structured abrasives

Jarrett Fleming

Jarrett Fleming

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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Jun 5, 2011
Messages
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Love them or hate them?
It seems like structured abrasives are the preferred type of belts to use for finish grinding. I love the idea behind them, but in actual use they just don't work for me. I've tried trizacts (seem to be the most popular) and the norton norax. I much preferred the norax, but I'm still not satisfied.
I feel like these belts cut great for a few knives and then cut OK for forever. A belt that just cuts "ok" is going to take me at least twice as long to finish grind with than a fresh belt. Why not just grab a cheap j-flex and knock it out in a few passes per grit?
 
I like the ao trizacts so long as I’m only doing bevels or surface grinding. When hollow or flat grinding bevels above 120 they last forever, haven’t found a better belt finish. Moment they hit an edge or corner they are gone. I also like the thicker heavier backing on trizacts
 
I use both. I found the key is light pressure and it took me a while to have the patience to make SURE my geometry was spot on before going to them. I only use them to finish. By the time I'm done 120 ceramics, I am not changing anything, just refining the finish
 
I was about to post on this same subject. I just picked up a few in my last order, A100 trizact, because I had never tried them.

I guess I don't get it. I went to it after 120 ceramic, didn't see any real difference.
Are they supposed to blend the scratch pattern like a scotch brite, or do they smooth things out like a normal higher grit belt?
 
I was actually thinking about this the other day. I have always used Trizact belts basically because everyone told me to. They did ok and lasted a long time with average performance. I just decided last weekend to try something different so I pulled out a fresh 220, 400, and 600 AO j flex and tried them out. They were brand new but honestly I felt like they gave a better finish with a more aggressive cut. They also cost about 20% of what the Trizact cost, and I can run them wet for post HT fillet blades. I am still testing but I may just be switching. I will say I tried the Norax as well but I wasn’t a fan. I haven’t tried them since I upgraded to true variable speed though.
 
I like them as an in between belt. I use 60-120-220 on the grinder clean it all up with a 400 trizac then over to the disc then hand sanding. I lile that it helps clean all the 12o amd 220 scratches out
 
Also how are you using the belt? Speed, pressure? I know that for Cubitron grit you need to be fast and pretty heavy to keep them sharp. Possibly you are not running the belt hard enough to keep it sharp?
 
BelnapCustomKnives said:
Also how are you using the belt? Speed, pressure? I know that for Cubitron grit you need to be fast and pretty heavy to keep them sharp. Possibly you are not running the belt hard enough to keep it sharp?
Click to expand...

That's probably why they don't work well for me. I run my grinder fast with heavy pressure for the initial rough grind with a 50 grit ceramic. I turn it down to about half speed with moderate pressure on 120 grit ceramics. After that I'm just refining the finish and I like to go slow with fairly light pressure. Cheap ao j-flex belts work perfect for this. It only takes a few passes and I can do at least 4-5 knives with a fresh belt (my typical batch size).
 
love the gators and have been turned on the the norton ceramic in the same style (ill be swapping over in a few years when i use up my gators)
things to remember with AO gators is that they can be and should be refreshed now and then with a dressing wheel ot the like

biggest drawback on the norton ones is price at 12 bucks a belt but the one i have been testing has shown no ware and still cutting like a champ
 
How does anyone use a j flex belt on a flat platen without massive, finish ruining belt bump? This is the number one reason I use trizacts.
 
I tell you what. I go straight to a A300 gator belt right after a 50grit blaze. Then go up from there with gator belts to the A45 or A30 and stop. I love those belts and those ones I have have lasted for years. So yeah thy are pricy but how many other belts would I have burned through in this amount of time
 
Bring new life to your Gators by taking a old 50 grit belt, put in on a flat bar of steel and place that flat on the contact wheel and run the grinder.

This will level out the Gator and refresh the service.

Takes only a few seconds to make the gator cut like new again
 
AVigil said:
Bring new life to your Gators by taking a old 50 grit belt, put in on a flat bar of steel and place that flat on the contact wheel and run the grinder.

This will level out the Gator and refresh the service.

Takes only a few seconds to make the gator cut like new again
Click to expand...

I Have also done that but I found another trick is to use a 2” wide wire brush and run it on the platten. I was worried about grit coming off my dressing block and embedding into my gator and scratching the blade.
 
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