Too many grinding belts?

J

jaymeister99

Joined
Sep 14, 2010
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819
I was curious what grit grinding belts everybody keeps on hand.

I now got 36, 60, 80, 120, 220, 320(?), 400, 600, 800. I was hoping to cull it down a bit?

What does everybody else generally stick with?
 
I use 36 for hogging. On blades I start with a good 60 grit ceramic, then heat treat. After heat treat I clean up with the 60 grit, then 120, 220, 400, 600.
 
36 grit aluminum oxide to hog handle material, next 120 grit Al ox to smooth out and then hand sand. 50 grit Cubitron (ceramic) to rough grind the blade, followed up with 80 grit, 180 grit and 280 grit Trizact. Hand sand the blade with wet/dry paper. Try out a couple of the Trizact belts, they last forever with the belt sometimes failing before the abrasive wears out. With the aluminum oxide belts take advantage of semi worn belts for finer work rather than change to a different grit belt.
 
Can anyone ever have too many? :D

Actually, it depends on the steel and the amount of steel I need to remove. Some patterns I can really get close with the initial bandsaw/cutoff wheel, but others leave a fair amount of metal between the edge and the scribe line.

So, keep some hoggers available and definitely keep some finishers around... YOU will have to decide what's best to keep around between the 2...

Charlie
 
I use a lot of belts because my work comes out better.

In x or y weight belts, I use: Blaze 36 for profiling, tapering tangs, and roughing out a bevel before HT, Blaze 60 or 80, 120, 220 for refining the tang and bevel prior to HT. I really use the 36 as the workhorse. It removes 80% of the metal I'm going to remove on the knife. This is what this belt is meant for, and it makes the job of the next belts much quicker and allows them to last a long time.

In J weight I use: 120, 220, 400, 600 for handle material. Really I use cheaper alox belts for handle materials. They last pretty long if just used on handles.

For metal finishing: Norax 100x, 65x, 45x. Sometimes I'll use the finer Norax belts if I'm going to mirror finish or if I'm hand finishing the blade. I prefer Norax over the gator belts because they are so much more flexible. These are great for tuning in the plunge cut as they will roll over the side of the wheel or platen. They don't last as long as gators but they last a long time and give a great finish.

I will use a fine scotchbrite belt on titanium folder handles or to debur the spine on a flat grind.
 
Like Don, I use 50 to hog, 120 to clean up, and 400 to fine sand. I have a wall of other belts, but use these for 90% of all work. If that was all I had, I don't know if I would notice.
 
50 or 60, 120-160 and 320-400 (whatever's available/on sale etc in each group) much like Don and Stacy said. It's just easier that way.

Seems like it forces me to grind a little more carefully in the early stages too. Getting out a 50-grit oops with a 400-grit belt doesn't work so well. :p
 
I love my 36 grit for initial grinding. when I first ordered I went and bought one of each grit... I should have done maybe 4 grits. I think I would recomend a 36 or 50, then a 80 or 100, then 220 adn 320. Ok maybe 400 also so 5 grits. But I am not all that experienced. I do wood and plastic work on my belt sander to though.

I see a lot of people stopping at a relatively low grit before heat treating. WHy leave such a rough finish that has to be sanded more after the knife is heat treated? I know that proper sanding will prevent the knife from getting too hot but the metal will be harder. So why not go to a higher grit and then heat treat. I think I went as high as 220 on one that I am going to heat treat whenever i get around to mailing it in.
 
eyeeatingfish said:
WHy leave such a rough finish that has to be sanded more after the knife is heat treated?
Click to expand...

It depends on who you ask, what they're working on and their HT process. I make good-size fixed blades and Peters' HT keeps my blades very clean, so I go to at least 400 grit before HT, leaving just a little thickness on the edge. Sometimes I go right up to the final finish, especially on steel that's really wear-resistant like CPM-3V. They're ready to polish and sharpen when I get them back.

At the other extreme, a fellow making folders or other thin blades may only profile and drill before HT, since thinner stock is more likely to warp during quench, and there's not as much to grind after HT.
 
james terrio said:
It depends on who you ask, what they're working on and their HT process. I make good-size fixed blades and Peters' HT keeps my blades very clean, so I go to at least 400 grit before HT, leaving just a little thickness on the edge. Sometimes I go right up to the final finish, especially on steel that's really wear-resistant like CPM-3V. They're ready to polish and sharpen when I get them back.

