "B" not a "P" if that helps any. They also only make them in 24 and 36 grit. Very fast, aggressive, and long lasting hogging belt. The redheat belts are the best 60 grit I've been able to find.
Both of these are black in color. The r999 black with a black backer, the redheat black with a red backer.
 
I like the Norton Blaze in 36 and 60 grit , but haven't tried the others. I do plan to give them a try. Whatever you get, cheap belts are just that, they are cheap!
 
Norton Blaze in 40, 80, 120. For the hogging off of stuff. Then I go to a 220 Norton r984. THEN, I go to gators. I keep a BIG stack of the Norzon Blue belts as back ups.
 
For Steel
VSM 885 in 36, 50, 100.
Hermes 346 120, 220,
Trizact A45, A65, A160
Cork 240, 400, 100

For wood, g10, micarta
Hermes RB406 80, 120, 220, 400 grit
 
My perspective will be a little different... I used to be a "brand name" guy for roughing belts. And sure, 984-II's do cut well to start with, and last a long time... but much of that life is as a haggard thing suitable more for profiling or surface grinding, even if they are better than Blaze for lower speed fracturing.
I like the way new belts cut, fresh and sharp, and after that I like to throw them away... and that hurts less if they cost $5 compared to $10-11 each.
So currently I'm buying Merit ceramics in 36 grit from TruGrit. I hear that Combat Abrasives has a good deal going on similar belts, and the Fandelli belts from Phoenix abrasives are a relatively low cost option as well for ceramic hoggers.

As far as J-Flex for handles and steel details, I like the Klingspor 312 yellow belts. They last decently, are pretty tough, but good and flexible, and unlike some otherwise decent Hermes J flex I've had, do not have a dark color in the grit that can smear into light colored materials. I use them for leather work too, finishing edges.

I buy whatever al ox or zirc belts are cheap, in 36 or 50 for roughing wood or synthetic handle materials. They'll clog anyway, better again to throw away cheap belts in my opinion.

For finishing steel, I've been a major fan of Gator belts since I first bought them back in maybe 2011... I think I still have a couple of the originals left, with some life in them still. If you clean them now and then, they stay sharp forever and really cut on even well-hardened steels.
 
I like combat Abbrassives. I just use the 60 and 220 grit then go to handsanding for the price to quality ratio they're hard to beat.
I say this but I haven't tried the Norton blaze or 3m 984.
 
Salem Straub said:
...I've been a major fan of Gator belts since I first bought them back in maybe 2011... I think I still have a couple of the originals left, with some life in them still. If you clean them now and then, they stay sharp forever and really cut on even well-hardened steels.
Click to expand...

"Gator" being used is getting retailers a "cease and desist order" and threat of suing.

I guess there is a company that owns the name "Gator" and they make some kind of abrasives mainly for flooring use. I heard they have sued some big companies suing who used the name "Gator".

Luckily it was explained to them that it is only a nick name and you can not buy a "Gator" abrasive belt .
Real drama in the abrasive world LOL
 
Last edited:
AVigil said:
"Gator" being used is getting retailers a "cease and desist order" and threat of suing.

I guess there is a company that owns the name "Gator" and they make some kind of abrasives mainly for flooring use. I heard they have sued some big companies suing who used the name "Gator".

Luckily it was explained to them that it is only a nick name and you can not buy a "Gator" abrasive belt due .
Real drama in the abrasive world LOL
Click to expand...
Ahhh that makes sense why trugrit doesn't have "gator" in the description haha I was getting confused on what was what
 
Sharpe5097 said:
Can i get some belt recommendations for grinding in my bevels. I have to order belts and i wanna know what working best in 2017. Grit and brand. Please. Yes, i know about the stickies.
Click to expand...
just need to remember that the scratches you make need to be ground out before heat treat. and you did not say what thickness steel you are working with. I work with thin steel, 3/32" or less, so I need to remove less steel. I use 50 or 60 grit Norton Norzon zirconium belts after starting the bevel draw filing. Norzon and other zirconium belts are usually less than half the price of 'ceramic' (all the abrasives used in belts are technically ceramic compounds) and while one Blaze belt may out perform one Norzon belt, I doubt it would out perform two Norzon belts of the same grit.
that said, VSM, Deerfos, and Merit all make a good ceramic alumina belt that will cost 1/2 as much as Blaze or the 3M number of the hour.
3M makes the 707E in P220 and Norton Norzon makes a 220, both are lightweight belts and work well with finishing wet.
 
Salem Straub said:
My perspective will be a little different... I used to be a "brand name" guy for roughing belts. And sure, 984-II's do cut well to start with, and last a long time... but much of that life is as a haggard thing suitable more for profiling or surface grinding, even if they are better than Blaze for lower speed fracturing.
I like the way new belts cut, fresh and sharp, and after that I like to throw them away... and that hurts less if they cost $5 compared to $10-11 each.
So currently I'm buying Merit ceramics in 36 grit from TruGrit. I hear that Combat Abrasives has a good deal going on similar belts, and the Fandelli belts from Phoenix abrasives are a relatively low cost option as well for ceramic hoggers.

As far as J-Flex for handles and steel details, I like the Klingspor 312 yellow belts. They last decently, are pretty tough, but good and flexible, and unlike some otherwise decent Hermes J flex I've had, do not have a dark color in the grit that can smear into light colored materials. I use them for leather work too, finishing edges.

I buy whatever al ox or zirc belts are cheap, in 36 or 50 for roughing wood or synthetic handle materials. They'll clog anyway, better again to throw away cheap belts in my opinion.

For finishing steel, I've been a major fan of Gator belts since I first bought them back in maybe 2011... I think I still have a couple of the originals left, with some life in them still. If you clean them now and then, they stay sharp forever and really cut on even well-hardened steels.
Click to expand...
I think you'd like the red heat belts. I've always had the same feeling as you and tossed relitivly fresh belts, until I tried these things.
I used a couple hundred vsm xk760 belts before getting onto these, and I'll never look back.
 
Geoff Flato said:
I think you'd like the red heat belts. I've always had the same feeling as you and tossed relitivly fresh belts, until I tried these things.
I used a couple hundred vsm xk760 belts before getting onto these, and I'll never look back.
Click to expand...
who makes "Red Heat"?
 
Norton, as far as I know they've only been available for a few months. I buy them from a place up here, but I'm sure somewhere south of the boarder has to sell them. The 60 grit in particular is very good.
 
I bought them from Canadian knifemaker supply, but I don't believe they ship outside of Canada. Not sure if any of the stateside Knifemaking suppliers have started selling them, might be a buy direct from Norton or order through a distributor thing for now.
 
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