Which type belt is best for G-10,Micarta

jonnymac44

jonnymac44

Joined
Sep 27, 2007
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I've done some searches and haven't come up with anything to concrete for an answer, so.....

Ceramic, Zirconia, AO, Silicon carbide? Which belts are the best shaping G-10 and Micarta. Canvas micarta doesn't give me any trouble, but some of the G-10 I've worked with and especially paper micartas which seem to be much more dense than the canvas have really gummed up some of my belts. My 2x72 AO belts just got completely filled up with the material and stopped cutting. Using a rubber cleaning stick didn't do a darn thing. My Norzon zirc belts did the same thing, but not as bad. I didn't feel like trying it on my Blaze belts, due to their cost!

I also have a spindle sander that I like to use for handle shaping, and AO sleeves are all I can find for it, but they get clogged really quickly when sanding the paper Micarta and G-10. Like I said, canvas sands fine with them.

What are the best options/belts for working this stuff?
 
Same problem, and paper micarta overheats so fast it's crazy. I've basically gone to rough shaping with a very course belt then taking a fairly fine, 220, 320, 400, but mostly used up belt to very very lightly take off most of the streaks and marks from the rough belt then going to hand sanding.
 
I use 40 or 50 grit belts, sharp ones for heavy removal and worn ones when I want to take less off. I don't really pay attention to what type but have been using mostly Blaze and 3M 967s lately, and have not had any serious problems with the belts loading with either micarta or G10. I would have to suggest slower speed or a coarser, sharper belt. Maybe try digging a piece of hardened steel into the loaded belts on the platen to get through the loading and expose some fresh abrasive.
 
That's how I cleaned the last belt that got loaded up, worked ok except the poor belt was almost done anyway. :) I got a few more minutes out of it though and got the task done. I'll give that a try with the coarser belts, that makes sense. I think the roughest I have for my 2x42 are 60 but that'll have to do. I have a 40 but it hits on the back of the guard. I'll have to see if I can bend that out a bit for clearance.

I just wish I had speed control, my Sears 2x42 is a fast little sucker and that's probably the biggest cause of my burning issue. If anyone's got a good suggestion on slowing it down I'm all ears. From what I've read here a simple rheostat, even one designed for the load, will just cut my power and or harm the motor. Is there some kind of reasonably priced pulse control system?
 
it is the nature of the beast . So I just get cheap 36 grit AO belts , use a stainless steel wire brush to clean out the gunk . When they do not work for the handles or the leather any more , I can still profile blades with them until all used up .

I have not tried it but have heard , spray them with wd-40 , that stuff cleans everything .
 
To prevent overheating, limit your work on the platen to the lower grit belts. I do heavy rough shaping with 36 grit belts on the platen, and then do almost all other shaping and finishing with the slack belt or by hand.

--nathan
 
I use my used Norton Blaze 80 belts then I jump to a used Trizact A45 belt knocking down the speed to 50 on the Penta Drive and with light pressure so nothing gets burned....everyone has what works for them.
 
I love that A45 belt, but have no speed control on my grinder and even without the platen it burns fast with the paper micarta. I'll play around some more, maybe if I am very gentle and quick with the slack belt work it won't burn, I don't remember for sure how much pressure I was using. I'll give that a try tomorrow, then try just the coarse belts for shaping and stick to hand sanding for the rest.
 
Thanks for all the responses. Good to see I'm not alone:D

I was wondering if maybe I was running the grinder too fast and contributing to the melting of the material, especially the paper micarta. I run my KMG on the step pulleys and usually leave it on the middle speed, about 1750 feet per minute, but maybe I should drop it down to the lowest speed when working with handles. My spindle sander is only a single speed, so maybe I need lighter pressure and more cool down time between passes. I'll play around and see.

What it sounds like is that all belts suffer from a lot of build up with these materials to some extent. With time, I'll hopefully work out a system. I never really intended to do fine grit sanding on the grinders. On my first few knives, I just did rough shaping and then went to hand sanding and it's my plan to continue that way.
 
36 grit on the platen or contact wheel.

When going to finer grits, especially on white micarta, (before I invested vari speed) I sprayed the belts with a mixture of water and a drop of Palmolive dish soap.

I still use this on paper micarta and Ele. Ivory. It does away with the burning, but is messy. It will cure the clogged belts however, along with the burning.
I don't have time for hand sanding. The slack belt does it faster, and cleaner, once you learn how.

Mike
Maker
The Loveless Connection Knives
 
Michael Lovett said:
36 grit on the platen or contact wheel.

When going to finer grits, especially on white micarta, (before I invested vari speed) I sprayed the belts with a mixture of water and a drop of Palmolive dish soap.

I still use this on paper micarta and Ele. Ivory. It does away with the burning, but is messy. It will cure the clogged belts however, along with the burning.
I don't have time for hand sanding. The slack belt does it faster, and cleaner, once you learn how.

Mike
Maker
The Loveless Connection Knives
Click to expand...

Gday Mike,

I was under the impression you should keep water well away from ivory?????
 
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