Regarding Work Sharp belts.....

cramsey3006

cramsey3006

Joined
Aug 2, 2010
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2,129
There's some more posting about the Work Sharp lately, so I thought that I bring up some posts about the belts, for those who don't want ot dig through 20+ pages looking for information.

These are posts from Work Sharp themselves.

Regarding the "aftermarket belts" compared to what comes with the tool.

"The MX you are using is not the same as what we are including with the tool. They are a different belt all togehter: backing, abrasive grain type, coating, seam, grit scale, etc. Sometimes the thermal tape on those belts releases. One of the reasons they did not make the final cut for inclusion with the product. You can try to heat the tape with an iron or a warm / hot piece of steel to reactivate the adhesive. I would guess that heat build up caused it to release, though we have seen them release upon installation when the spring tensioner is released. It was likely not too much pressure, since the guide and tensioner design only allow for a certain amount of load force against the belt (this assumes you were using the sharpening guide). All that said, this seam failure is very uncommon and we have had nothing but satisfaction with this manufacturer and thier products. We simply chose what worked best for our very specific application."

"The P220 we supply is from a different manufacturer (Norton) and has a more robust seam designed for heavier grinding. We can use this more robust seam since the heavy cloth backing so much more rigid. The 6000 grit belt needs to be very flexible, so the fine cloth backing and seam must be thinnner."

"- Green P80: CORA abrasive from Germany, by Norton (KF376), AO J wt. cloth backing.
- Red P220: Ceramic oxide abrasive from Norton (R945) on J wt. poly cloth backing
- Purple 6000: SiC abrasive from Micro-Mesh on a flexible cloth backing."

Just an FYI, those of us who did a group buy for extra belts got them from Micro Surface.

After using the extra belts for a while, I have to say that I still mainly use the belts that come from Work Sharp. The only extra belt that I use regularly is a 4000AO that's seen a bit of use. It produces a hair popping edge that still has a bit of bite to it, which is how I like it. I tend to cut a lot of cardboard, rope, plastic bands, and shrink wrap. A slightly toothy edge doesn't slide on these material as much as a polished edge tend to, in my experience.
 
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This is a review that I did of the group buy belts...

So a group of us went together and did a bulk buy on 12" belts for the Work Sharp tool. (Thanks Ben!)

We ordered the following belts:

MX means micromesh ,AO means aluminum oxide, and WS means Work Sharp factory belts.

MX 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, and 1200 and AO2400, 4000, and 12,000.

First thoughts are that the belts are very similar to the belts that Work Sharp provided with the tool. The WS 80 grit and 220 grit belts have different backing than the aftermarket belts do (WS belts are much stiffer), but the WS 6000 grit belt has the same cloth backing as the MX and AO belts.

The test knife was an old Outdoor Edge Wedge fixed blade in 420J2 steel. It's a beater of a knife that stays on my work bench for whatever I need to cut. Not the highest quality blade, but I figured if I can get a hair popping edge on it, I can do it to any knife.

First, I used the old HF 1x30 with a worn 120 belt to take the edge off. I just ran the edge against the belt lightly a few times until there was NO edge at all.

I used the 20 degree guide on the Work Sharp with all belts to maintain consistency.

The WS 220 grit belt is noticeably rougher than the MX 240 is, even though they are similar grits. Even a WS 220 that has done at least 50 sharpenings is rougher, IMO. I wondered if the MX240 would cut as well as the WS 220 does?

I started with the MX240 (I already know what the WS belts can do). It produced a very nice, clean grind. It took 11 passes on each side to work up a burr. After this, the belt felt much smoother to the touch than an unused MX240 does. It seems to me that the WS 220 belts cuts much faster and will last longer. Time will tell, I suppose.

I moved to the MX 320 and took 5 passes on each side. The edge was clean and burr free and would shave hair.

Moving to the MX 400 and 5 passes on each side refined the edge appearance and the ability to shave. It would draw cut newpaper easily. I have never had the knife this sharp before (never put this much effort into it, LOL).

Moving to the MX 600 and 5 passes on each side further refined the edge appearance and resulted in a near mirror polish to the edge. At this point, it would make hair pop from my arm and push cut newpaper.

Moving to the MX 800 and 5 passes on each side resulted in a good mirror polish, to the point where I could read news print in the reflection on the edge. Cutting performance increased as well.

Moving the MX 1200 and 5 passes on each side resulted in a great mirror polished edge with exceptional sharpness. Shaving hair, push cutting newspaper was effortless.

Progressing through each of the MX belts produced an outstandingly sharp, mirror polished edge.