At the other extreme, a fellow making folders or other thin blades may only profile and drill before HT, since thinner stock is more likely to warp during quench, and there's not as much to grind after HT.
Click to expand...

How hard is it to grind through the hardened super steels? I mean 3V, M4, S35VN, 10V, can it be done (without going nuts)?
 
That depends what you mean by going nuts, some of us started out that way. :D

Seriously though, they're not that much harder to grind than normal hardened steels (electricity is your friend). The real difference shows up when you go to finish them. You better have a lot of patience and elbow grease if you plan on post-HT hand-sanding anything with a V in it. You may actually hear evil laughter when you try, that's the vanadium carbides making fun of you.

If you just want to grind up to 400 grit and have it bead-blasted or coated, that's no problem. If you want a real nice polish, do it before HT.
 
3v and M4 are only pretty tough to grind post HT but 10V, 110V or Bohler K390? You may go crazy if you don't get them pretty close before HT.
 
If anyone has too many please feel free to send me a PM and I will pay shipping to my house.

Thanks
Greebe
 
I use 36, 120 and 220 to get to heat treat. After heat treat I use 220 then switch to 3m belts in 80micron and 40 micron. I convex the edge with these 80 micron and 40 micron belts. I make a final convexing/sharpening pass with an 800 grit. This is likely to change somewhat as I better utilize a new disc sander to alleviate some hand finishing.
 
james terrio said:
It depends on who you ask, what they're working on and their HT process. I make good-size fixed blades and Peters' HT keeps my blades very clean, so I go to at least 400 grit before HT, leaving just a little thickness on the edge. Sometimes I go right up to the final finish, especially on steel that's really wear-resistant like CPM-3V. They're ready to polish and sharpen when I get them back.

At the other extreme, a fellow making folders or other thin blades may only profile and drill before HT, since thinner stock is more likely to warp during quench, and there's not as much to grind after HT.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. Would it be safe to assume that anything over maybe 1/8th inch I need not worry about warping during heat treat?
Is the warping you speak of usually fixable by grinding or does it ruin a piece?
I am planning on making a kitchen knife for my brothers wedding, probably 1/16th or something, Maybe I will do a rough pre HT grind on that.
 
eyeeatingfish said:
Would it be safe to assume that anything over maybe 1/8th inch I need not worry about warping during heat treat?
Click to expand...

Sort of, yeah. Even on thicker stock, the edge itsef can still get wiggly if it's super thin, and if the blade is ground unevenly it may warp. Hopefully one of the guys who does their own HT will chime in, I let Peters' HT worry about that for me. Brad tells me lots of blades get a little "off" but almost all can be tweaked back into straightness while still warm. Rick Marchand had a thread about that not long ago.

eyeeatingfish said:
I am planning on making a kitchen knife for my brothers wedding, probably 1/16th or something, Maybe I will do a rough pre HT grind on that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I'd do. Profile, drill all your holes and grind the mill-scale off, then do the bevels after HT.
 
To prevent warpage, it helps to normalize a couple times at least before quenching. Leaving the edge 0.020 or thicker pre-ht helps. If using a forge, a pipe baffle helps to get an even heat over the blade. This really helps. Not stirring the blade in the quench helps. Make a "chopping" motion rather, or up and down, to agitate.

I rough with Blaze 36 or 50, then finish grind with A65 Gators. After HT, it's A65 again, then A45, then A30. Usually I drop back to 400 rhynowet paper to start handsanding, although after A30 gator belts it's not too bad to start handsanding at 600.

I keep cheap 60 grit AO belts for handles, and 220 and 400 grit j-flex belts. I occasionally use the j-flex for plunges, too.
 
The best machine finish IMO is as follows:

60 grit blaze

180 3M Gator

(MAYBE a 400 grit gator for a pass or two)

Fine green scotchbrite with a quick shot of WD-40 while the belt is running.

Thats it! This has saved me alot of money and grief. Has kept alot of knives out of the scrap bucket too.
 
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