New Norax Belts

Peter Atwood

Peter Atwood

Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
2,468
Talk about a stroke of luck. At the large family Christmas party this year I was showing off some of my knives and my cousin's husband starting asking me a lot of detailed questions. He wanted to know what I was grinding and at what speeds, sizes of belts etc. It turns out he's an engineer at Norton Abrasives! I had no idea....ANyhow, he said he'd send me some good belts. I told him I had some Trizac belts that I liked and he laughed and said that although they make a great product his belts were just as good if not better. So, I thought that was nice and promptly forgot about it.

Today I get a box from UPS. He sent me about 36 belts of varying grits, 6 different types in all. I couldn't believe it. Talk about feeling lucky today!!! I'll let you all know how they perform and hopefully I can say something intelligent about them.
 
If there's something that lasts longer than Trizacs and leaves as nice a surface, I'm all ears. Please let us know.
 
Do let us know about the new belts. Norton makes a great hogger belt, maybe they have a Trizac killer.
 
Congradulations Peter. Free quailty belts are a knife makers dream come true. Buying belts is one of the more exspensive aspects of knife making.:cool:
 
That's great Peter.I had a similar experience when the Klingspor rep. visited our shop.He told me he had someone who cancelled an order and gave me 25 free 36 grit belts.I love free goodies.Dave :D
 
mrr. ranny, in my less than humble opinon the norton (norzac) version of the 3m trizac cuts cleaner and longer in its current version. i get appox, twice the use out of the norzac.i do my satin finish with the 100 belt for my culinary and camp knives, peter that was a great present. thats well over $150 in belts. i would make him a knife and keep him happy.
:D
 
Boy are you LUCKY Peter.I ran out of belts at Christmas and am now waiting for a order to get to me.I didn't take the time and order when I should have so now I am at a stand still.
Some people have all the luck:D
Bruce
 
Believe me, I know good luck when I see it and this is definitely it! I tried out several different belts and they are great. On the test that I did it only took two or three passes of the 150 grit Norzac to erase the scratches from the 50 grit Rubicon belt. All the belts that Kevin sent me are 150 grit or finer and all are rated for medium pressure grinding which he felt would do best with titanium and stainless steels.

The pattern is not the diamond shape of the Trizac but a ribbed diagonal pattern that they call tri-helical. They're on a cotton backing. It's the same idea as the Trizac in that the abrasive is continually generating new sharp edges as it wears so that the grind is supposed to be consistent all the way to the end of the belt life. These belts use aluminum oxide and the two he specifically recommended for titanium are made of silicon carbide.

He sent me grits equivalent to 150, 220, 320, 400, 1000 and 2500. I'd say my fine belt needs are met for a long old time! :)
 
I have never seen a Norzac belt but would think it is for the same applications as Trizac???

I would like to see one of the abrasive manufacturers come out with a belt of this sort (Trizac or Norzac) that has a soft backing to it. Something similar to a leather backing that would work for flat grinding. I realize that leather would be impractical but I believe you get the idea.


C Wilkins
 
Sounds like a reasonable request Craig. I'm wishing there were 9" flat discs made of this kind of material. Now that would also be of great use. I'm going to send my cousin to this thread eventually so if there's any other ideas let's have them.

Here's what is needed for flat grinding. A rubbery belt of appropriate cushioning thickness with a slick backing that slips on the grinder first, then the grinding belt of your choice goes over that. I think that would eliminate chatter on the platen and it would be a lot better than mounting graphite to the platen.
 
Lucky Dog! I just got my J&L tool catalog for 02 and was looking at them. I had been using the 3m but I'm out and need some for the new 2x72. When you show this post to your cousin's husband remind him you got business for his company and should give you a steady supply of samples!:D
 
Jerry,

It says in the accompanying sales literature that the two kinds of backings that they offer are woven cotten and nylon polyester. The synthetic backed belts are supposed to be for wet/dry applications. My cousin tells me that the belts are fine for quenching the part and continuing to grind.

I have heard that the Trizac belts can't take any water so I have been really careful with mine.
 
There are new Trizacts out that are waterproof, but I'm always interested in trying something new. Any idea where I can buy some of these?
 
I received three of the new Norax belts in the mail yesterday, thanks to the considerable generosity of of Peter Atwood, and I used them this afternoon to finish a large (13") blade in S30V. I have never had anything in knifemaking work so well the first time as did these belts. I received a #75 (220 grit), a 45 (320-400 grit), and a #16 (1000 grit). The knife had been finished to 220 grit before hardening, though there were still some 120 scratches in it.

Without knowing better, I began with the #75 at low speed (20 on the Bader controller), and it worked like a dream, running smooth and cool all the way. In fact I never had to dip the blade in the cooling tank even once, and didn't burn my thumbs either. The #45 went much the same, and I was tickled pink, because I just got through 400 Grit in about an hour. That had taken me several times that on the last large S30V blade I did. I tried the #16 next, but not surprisingly the step was just too large, so I opted for a used 600 grit Carbo-Schroder, which cleaned off most of the rest of the scratches easily - much better than it had on the previous blade. My guess is that the first two belts did their work so well, there were just fewer scratches left to deal with. After the 600, I finished up with the #16, then brushed it all out lengthwise with 600 grit. Total time was just over 2-1/2 hours, for what had taken over a day previously.

In sum, these new belts make me think a lot more positively about S30V. Their smooth, cool-running nature is a delight for these scarred old thumbs of mine. Norax belts get two grateful thumbs up!

Now Peter needs to tell us all where we can buy them!
 
That is great Jerry! :)

RhinoKnives is using them and Peter Nap saw them in the J&L catalog, whatever that is...SO they ARE out there. Can someone please tell us where to get them??

This is one of those items that internet searches don't seem to show up. Maybe they're fairly new so they haven't gotten indexed yet....Or the companies that carry them have them buried in a database or something. They may make a nice belt but Norton could use a little bit of common sense with their website development. I couldn't figure out how to buy ANY of their products of the site.

The belts I sent you were the helical type. They also make a trizac type pyramid shape belt and another type that has rows of tiny squares. All probably have their uses.
 
Peter, it's J&L Industrial Supply..... www.jlindustrial.com

I like them much better than Mcmasters Carr.

This is the first year I've seen Norton carried although they may have been there and I just didn't notice.
 
Actually RhinoKnives already told me and I simply forget. (getting old is a b*tch) He said he gets them at True Grit.
 
I couldn't find these belts in the J&L catalog or J&L online. They sell Norton, but don't list Norax.
 
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