It took a total of around 15 minutes to accomplish this, including testing the knife between belts, removing and replacing the guide, and changing/inspecting the belts.

That's not going to happen with any other hand held sharpener. When you take into account that I went through 6 different grits, it makes the speed even more impressive.

After I finished with the MX, I switched to the AO belts. The AO 2400 felt noticeably rough compared to the any of the MX 400-1200 belts.

5 passes per side confirmed this. The AO 2400 removed all of the polish from the edge. Yikes! The blade would still shave and draw cut newspaper though.

Moving to the AO 4000 belt and 5 passes per side restored a lot of the polish and sharpness, but not all. It would pop hair and push cut newspaper, but not as easily as before.

Moving to the AO 12000 and 5 passes per side resulted in a polish almost as good as what was accomplished with the MX belts. A few more passes would have restored the edge completely, more than likely.

As far as I'm concerned, the belts are fabulous. Well worth the minimal investment you make.

Right now, I definitely like the MX belts better than the AO. They seem to make the edge much keener, IMO, and give it a better polish.

Do you HAVE to have them? No, not at all. The WS does an outstanding job with just the three grit options offered, 80, 220, and 6000. I get a wickedly sharp edge with just the 220 and 6000 grits, more than able to easily push cut newspaper. The extra belts just allow you to refine the edge even more. Having some options between 220 and 6000 allow you to achieve a better quality edge and a better appearance to it (if that matters to you).
 
Thanks for posting this info. Great stuff.

You mentioned that initially you liked the MX belts better than the AO. But you say that now you mainly use the WS belts, along with the AO 4000. Any particular reason you're not using the MX belts as much now?

Also, have you tried any of the additional belts WS is now offering?

Thanks.

Andrew
 
The 240 and 320 grit MX belts seem like they wear out or get too smooth too quickly, compared to the WS belts. Even my most worn out 220 grit WS belt has more "feel" to it than the MX belts do. That belt has seen at least 50 blades, maybe a few more, I can't remember. It still cuts well, just not as quickly as a new 220 does. I still have not had any belts separate at the seam, but after getting some use on them, the used factory belts are in better overall condition than the used MX and AO belts are.

IMO, it all depends on what you want to achieve.... If you want mirror polished edges, you aren't going to get them with the factory selection. It was never intended to be able to achieve that level of polish with them. If this is what you want, then having the progression of different types of belts and grits is necessary.

You can (and will) get a hair popping sharp, newspaper push cutting, durable, edge with the factory belts. Quickly too. I mean within minutes of starting a new blade.

I guess what I mean is that after using the different types of belts, I can get what I desire with the factory belts. I think that the overall quality of the factory belts is better and they will last longer, as compared to the aftermarket ones.

If there was a factory belt between the 220 grit Norton and the 6000MX offerings, I'd be good to go. Like I said above, the only reason that I like the 4000AO is because it leaves just a tad of bite on the blade. Often, I need more than the 6000 can do, but the 220 is a bit too much. The 4000AO fills that niche for me.
 
Cramsey, I wonder if you had taken a good look at the micro-surface grit conversion chart? Because it says the 240MX belt would be the equivalent of a P800 while the 60MX is closest to P240. My own observations would support this, as I also ordered the 60MX belts.

I find the P220 is needed for the initial profiling or removing chips from an edge, but removes too much metal for merely raising a burr. The 240MX is good for that, but isn't fast enough for initial profiling of a V ground edge or raising a burr on a dull edge.
 
Yesterday, I received 4 Micro-Mesh belts: 80MX, 240MX, 360MX, and 4000AO. By look and feel, they all seem to be close to where the grit conversion chart on the Micro-Mesh website puts them, except for the 80MX. The 80MX is kind of an odd duck---it has very large grit particles, and looks and feels to me to be coarser than the WS P220 belt. Anyone else see it this way?

Andrew
 
I can't speak for the 80MX, but I do have the 60MX. The grit looks very large, but the cutting speed and scratch pattern appears to be about the same as the P220. Though it doesn't heat up the blade as much IMO.
 
Noctis3880 said:
I can't speak for the 80MX, but I do have the 60MX. The grit looks very large, but the cutting speed and scratch pattern appears to be about the same as the P220. Though it doesn't heat up the blade as much IMO.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that helps.

Andrew
 
You know, I haven't been on the site in a while. With that group buy, I'm pretty set on belts for a while, so I haven't bothered to look and see what's new. I'm glad to see they've increased the selection. I like the look of the 400 and 600 belts.

Noctis, I am guilty of not really reading the conversion chart. I suppose I should, but I figure as long as my knives are sharp and I'm happy, all is good.
 
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