What do you do with your old belts?

I was a belt hoarder. I wanted to get the most bang for my buck on everything in knife making. However, I have found that the guys who make knives day in and day out are right, use them like they are free. I decided to work smarter and not harder. So instead of sitting at my grinder all day on a knife, i spend like 45 minutes now using a new belt. Just throw away old belts.... You will enjoy your work by factors above what you would if you keep using the belts after you don't need to.

Sometimes though I will end up cutting one up for putting them on my bench to get scale off.
 
Reinforcing mesh for your next concrete pour! I save far too many old belts, seems
like they're some kind of scourge on my life. I do know every now and then when I
change belts as often as I should things go much better in the shop. +1 to using them
like they're free.
Ken.
 
i grind kitchen knives and razors first then bowies and choppers after theat the best i can get out of them is profiling blanks and then they are out the door in the trash bin
on a full size chef knive i plan for one 50 grit belt per blade post HT might get 2 or 3 blades out of a 120 grit but then i go to gators and those dang things last for ever
 
I use them for rough work. Profiling, general deburring jobs. Some rough woodworking stuff. I have cut them up and used them for sandpaper for various non knifemaking jobs. When they get real pitiful and worn smooth out I just toss em. I only use sharp new belts for knives. I use blaze and gators, so I can get alot of mileage out of them.

You figure out real soon that dull belts absolutely suck and make your work look like shit. They make things too hot, and don't cut evenly. You end up working longer and harder, and you have a higher risk of ruining your work. Keeping a supply of fresh belts is probably the number one piece of advice I could give to any beginning knifemaker.
 
Cut them up, spray glue to a bar of steel and sharpen with them.

I'm pretty embarrassed to admit this because I know it's probably 10 kinds of wrong, but I have an old 120 that is totally worn out. Flipped it inside out, pushed the platen out of the way, then loaded the cloth with ChromOx and use it to polish edges.

May be 10 kinds of wrong, but man does it polish convex edges nicely. :D
 
On some very very high grit belts I've added polish cream to some effect. Slower than a real belt but reduced and more controllable heat generation. Results can be a bit inconsistent though since there's not much to hold a reserve of polish but beats burning something thin or small up on my high speed non adjustable grinder.
 
grindemup said:
can it be used as a "higher grit" belt? or will that just leave scratches?
Click to expand...
No, it will leave gawdawful, nasty, irregular scratches.

Strigamort said:
Cut them up, spray glue to a bar of steel and sharpen with them.
Click to expand...

That's an awful idea. See above. Fresh sandpaper is just not that expensive, if you like to sharpen that way.

I've tried using the backs for "power-stropping", but it honestly didn't save me any time. Not worth the bother... just glue a piece of scrap leather to a board. If you really "need" a fast-running belt to strop - you're not ready to strop yet.

I do what Butch said... use 'em up, do really rough profiling with 'em for a while, then toss 'em.

Karl B. Andersen said:
Burn 'em. Immediately.
Get 'em out of the shop.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
I cut the belt so it can not be used on the grinder. I then put them in a bucket and cut off strips to use them in other shop related tasks. As the bucket fills with belts I throw away the others to keep things under control.
 
AVigil said:
I cut the belt so it can not be used on the grinder. I then put them in a bucket and cut off strips to use them in other shop related tasks. As the bucket fills with belts I throw away the others to keep things under control.
Click to expand...

What uses do you get out of them? the first one i wore out i couldn't sand wood with without burning the wood.
 
james terrio said:
No, it will leave gawdawful, nasty, irregular scratches.



That's an awful idea. See above. Fresh sandpaper is just not that expensive, if you like to sharpen that way.

I've tried using the backs for "power-stropping", but it honestly didn't save me any time. Not worth the bother... just glue a piece of scrap leather to a board. If you really "need" a fast-running belt to strop - you're not ready to strop yet.

I do what Butch said... use 'em up, do really rough profiling with 'em for a while, then toss 'em.



:thumbup:
Click to expand...

thats what i suspected. thanks for the confirmation
 
Ive been wondering if anyone has used old belts to make some sort of laminate/resin handle material type thing? old belt micarta, etc.
 
AVigil said:
I cut the belt so it can not be used on the grinder. I then put them in a bucket and cut off strips to use them in other shop related tasks. As the bucket fills with belts I throw away the others to keep things under control.
Click to expand...

That's an awful idea. :rolleyes:

Actually, it's not at all an awful idea. They are still abrasive and can be used as such, as you said, for other shop related tasks. Handle making as an example.
 
butcher_block said:
i grind kitchen knives and razors first then bowies and choppers after theat the best i can get out of them is profiling blanks and then they are out the door in the trash bin
on a full size chef knive i plan for one 50 grit belt per blade post HT might get 2 or 3 blades out of a 120 grit but then i go to gators and those dang things last for ever
Click to expand...

That's right!
The life of a grinder belt is short and brutal, cry for it and move on.
Buy Gators, and tell the thrifty voice in your heat that it's just the low grits that you use and throw out!
When I used to do interior finish on fancy houses, we'd go through sandpaper by the case- time is MUCH more expensive than sandpaper.
What do you charge per hour? How much paper can you buy with just one wasted hour, because you used worn out paper?
 
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