What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

I found AO belts gum up less and work better and last longer than Zirc or Ceramic on handle materials as well. I try to find open coat belts; sometimes the closed coat belts seem to clog up more and dull quicker? I used one set of 120, 220, 320, 400 and 600 AO SuperNova 2" wide scalloped belts on over 20 handles and they are still cutting well. I often rough with a 36 and then clean up and contour with a 80 grit AO belt before switching to the scalloped. I go thru the 36 and 80 grits faster, but they are also grinding the tang down a bit, too and get gummed up getting all of the excess epoxy off the tang/scales too and grinding down pins.

Resin dust can be interesting! When I do my fabric based home made micarta handles with epoxy resins, the result is a very fluffy cotton ball like pile of dust that is about 3-4 times the size of the handle block itself! I imagine the resin dust is similar? Very puffy and fluffy? Or is it more plasticy and stringy like when working acrylic handle materials?
 
Fixall said:
Cleaning up the excess resin off of some K&G stabilized redwood burl. 😍

I’ve been using 3M 36 grit rapid removal belts on a 4” x 36” belt sander. The belts are pretty spendy though, so I was thinking about giving the Diablo 50 grit belts a try (they’re about half the cost of the 3m belts). I’ve tried some 80 grit belts, but they get gunked up way too fast. Red Label makes a 24 grit belt, but I haven’t had the best luck with that brand. I’ve also found that aluminum oxide works better for me on stabilized wood than zirconia. 🤷

What do you guys use?
Click to expand...

Maybe try POWERTEC available on Amazon. I use them for 2x72 for 40 and 80 grit I just checked that they have 40grit 4x36 in packs of 10 for 1.60/ea. They certainly don't last as long as ceramic, but they are definitely more that 1/6th the life of a ceramic which can easily be $10/ea. I would estimate that value per belt at greater if not double that of ceramic. Considering you are only scraping stabilized wood, it might be worth a look.
 
Fixall said:
Cleaning up the excess resin off of some K&G stabilized redwood burl. 😍

I’ve been using 3M 36 grit rapid removal belts on a 4” x 36” belt sander. The belts are pretty spendy though, so I was thinking about giving the Diablo 50 grit belts a try (they’re about half the cost of the 3m belts). I’ve tried some 80 grit belts, but they get gunked up way too fast. Red Label makes a 24 grit belt, but I haven’t had the best luck with that brand. I’ve also found that aluminum oxide works better for me on stabilized wood than zirconia. 🤷

What do you guys use?

View attachment 2050887
Click to expand...
I always just go to my band saw and shave off thin sections off the sides of the blocks until i get past the junk on the outside. Much faster and far cleaner than the “sand it down” approach.
 
Taz said:
I found AO belts gum up less and work better and last longer than Zirc or Ceramic on handle materials as well. I try to find open coat belts; sometimes the closed coat belts seem to clog up more and dull quicker? I used one set of 120, 220, 320, 400 and 600 AO SuperNova 2" wide scalloped belts on over 20 handles and they are still cutting well. I often rough with a 36 and then clean up and contour with a 80 grit AO belt before switching to the scalloped. I go thru the 36 and 80 grits faster, but they are also grinding the tang down a bit, too and get gummed up getting all of the excess epoxy off the tang/scales too and grinding down pins.

Resin dust can be interesting! When I do my fabric based home made micarta handles with epoxy resins, the result is a very fluffy cotton ball like pile of dust that is about 3-4 times the size of the handle block itself! I imagine the resin dust is similar? Very puffy and fluffy? Or is it more plasticy and stringy like when working acrylic handle materials?
Click to expand...

Yep it’s similar to the epoxy. Very fine, very light. It hardens like cement if you get it wet and let it dry. Ask me how I know.

Now excuse me, I’ve gotta go pressure wash the driveway. 😂

stubbornforge said:
Maybe try POWERTEC available on Amazon. I use them for 2x72 for 40 and 80 grit I just checked that they have 40grit 4x36 in packs of 10 for 1.60/ea. They certainly don't last as long as ceramic, but they are definitely more that 1/6th the life of a ceramic which can easily be $10/ea. I would estimate that value per belt at greater if not double that of ceramic. Considering you are only scraping stabilized wood, it might be worth a look.
Click to expand...

Wow, that’s dirt cheap. At the price, I’ll give them a look for sure! :)

Cushing H. said:
I always just go to my band saw and shave off thin sections off the sides of the blocks until i get past the junk on the outside. Much faster and far cleaner than the “sand it down” approach.
Click to expand...

That’s an interesting idea. I imagine I’d lose a little more material that way, but the time savings could definitely make it worth it. I’ll have to give some thought to making all my blocks a uniform size (to save time setting the bandsaw fence) and see how it does for me.
 
Fixall said:
Yep it’s similar to the epoxy. Very fine, very light. It hardens like cement if you get it wet and let it dry. Ask me how I know.

Now excuse me, I’ve gotta go pressure wash the driveway. 😂



Wow, that’s dirt cheap. At the price, I’ll give them a look for sure! :)



That’s an interesting idea. I imagine I’d lose a little more material that way, but the time savings could definitely make it worth it. I’ll have to give some thought to making all my blocks a uniform size (to save time setting the bandsaw fence) and see how it does for me.
Click to expand...
No concern about making the blocks uniform. Set the fence VERY close to the blade (so you are just shaving off a thin slice between the blade and the fence with each pass). It might take several passes before you produce a uniform clean surface.
 
Cushing H. said:
No concern about making the blocks uniform. Set the fence VERY close to the blade (so you are just shaving off a thin slice between the blade and the fence with each pass). It might take several passes before you produce a uniform clean surface.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh! 👍
 
am I weird, or do other people mix their epoxy with a palette knife?
HX2cZLg.jpg
 
Lorien said:
am I weird, or do other people mix their epoxy with a palette knife?
HX2cZLg.jpg
Click to expand...

I use a little silicone spatula looking thing for handles (the epoxy peels off when dry), and fresh tongue depressors for pours (less chance of old epoxy contaminating the pour).
 
I tried my hand at checkering on a gunstock patterned slipjoint. Everything I read promised me it would be hard, but it was much harder than I expected it to be. I practiced for about 25 hours before doing it on the knife and got about as good of results as I could have hoped for given my success in practice. I probably won’t do it enough to get actually good at it.
F61324F0-8AFD-4C20-9AD1-E9BF8E2841ED.jpegAD620CC5-7E55-4EBF-AB4A-044DCCCBA386.jpeg
 
Just finished this bad boy up!
0 (1).jpeg

CI5A6082.JPG

I've got some more photo's over here with a link to the giveaway I'm doing on it:

Instagram giveaway!

Hello all, I’m giving away this 20.75" long brut de forge Kukri in 8670 with black, blue, and red micarta with white liners on my Instagram! Thank you to all my customers and supporters for making this possible! https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnp_Voqs0pe/ (I wasn't able to edit the photos and bring...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top