Who has tried the Merit Hogger Ceramic belts?

AVigil

AVigil

Adam Vigil working the grind
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Feb 17, 2009
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I picked up some of the Merit Hogger ceramic belts and they really can remove steel. I have been impressed with the 50 and 60 grits.

I like to use a 50 grit for almost the entire grind then finish up with some Hermes 346 in 100, 200 and 400 then go to cork and hand sanding

The hogger are less then $5 at Trugrit and grabbing a fresh one is a lot easier at the price point.

Anyone else having success with the Hogger Ceramic?
 
I have been using the Merit 60 and 120 grit ceramic belts from Tru-Grit since I started doing this. They work alright, I think I've gotten good results from them but to be honest I don't have much else to compare them to since I haven't used much else for roughing belts. I've been thinking about trying them against the VSM belts, I've heard good things about them.
 
I think Salem uses the merit ceramics. I did leave a VSM with home last time I was over to try. Not a 100% sure but I think he said he ordered some vsm after that. I like the vsm as well. I had a bunch of merit ceramic belts in 50 grit and thy seamed ok but not great. But thy where older so I don’t know how thy compare to new ones.
 
I don't like the vsm from what I recall... Always go with 3m, 984f's are really durable and work well for me. Never tried the hogger though, will have to give it a try.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
I don't like the vsm from what I recall... Always go with 3m, 984f's are really durable and work well for me. Never tried the hogger though, will have to give it a try.
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I use 984 for a long time and had to admit to myself they just were not the belt for me. I do not grind hard enough or fast enough to get them to perform good enough
 
The 3M ceramics never performed well enough to justify their cost for me. I did really like the yellow 977s but when I tossed another belt on just to compare fresh grit still outperforms them. I really like the Norton Blaze belts as well but the VSM price point along with decent performance is hard to beat.
 
I have used the Merit 50-60 Grit belts and they surprised me as well. I get 3 x 3-4" blades in S110V per belt.
 
I've used the Merrits for a long time and have been very pleased with them, just ordered more yesterday in fact, although I was cussing Tru Grits checkout on their website. I normally call but was feeling grumpy and didn't feel like talking to any one. Check out got me grumpier. Call. Anyhoo I've got a bunch of VSMs in 36 and 50 to compare em too. They were shipped to me by the sales rep for VSM to try. Honestly six of one and half dozen of another. I don't really have a preference between the two brands. I'd buy whatever saved me a buck or two. I won't buy VSM's psa discs though unless they've changed the adhesive. They don't stay stuck on. They come flying off and smack ya upside the hand and thats why the sales rep sends ya free stuff. But their belts work great as does the Merrit Hoggers. I just finished off a big batch to send to heat treat. There were 66 that were to be ground prior to ht. All shipped yesterday. I used three 36s (1 Merrit and 2 VSMs), two 50s (one of each) and three 120s all Merrits. I'd consider that excellent performance. The last belt in each grit still has some life in it too.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
I don't like the vsm from what I recall... Always go with 3m, 984f's are really durable and work well for me. Never tried the hogger though, will have to give it a try.
Click to expand...
I had always bought the blaze but then it was pointed out that really the best part of the belt is when it’s new. So I tried the cheeper belts and thy Sean to have just as long of a new dealing to them as the more expensive ones. Sure the blaze last longer if I really get after it but I like that easy cutting of the fresh ones.
 
Time and again when grinding and something does not seem right, switching to a new belt all of a sudden the world is right again.
 
I just never got the longevity out of the Blaze that I expected. Tried em a few times and quit em. Their PSAs don't stay stuck neither btw. I work outside and my part of Cali doesn't have palm trees and bikinis like Adam's part. It gets cold, those psa's go a flying. Those purple ones and the blue zircs stay put no matter how cold. To even get the Blaze to stick a little bit I'd have to heat the disc up with my torch , so was always worried about warping it. But it would cool down and the disc go flying. Good thing I had a crazy dog that loved to play fetch, she'd bring em back.
 
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