Which belts from Pop's?

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
5,786
I'm pretty sold on the Grizzly grinder. Now the question is to wait for the sale, whenever that is, or buy it now. If I wait for the sale that's an extra $75 for belts and stuff, which is pretty tempting.

Anyway, everyone says Pop's in the place for belts, but which ones? I obviously know to get a variety of grits, but do you just get a bunch of the $2 3M aluminum oxide ones or is there a better belt that will do more?

I'll be using the machine (2x72) for profiling and grinding the bevels, everything, really, but don't have any idea about belt stiffness, yadda yadda. I'll probably be doing flat grinding on the platen and using the 10" wheel for profiling and stuff.

Also, where to get the pyroceram platen addition, and what does one do with it?
 
Chiro, I think one of the best values are the 3M 967F (yellow) belts for rough grinding and profiling. 50 grit is my perference. I keep a few 36 grit around for special jobs. For everything else, I use Norton Norax. I have tried almost every brand, flex, backing and grit and found the above to offer the best price/performance.
 
Do yourself a big favor and call in your order. You are speaking with a knifemaker ( a damn fine one) that happens to sell supplies. James will help you with your choice.
 
I really like James, but last I checked, he did not carry the Norton line. Since I wanted one-stop shopping, I shifted my business to Tru Grit, who are also excellent.
 
Chiro75 said:
.....Also, where to get the pyroceram platen addition, and what does one do with it?
Click to expand...

Sources:

Steve Pryor, info@stevescutlery.com

Darren Ellis, http://forgegallery.elliscustomknifeworks.com/


Mike Hull said:
The advantage of the pyroceram platen liner is twofold. It's very flat, and it is about 75% cooler than without it. That saves belts and bearings. The top wheel on my vertical platen used to get so hot, it would heat the whole arm, enough to raise blisters if you came in contact with it. I was waiting for the bearings to go at any time. When I went with the pyroceram, I noticed immedietly that it barely got warm, and only that, after extended running. It causes way less drag on the belt also. That correlates into less wear and tear on the grinder.:eek: ;)
Click to expand...

Mounting it: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=301538&highlight=pyroceram

Regards,
Greg
 
I'm with Fox 100%. Possibly I use more 36 grit for heavy stock removal but otherwise I think we were separated at birth. We're damn good looking.
 
The grizzly grinders always go on sale in the spring. If you can hold out, you'll save yourself some money. Pop's is the best and the only fella I'll buy belts and alot of other supplies from. I use the 3M ceramics in 36 & 60 grit for all my rough work and then Klingspors in 220, 400 & 600 grit.
 
You'll need to experiment and find out what works for you, but I've setled on 36 grit for hawk handles and 'real' rough wood and handle shaping, when they loose there bite on wood I save then for knocking scale off forged blades and profiling.

I do the majority of my grinding with 50 grit, then to 120, then 220 and finish on 320, then to hand rub at 220 or 320 to true everything up and heat treat, unless it's S30V which I take to 400 or 600 grit prior to heat treat.

The 220 and 320 belts I use are silicon carbide, the others are zirconia oxide belts. I've tried a lot of differant ones, but keep coming back to the zirconia.

I probably use three times as many 50 grit as anything else.

BTW, the ceramic platen linner realy helps, some say they make the belt jump a little, but I've worn enough plattens out to like the fact that after a year or more I'm just now about ready to get a new platen linner.

Get a couple of everything and find out what you like, if you don't like one belt you'll still find a use for it, just make sure you through them out when there dull and won't cut or else you'll be knee deep in dull belts.
 
My reccomendation is...buy it now. Screw the cost...eat ramen for the rest of the year! You've only got a few weeks to learn how to use it before the end of the K.I.T.H !!!

:D :footinmou

You'll find that just about every maker uses a different brand and grit of belt. I've asked and searched for recommendations on belt brands and grits...as far as I can see no two knifemakers uses the same stuff. They all recommend that you buy the best you can afford tho. The cheap belts are just not worth it.

The graphite platten that is on the grizz is just on there with double sided tape. Peel it off, clean up the surface with sticker remover and epoxy the glass platten on. That's what I did.
 
Shappa, I'm well underway on the KITH already, so it's too late for that already. Can you set up the tool rest on a Grizzly to be able to grind handle material for bolsters? This is one thing I'd like to try, but I know better than to attempt it by hand (no patience for that kind of stuff) and I'm not buying a disc grinder for the one thing to play around with...

If they go on sale in Spring I'll wait. I just didn't want to wait until late summer or whatever. I guess the price before January was 299.95 on them, so they went up $50 just recently. That probably means that the sale price will be more like $325 or so, which isn't all that great of an amount. I figured the $355 to $275 drop was awesome, but the $275 sale price was based on a $300 sticker price. Bastards.
 
Pop is the best. Give him a call and he'll direct you.

I like to use Klingspor X weight 36 and 80 grit for profiling and grinding the bevels. Then I move to Klingspor 120, 220, 400 J flex for final grinding. I also use the J flex for grinding the handles. For polishing handles I use 3M micron belts 40 to 9 micron. I also use the micron belts for sharpening.

Be careful with the micron belts, they have a tendency to cut into plunge lines and also cut into fingers if you're not careful.

The best advice I can give is to call Pop and let him guide you through the process.

Matt
 
Go with the new gator belts,I rough grind with an 80 grit the gator belts grind fast and leave a great finish,the 80 grit looks like 120 grit finish
they have cut my hand rubbing time in half.get them from PoP's they don't come much nicer :)
 
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